Zap
Elite Member
My wife's WRX can now be the beast it is! We have never driven her car on the original wheels/tires because we got snow tires put on before leaving the dealer (was snowing that day). Weather seems to be co-operating, haven't seen snow in like 2½ weeks. 😀 Already swapped out my Mazdaspeed 6, yesterday did the WRX. I now also have a breaker bar and torque wrench to add to my arsenal. Made it so easy that I wonder why I didn't think of this before? 😕
Here are the tires stacked against the garage wall. Ignore the size, perspective threw them off. They are all almost the same size. Starting from the closest stack on the left are the Michelin X-Ice, Blizzaks and then the OEM tires from my 'speed 6, almost down to the tread bars. They are all mounted on wheels, so I can swap 'em out as needed.
Here's a previously posted pic of the WRX with the X-Ice tires and some random cheap aluminum wheels.
Here is the WRX back to original wheels/tires. If you look closely you can see the nubs still on the tread. Lots of reflections in the paint even though the car is dirty.
Here's the rear, looking out of my garage.
Here's the front. Wow, the unpainted brakes have some rust on them from just one Winter. Tires are still nice, black and shiny from the dealer prep. A very distorted reflection of me is somewhere there, right underneath my older BMX bike (GT Pro Series aluminum).
Funny thing is that I took it out for a spin after putting the wheels on, and stopped for some $4.20/gal gas. A near identical 2011 WRX hatch pulled up to the pump right behind me and I ended up talking to the owner for a few minutes. He got the same color, but a lower end model (ours is Premium with leather, his didn't have leather so it was Limited or base). He bought his right off the lot after cross-shopping pretty much the same cars we did (Evo, BMW 3--ix, Audi). He also had the short shifter (which we also have), plus had the stainless exhaust.
Here are the tires stacked against the garage wall. Ignore the size, perspective threw them off. They are all almost the same size. Starting from the closest stack on the left are the Michelin X-Ice, Blizzaks and then the OEM tires from my 'speed 6, almost down to the tread bars. They are all mounted on wheels, so I can swap 'em out as needed.
Here's a previously posted pic of the WRX with the X-Ice tires and some random cheap aluminum wheels.
Here is the WRX back to original wheels/tires. If you look closely you can see the nubs still on the tread. Lots of reflections in the paint even though the car is dirty.
Here's the rear, looking out of my garage.
Here's the front. Wow, the unpainted brakes have some rust on them from just one Winter. Tires are still nice, black and shiny from the dealer prep. A very distorted reflection of me is somewhere there, right underneath my older BMX bike (GT Pro Series aluminum).
Funny thing is that I took it out for a spin after putting the wheels on, and stopped for some $4.20/gal gas. A near identical 2011 WRX hatch pulled up to the pump right behind me and I ended up talking to the owner for a few minutes. He got the same color, but a lower end model (ours is Premium with leather, his didn't have leather so it was Limited or base). He bought his right off the lot after cross-shopping pretty much the same cars we did (Evo, BMW 3--ix, Audi). He also had the short shifter (which we also have), plus had the stainless exhaust.
