[singincanary]

I picked up a 5th wheel to use as a full sized spare, same as I have done with every other car, but got to wondering, will the full sized spare actually fit under the car?

Has anyone tried this?

 

[Bill_S]

Give it a try. Take off a wheel and crank it up and see what halppens. I recently rustproofed by car and lowered the spare. There isn't a lot of room as there is a guard around the spare.

 

[awd_envy]

I had to pull that whole unit out to install the OEM trailer hitch package, and I highly doubt it will fit. It would only take about 5minuets to find out for sure though, so I'd give it a try.

 

[singincanary]

a full sized spare fits. i got my 5th winter wheel/tire combo mounted today and the 5th fit in the spare location with room to spare. it's twice as thick as the spare, so you obviously lose a little clearance, but i don't think it will be a problem.

 

[Hum]

I guess the only downside is that you would see it stick out from behind wouldn't you.

 

[snork]

FWIW, I was reading through the manual and they say to store only the full-size FLAT tire down there, or else risk damage to adjacent parts of the vehicle. Probably just covering their butt cuz of the decreased clearance though.

 

[SimonD]

After our second puncture in three months on the B9 I put the damaged wheel/tyre in the spare location under the floor because the boot was full of luggage. It really does hang down quite a bit. I was considering getting a full size spare because getting stuck with the space saver when on holiday with kids on board is a real pain but would not be comfortable with the lack of clearance.
The Eagle LS2 is a rare thing over here and I had to wait a couple of days to get a replacement last time. I'm looking forward to them wearing out so I can replace with Michelins but if I keep getting punctures at this rate that'll never happen!!

 

[SimonD]

Another thought I had was to fit a higher profile tyre to one of the spare Impreza wheels that I have kicking around. 225/75 R16 is available in the same load/speed rating as the Eagle LS2s and is pretty close to the diameter of the original wheels.
They're fine for the Impreza rim width but is there any way of knowing if the Impreza wheel is up to the extra weight of the Tribeca?

 

[singincanary]

It is pretty rare to find a 16" wheel in the Tribeca/'05+ STi fitiment. Our bolt pattern is 5x114.3, the older Impreza's were 5x100. I have a full sized 17x17.5 wheel with 235/65 (or maybe 60, I forget)/17 tire on it and it definately sticks down a bit, reducing clearance to about 5 inches.

I was VERY concenrned putting a full sized OEM Tribeca wheel/tire under there as the Tribeca rims are SUPER heavy and I wasn't sure of the strength of the cable. The STi 17" wheel is only about 16lbs as opposed to the Tribeca which is close to 25lbs.

 

[SimonD]

Thanks for that. I didn't realise that the stud pattern was different. I would have found out tomorrow morning but you've saved me the effort! I saw that the offset was close and assumed that as long as it cleared the cailpers it would be fine.
I couldn't believe how heavy the Tribeca wheel/tyre combination is. Huge too..... it's a real squeeze to get one wheel/tyre into the boot of my Impreza for the trip to the tyre fitters.

 

[Kamkze]

It is pretty rare to find a 16" wheel in the Tribeca/'05+ STi fitiment. Our bolt pattern is 5x114.3, the older Impreza's were 5x100. I have a full sized 17x17.5 wheel with 235/65 (or maybe 60, I forget)/17 tire on it and it definately sticks down a bit, reducing clearance to about 5 inches.

I was VERY concenrned putting a full sized OEM Tribeca wheel/tire under there as the Tribeca rims are SUPER heavy and I wasn't sure of the strength of the cable. The STi 17" wheel is only about 16lbs as opposed to the Tribeca which is close to 25lbs.

Its actually very easy to find a 5x114.3 in a 16" wheel. I just purchased a suzuki sx4 crossover and it comes stock with 16 5x114.3 wheels. While I was searching for wheels for it I came across hundreds of 16" wheels in 5x114.3. If I remember correctly alot of the acura vehicles, the integra the RSX and so on also come with 5x114.3. Just do a search on ebay and I bet you can find them. I know for a fact the factory 16x6 5x114.3 wheels are on there. My only question would be if they would fit over the brakes.

 

[Kamkze]

I just typed in 5x114.3 16" in on ebay and got over 150 wheels that match. Just need to figure out the offset you need.