There is no Subaru switch date, and that is the whole problem
Subaru moved its lineup from 5x100 to 5x114.3. Everybody knows that. What nobody can ever remember is when, because Subaru did it model by model over nine years.
| Model | 5x100 through | 5x114.3 from |
|---|---|---|
| Legacy | MY2014 | MY2015 |
| Outback | MY2014 | MY2015 |
| Forester | MY2018 | MY2019 |
| Impreza | MY2023 | MY2024 |
| Crosstrek | MY2023 | MY2024 |
| Ascent | never | 5x114.3 from launch, MY2019 |
| WRX | see note | 5x114.3 on VA (2015) and VB (2022) |
| WRX STI | MY2004 | MY2005 |
Four different switch years across one lineup. A 2019 Forester and a 2019 Crosstrek, bought the same week from the same dealer, take completely different wheels.
This is the model range we see most often on the Island - Outbacks, Foresters and Crosstreks are everywhere here - so it is worth getting straight.
The hub bore will not help you. At all.
Here is the part that turns a solvable problem into a returned set of wheels.
Every modern Subaru, in both patterns, across every model and every generation, has a 56.1 mm hub bore. We went looking for an exception and there is not one.
The cleanest proof is the STI. The 2004 STI is 5x100. The 2005 STI is 5x114.3. Same car, one year apart, same 56.1 mm bore.
So the usual diagnostic - measure the hub, cross-reference it - returns the identical answer on every Subaru ever made and tells you nothing. The same is true of the thread: M12 x 1.25 on all of them, which is Subaru's own pitch and specifically not the M12 x 1.5 that Toyota, Honda, Hyundai and Kia use. That is worth knowing in its own right, because a lug nut out of a Toyota parts bin will not fit a Subaru.
Identify a Subaru's bolt pattern by model and model year. Nothing else works. Or count and measure the studs on the car in front of you, which is what we do.
The databases are behind on the current cars
If you own a 2024 or newer Impreza or Crosstrek, be careful what you read.
Several major fitment databases still publish "Crosstrek, all years: 5x100" and "Impreza: 5x100" with no year cutoff, because their tables were built before the 2024 changeover and were never revisited. One large publisher that operates the same dataset across four different domain names does exactly this, with no 2024 or 2025 data in it at all. A search for "Subaru Crosstrek bolt pattern" can very easily land you there.
We also found an OEM wheel reseller listing every 2019 Forester wheel as 5x100 - wrong, the 2019 Forester is 5x114.3 - while getting its 2022 Forester listings right. The site fails precisely at the changeover year, which is exactly where somebody is most likely to be looking.
For the record: the 2024 and newer Impreza and Crosstrek are 5x114.3, 56.1 mm bore, M12 x 1.25. Verified two independent ways, including factory wheel part data.
If your car is a 2024 or newer, verify against your own wheel rather than a database.
Factory offsets
An honest preface: Subaru does not publish wheel offsets. We checked directly. Subaru of America's own press kits give wheel diameter and finish by trim and nothing else - "17-inch aluminum-alloy wheels in dark gray finish" is the level of detail on offer. No widths, no offsets, no bolt pattern.
So everything below is read off factory wheels by the people who resell them, or comes from a wheel database. It is thinner data than we can give you on a Toyota truck and we would rather say so than present it as though it came from Subaru.
| Model and years | Wheel | Offset | Tire |
|---|---|---|---|
| Outback 2015-2019 | 17x7 | +55 | 225/65R17 |
| Outback 2020-2025 | 17x7 | +55 | 225/65R17 |
| Outback 2020-2025 | 18x7 | +55 | 225/60R18 |
| Forester 2019-2024 | 17x7 | +48 | 225/60R17 |
| Forester 2019-2024 | 18x7 | +48 | 225/55R18 |
| Impreza 2024+ | 16x6.5 | +55 | 205/55R16 |
| Impreza 2024+ | 18x7.5 | +55 | 225/40R18 |
| Crosstrek 2024+ | 17x7 | +55 | 225/60R17 |
| WRX 2022+ (VB) | 17x8 | +55 | 235/45R17 |
| WRX 2022+ (VB) | 18x8.5 | +55 | 245/40R18 |
The pattern jumps out: +55 is the Subaru number. Every current-generation Subaru factory wheel we could source an offset for reads +55, with the Forester the single outlier at +48.
Two rows in that table - the Outback 18x7 and both Forester rows - reached two independent sources. The rest are single-source. Treat +55 as a reliable rule of thumb and the individual rows as indicative.
What we will not give you is a Wilderness offset. The Outback Wilderness, Forester Wilderness and Crosstrek Wilderness all get specific wheels, and Subaru publishes nothing about them beyond "matte black." The one figure available for the Outback Wilderness comes from a database row that groups it in with the ordinary Limited and Touring trims, which is not the same thing as confirming it. If you have a Wilderness, bring it in and we will measure the wheel.
What this means for the aftermarket
Stock is +55. Subarus generally look and sit right in the +38 to +48 range on the 5x114.3 cars, which is a modest 7 to 17 mm shift outboard per side.
That is a much gentler change than the truck world, and it is one of the reasons Subaru wheel fitment is relatively forgiving. But the same physics applies - moving the wheel outboard grows the scrub radius roughly one for one and moves wheel bearing loading outboard of where it was designed to sit - so a 25 mm change is a real change, not a cosmetic one.
We could not source measured, photographed owner fitments with rub reports for any of these cars from anything we would stand behind, so we are not going to publish a "this rubs at that offset" table for Subaru. We would be making it up. What we can do is tell you what we have fitted, which is a different and better kind of information.
A Subaru-specific point about winter sets
This is where the pattern confusion costs the most money, because it is where used wheels come in.
Half the winter wheel sets on this Island are second-hand Subaru takeoffs, and Subaru owners tend to assume any Subaru wheel fits any Subaru. On a 2014 Outback and a 2016 Outback that is untrue in a way the seller may not know either - and because the bore matches and the thread matches, everything about the transaction feels correct.
Two rules cover it:
- Ask for the donor car's year and model, not just the make. "Subaru wheels" is not a specification.
- Count the studs on your own car first. It is free and it is the only test that cannot be wrong.
Also worth knowing: all-wheel-drive Subarus are unusually intolerant of mismatched rolling diameters. If you are building a winter set, all four tires want to be the same size, the same model and worn to a similar depth. That is a Subaru drivetrain issue rather than a wheel issue, but it lands in the same conversation.
Torque
We could not source a Subaru lug torque figure to a Subaru-hosted document. Their technical information sits behind a paid portal and their public specification pages carry no torque data. The one third-party figure we found was internally self-contradictory - the same entry gave two units that do not convert to each other - so we discarded it.
Door jamb placard, owner's manual, and re-torque at 100 kilometres. Free on anything we fit.
Wheels we can get
Both Subaru patterns are well covered. What we stock or order regularly:
- Konig - the obvious one, and deservedly. Light, well-priced flow-formed wheels in both 5x100 and 5x114.3, in the offsets Subarus actually want rather than the offsets trucks want. If you are after one wheel that suits a Crosstrek, a WRX and an Outback alike, this is the catalogue.
- Fast Wheels - broad range and a good source for a straightforward winter set in 17 inch.
- Braelin - cleaner, more finished designs for the Outback and Legacy end of the lineup, where the car is not trying to look like a rally car.
- RTX - practical and well priced, strong for second sets.
- Motegi Racing - lighter, motorsport-derived designs, which suits the WRX and the sportier Impreza.
We have a separate guide for WRX and STI fitment specifically, because that car has its own brake clearance and offset conversation that does not apply to an Outback.
The short version
- Four switch years: Legacy and Outback 2015, Forester 2019, Impreza and Crosstrek 2024, Ascent always 5x114.3.
- Every Subaru, both patterns, is 56.1 mm bore and M12 x 1.25. The bore tells you nothing.
- Major databases still list the Crosstrek and Impreza as 5x100 with no year cutoff. They are wrong for 2024 and newer.
- +55 is the factory offset across the current lineup. The Forester is the exception at +48.
- Subaru publishes no offsets, so treat every figure here as read off a wheel rather than issued by the factory.
- Buying used winter wheels? Get the donor car's year, and count your own studs.
All specifications above are North American market only.
Confirm the fitment with us before you order. Give us the year, model and trim and tell us what you want the car to look like, and we will tell you what will actually fit it.
About SHC Auto
We have been fitting wheels and tires in Victoria since 1991, out of the same shop at 474 Bay Street. Alongside wheels and tires we do suspension and lift work, window tint, paint protection film, vinyl wraps, ceramic coating, paint correction and detailing, caliper painting, chrome delete, and vehicle graphics and signage. We also do the things most shops send out: curb rash repair and wheel refinishing, TPMS sensor supply and fitting, tint removal, and re-torque after install.
The catalogue on our website is a fraction of what we can actually order. We are an authorized dealer for more than three hundred aftermarket brands, and a good number of them never made it onto the site because there is no data feed for them. That includes most of the lift and levelling kit market. If you cannot find something, ask us rather than assuming we cannot get it.
SHC Autographx and Tires
474 Bay Street, Victoria, BC
Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 5:30. Closed weekends.
Free shipping anywhere on Vancouver Island.
Planning a set of wheels? Bring the car by 474 Bay Street. It is much faster to look at what you have and tell you what it will take than to work it out over email.