Last Saturday l picked up my 2008 Sti. Unfortunately, Subaru is not into letting you custom order one and the one that came to the dealership had everything l wanted except the upgraded BBS wheels so l took it instead of waiting to see what the next in stock would be. The bummer is that l can not find any wheel manufacturers that are selling wheels autorized to fit the 2008 model because it just came out. l emailed Subaru and got the bolt pattern: 5X114.3 with 55mm offset. Looking at the 2007 Sti wheels available (on Tirerack.com) they are all 5X114.3 but the offset varies anywhere from 40mm up to 52mm. l do not know much about offset, so I am hoping someone knowledgeable can tell me if it is safe to choose an offset that is not 55mm and if so, how much lower can l go without ruining my supension. Please only answer if you're 100% sure, otherwise, it could be a VERY costly mistake for me. Thanks!

Go with the 52mm offset wheels. The 3mm will not make a difference. 3mm is less than 1/4 inch. You wont even notice the difference looking at the car. And as far as ''ruining'' the suspension goes, you are going to have to try a lot harder than that. l beat on all my subarus and they last forever. Good luck on your search for wheels.

Just be careful. The wheels listed at tire rack (which they just put up this week) are all 5X100 wheels. So make sure you do not order those. And the people at Tirerack do not always tell the right things.

You can go as large as a 8.5'' with a 55mm offset. No smaller than 18.

http://fastwrx.com/rotatorque.html
Check this site out. l just ordered the Rota Torques in gunmetal. 18x8.5 114.3 48mm guaranteed by fastwrx to fit my new 2008 STI. See the description, it specifies 2008 STI.

Excellent Subaru aftermarked site.

why new wheels? Subaru already sport tuned suspension for your ride. If you realy want to upgrade your wheels, try to get the ones with closest offset, in this case, 52mm offset is the choice and stick to the same height so that would not ruin your suspension. with 52mm offset, the tires will be sticking out a bit ,3mm offset difference(might rub fenders).

Congratulations on the new car! You must be really excited.obvious since you're already looking for new rims.

l agree with the above that u should buy in an offset closest to stock.being the 52mm. Past Impreza is could fit a range of offsets before u ran into problems ( l think 38 to 48mm). However, this was found out by people who had the chance to try different sizes & tire combos.

You might even want to go to a local Wheel/Tire shop & see if they can help u figure out what does & does not fit. If you're going to upgrade u might as well get the widest possible Wheels/tires u can safely fit in there.

For the older Impreza is the Tire Rack & other sites only listed 17 x 7.5'' wheels & 225 45 17 tires whereas people were able to fit much wider wheels & tires in their cars after test fitting.