[Omaroo]

Done! Four spankin' Yokohama Geolandar AT/S G012 tyres in 215/65-16 on MY2010 Forester rims. They offer perfect inner guard and strut clearance front and rear - even more than the standard alloys do due to their taller profile. I now have Forester steel wheels, which I've always preferred to have off road and they allow better rubber to boot. An inch difference in the wheel diameter and 65 rather than 55 aspect ratio should give me much better sidewall flex over the rough. Airing down on the beach will also, hopefully, produce a wider and longer patch to float on. Very pleased.

Who said the rear cargo space in the XV is too small? How's four full sized wheels and tyres, plus four additional 16" Forester rims (bought for the up-coming trailer) fit? I could have carried six of each and still had room to spare.

 

[Subir_roo]

Very nice. 15's or 16's are on my list once the funds allow!

 

[Bignick]

Nice!

I've had my '13 Outback 16" steel wheels, 215 70R 16 Contis on now for over 1000 miles, 110 MPH, about 50 miles off road in the desert. I like it, only need a more aggressive tire.

 

[Omaroo]

Thanks fellas I'm actually really liking the look of the plain wheels - the whole vehicle looks purposeful rather than merely pretty. It's not a sports car so I don't think that it needs to look like one.

 

[tahoetrek]

Omaroo... I don't usually dig silver wheels, but I must say it looks nice. The aggressive tires certainly help out too.
I was thinking of going down to a 16" wheel myself, but I'm on a budget so I just ordered some AT tires.

 

[ClubCrosstrek]

Looks really good. I still prefer the actual style/color of the stock wheels, but you can't argue with the higher ride height and better aspect ratio. Like Subir_roo said, 15s or 16s are on my wish list for sure.

 

[Omaroo]

Well, after an afternoon in soaking rain on a tricky couple of local tracks with plenty of deep soft sand, black mud and slippery rock shelves, the XV was fantastic on these tyres. Traction control was going berserk, wheels hanging in the air everywhere and it just marched on without any tyre scuffing or real spinning. I'm happy with my decision to go with the AT/S's. They make the XV even more capable, and I'm also pretty sold on the CVT and centre clutch pack off road. It works amazingly well. No photos I'm sorry - it was pouring rain outside and it was damned cold. LOL. Big toughie...

Picking your line is paramount in this buggy. I've driven some mighty capable 4WDs over the past 35 years, and none were the panacea in all conditions. Some terrain prefers a short wheelbase, other long. Some takes a light vehicle to get across, other heavy works better. Crossing some terrain works better with tall narrow tyres to bite through - other wide and floaty. For anyone to stand there and dismiss the little XV and blindly suggest "you can't take that up there" without first understanding its capabilities is simply inexperience talking. I took the XV up a couple of areas yesterday, with relative ease on these tyres, where I know for a fact that my open-diffed LR Defender on 33's would probably have had trouble. My biggest gripe with the XV is the front approach angle. It can be compensated for by approaching on an exaggerated oblique line, but the front spoiler arrangement is definitely not long for this world on my car. I'm going to look at the Subaextreme bar, and maybe modify it for better corner clearance. I don't want to go completely nuts, but there are a couple of things like this, and another inch or two of lift, that I'll do to this car to make it as capable as it can be without radical modification. I want to be able to tackle the Victorian high country here in Australia with some semblance of hope. The only thing that would be a bugger in the high country is the size of my right thigh - it's nowhere big enough yet to be able to apply constant brakes the whole way down the range.

 

[ClubCrosstrek]

Good writeup, Omaroo. I had my XV camping this weekend and the parking space I was in was a pretty steep dirt incline. One side was relatively smooth but the other was much sandier with deep ruts and rather large rocks "growing" out of the ground. At one point an AWD Honda Element pulled into the rough side of the spot (my friends and I were all parked on the smooth side). Once the Element realized that the campsite was occupied by us (as if our cars didn't give it away) he tried to back out but got stuck, just spinning in the sand trying to reverse up the hill. He made multiple attempts at different angles but with no luck.

My friends and I ended up moving our cars so that the Element could drive up the smooth side of the driveway. The next day, when we packed up to leave, I parked my Trek down the rough side of the hill so that it was closer to the campsite and easier to load. I reversed out of the spot without any issue from even further down than the Element attempted. I know that's very minor, but it felt good that my XV could get me out of that area. I even had one wheel up in the air at one point as I pulled over one of the large rocks.

I do have a question about your new wheel/tire setup: does it affect your speedometer at all? I would imagine it would throw it off one way or the other by at least a few MPH/KPH.

 

[Omaroo]

The AT/S in 215/65-16 are 27" overall diameter and are measured to roll 768 revolutions per mile. The 225/55-17 G095's measure 775 revolutions per mile and 26.8" in diameter. That's 6.88ft/rev vs. 6.81ft - or a 1.03% difference - given that pressures are equal of course.

1.03% means that at 100km/h you'll be indicating 98.97 - say 99km/h. Not a biggie me thinks.

 

[ClubCrosstrek]

The AT/S in 215/65-16 are 27" overall diameter and are measured to roll 768 revolutions per mile. The 225/55-17 G095's measure 775 revolutions per mile and 26.8" in diameter. That's 6.88ft/rev vs. 6.81ft - or a 1.03% difference - given that pressures are equal of course.

1.03% means that at 100km/h you'll be indicating 98.97 - say 99km/h. Not a biggie me thinks.

Awesome! That is no biggie at all, me thinks as well!