Yes, it’s possible. Yes, I run winter beater steelies on my 2007 STi Limted. Yes, they’re ugly. And yes, this post has all of the details, with pictures.

Why?

Some will say that all Subaru vehicles handle great in the snow with just all-season tires. And I would, in general, agree with them. But if you want superior traction and control in the snow, it’s no secret that Subaru’s incredible symmetric all-wheel-drive is enough. When it comes down to it, you need great tread if you want great performance.

When I bought my car it was equipped with 225/45/17 Pirelli P-Zero Nero Mud and Snow tires mounted on 7.5″ wide heavy-as-anything rims. I don’t know if it was something about that set of tires in particular, but I was sliding around all over the place in just a few inches of snow. Needless to say, I expected better traction than that. A friend of mine with a rear-wheel-drive Volvo on two snow tires said his traction was better than what I was getting with my STi. I believe him.

But why, then, should I get a separate set of wheels? Of course, there’s the usual argument that it’s much easier and more convenient to be able to quickly switch tires without having to dismount/remount at each season change, but there was another reason that struck my fancy: performance. I wanted to get as narrow a wheel as possible, and found the answer in steel wheels. I have yet to find an alloy wheel as narrow as the steelies I use now while still fitting over the Brembo brakes¹. Now, I have wonderfully narrow wheels for the winter and sweet wide wheels for the summer. It’s the best of both worlds.

Wheels: 2007-2009 Honda CR-V Steel Wheels

I found a forum post on iwsti.com about 6.5″ wide steel wheels that fit over the Brembo brakes on the STi. Let’s review the benefits, here: cheap, great fitment, really narrow, and again, cheap. I was totally sold on it. For $180 I had four brand new take-offs shipped to my door². Test fitment was absolutely perfect, with a whole lot more room between the wheel and the brakes as compared to any other wheel I’ve seen on the STi.

The 2007-2009 Honda CR-V steel wheels are 6.5″ wide, 17″ in diameter and have an offset large enough to fit over the stock Brembo brakes on any year STi. The bolt pattern on these wheels is 5×114.3, so they should fit on any STi, model year 2005 and up at time of writing. I did not use hub-centric rings and haven’t had any balance issues so far. As noted elsewhere, you should always use ball-seat lug nuts with Honda wheels. Stock subaru lug nuts are of the conical seat variety and matching lug nuts and wheels correctly is pretty important if you want to avoid having your lug nuts loosen and your wheels fall off.

The only major issue with these wheels, apart from the fact that they’re ridiculously heavy compared to a decent set of alloy wheels and that they’re ugly as sin, is that the stock center caps are embossed with a Honda logo. Since I’m not the kind of guy who likes to run wheels without center caps, I decided to remedy the situation a-la-DIY. What I came up with was a solution involving sanding³, Bondo, more sanding, priming, even more sanding and then painting⁴. Pictures below illustrate some of the process.

Tires: Dunlop WinterSport 3D

I decided to spring for the Dunlop WinterSport 3D wheels in 205/50/17. For winter performance I wanted the extra sidewall height and of course went as narrow as possible. It’s my understanding that Dunlop (or anyone, for that matter) doesn’t make a 17″ tire narrower than 205. Just the same, I’m not sure how going narrower than 205 would affect handling at highway speeds — I certainly did notice a subtle difference going from 225 to 205, especially in tracking at higher speed.

Results

The difference in traction and control between my new winter setup and my old all-season setup is enormous. Having never run winter tires before, I had no idea that the difference in handling and confidence was so night-and-day; had I known, I’d probably have made the switch many years prior.

My ‘custom’ center caps have held up pretty well, considering it was a makeshift rattle-can job. The paint hasn’t peeled or chipped, nor has the Bondo. All-in-all I’m very satisfied with the results, even if they’re ugly. As usual, I go for performance over looks!

1. Even if there were such a wheel, I doubt it’d be as cost effective.
2. Thanks to eBay.
3. Always roughen smooth surfaces before applying Bondo.
4. Actually, there were several rounds to the priming/sanding/painting routine.