14" wheel to replace 15" wheel - okay?

I have the following vehicles and tire/wheel sizes:

'02 Subaru Legacy L wagon: 205/60R15 (15" wheel) = 24.7" x 8.1" '92 Subaru Legacy L wagon: 195/65R14 (14" wheel) = 24" x 7.7" (tire dimensions found at

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Both wheels sets have the same 5-lug pattern with lugs the same distance apart; i.e., the lug patters are the same on the older and newer wheels. I was a bit surprised. I thought the '92 came with 4-lug 14-inch wheels.

I will be scrapping the '92 Subaru but would like to keep any parts that can be used in the '02 Subaru, like the tires. I recently replaced the battery in the '92 so I'll check if that can fit into the '02 whose battery needs replacing (too weak for cold winter starts). The difference in width is 0.4" less for my old tires and the difference in height would be 0.7".

I'm wondering if I can use the 14-inch, 5-lug wheels from the '92 in place of the 15-inch, 5-lugs wheels on the '02. Would there be a problem with clearance with, say, the caliper, rotor, or brake hose? Since the smaller 14-inch wheels would rotate more for the same distance travelled by 15-inch wheels, the speedometer would be off (faster). The odometer might also be off (faster counting) with the smaller wheels. The smaller tire at the same pressure will have a higher rolling resistance so mileage will go down; however, it would take many miles at reduced mileage for an increase in fuel cost to offset the cost for a complete set of tires. I'm primarily concerned with fit. Would 14-inch wheels in place for a vehicle spec'ed with 15-inch wheels have fit or use problems?

All the tire sites list 15-inch wheels and tires for the '02 Subaru but the '92 Subaru's 14-inch tires have almost no wear. They were bought and soon after the car got stored. I'm going to scrap the '92. So I'd like to its tires on my newer Subaru when its current set of tires eventually need replacing. I'll keep the 15-inch wheels and put new

205/60R15 tires on them when the next time comes to again replace all tires. The tires themselves probably pose no problem but maybe the smaller 14" wheels put on a car that comes with 15" wheels might encounter a problem with fit or clearance and perhaps alignment or load angle problems.
Reply to
VanguardLH
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Other than brake clearance offset is the only other concern. You can find o ffset stamped into the back of the rim I millimeters. This is just the dist ance between the wheel mounting surface and the center of the contact patch in a lateral direction. Any delta there would affect steering feel and fen der clearance. However if you are taking off a 15" wheel to get that number , you might as well just try fitting the 14" while you are at it. If it fit s you are fine. Any difference in steering feel or torque steer is going to be minimal. When you check be sure to the lower the car to check for clear ance before calling it a victory.

Reply to
weelliott

The offset won't be an issue, and if your year was available with the smaller wheels the brakes will fit. If it was not available with the smaller wheels a fit check is mandatory. And remember, just because the wheels fit with hald worn brake pads doesn't mean they will fit when new pads are installed. I found that out putting neon rims on a PT Cruiser. When I put the new brake pads on, I had to do a bit of grinding to make the rims go back on ---

Reply to
clare

clare wrote on 2016/01/07:

I can't find any tire or wheel store listing smaller than 15" rims for the '02 Subaru. Looks like that was the minimum size the car came with hence my concern about putting 14" rims onto the '02 Subie.

Yeah, new pads would push out the caliper towards the hub and could hit the inside of the wheel. If the 14" wheels fit without contacting the caliper with the pads in the current condition, they'll be okay until I need the pads replaced.

If then the caliper hits the wheel, well, time to buy 15" tires (I'll just go stock with 205/60R15) and put them on the 15" wheels. I wouldn't feel comfortable with grinding down anything to make clearance versus having a setup that incorporates the necessary clearance.

Of course, when the 15" tires need replacing and I when try the the 14" wheels, I could replace the pads at that time and then check for clearance. Thanks for the reminder. I, too, would not have thought about the caliper moving outward (toward the wheel) when new pads are installed.

Reply to
VanguardLH

weelliott wrote on 2016/01/07:

I had not thought about the offset (from hub mounting surface to the center of the wheel (where the tire is mounted). I forgot about that and read

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Good catch. I suspect it's zero for both the 14" and 15" rims but I'll have to check. I'll be yanking the tires w/rims when I get the beater up on a trailer to haul to the scraper. I'll just wait until sometime in the future when I have to replace the tires on the new Subie. Then I'll check the offset that you mention along with making sure there are no clearance problems. If the offset is different or there are clearance problems, I'll have to buy new tires to put on the 15" rims and sell off the old tires+wheels on Craigslist.

Reply to
VanguardLH

Your Name wrote on 2016/01/07:

I think weelliott meant that after removing one 15" rim to check its offset value to just go ahead to dry test the 14" (snug it lugs onto the hub) to see if there are any clearance problems. That's doable. It the test on one corner succeeds then, yes, swap the 14" rims onto all the remaining corners.

Reply to
VanguardLH

On my ranger I went from 14" to 15" without changing the outside diameter, and then I put on 16 inch -still within less than an inch difference - untill I put on the big tires.

I didn't see what size tires the OP has - but if the 14s are 78 series and the 15s are 70 series, they could be the same diameter.

Reply to
clare

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