off road Build for my 05 SG XT Auto

The Bovine

The Bovine

Forum Member
Joined
Apr 11, 2020
Messages
9
Location
Washington
Car Year
05
Car Model
Forester
Transmission
Auto
Hey folks,

I am new to this whole forum and I have read a lot of really good stuff on here. You guys obviously know your stuff. So to give you a little back story I picked up a bone stock 05 forester xt for about $1200 and I love it. It's got about 170k on it, I looked forward to getting my hand dirty wrenching on the thing and truly making it my own. I've taken it to a shop to get it checked out for any major issues. I've replaced the Timing belt, pulleys, water pump and thermostat etc. any ways the shop is taking care of a couple more things for me. Anyways I am a WildLand firefighter and my base camp is located out in the middle of no where and I am so stoked to finally have something I can build up to be an off road beast. I understand I have a lot of miles on this rig and thankfully it was owned by some people who seemed to have not tore the thing up to bad. I need ideas, Wisdom, things not to do, things to do. I am here and very eager to learn from you folks. Thank you so much for your time.
My Ideas, so far

2" ADF lift kit

beefy off-road suspension (maybe by Xcceleration Racing Subaru Coilovers?)

Method Race Wheels MR501 VT-SPEC 2 15x7 5x100 +48 (Tire ideas?)

Skid Plate(s)

Deer Killer (Front Bumper, They're a hazard out there)

Lightbar(s)

Stage 2 Cobb set up

Roof Rack and Or Roof Top Tent

STI 6 Sp Swap? LOL now I'm dreaming... But seriously maybe one day...

I am sure I missed some things, anyways give me your honest thoughts and wisdom seriously point me in the right direction. I know height might be an issue which is why I am looking to put a little more power in the engine but I understand with the OEM auto TC I can't put to much power in my engine with out sacrificing a bit of reliability.

Alright I'm done... Thanks again peeps!
 
Hi !

Buy local, take a Subieliftoz 2" lift kit ! Sorry, didn't see you are local to ADF....!

If you have some more cash, I would suggest HotBits coilovers (a few of us have them here and ADF sells them too), but first mod you must do is a skid plate. As for the wheels, maybe some more offset, ET30 could be a good advice so you have more space between the wheel and the strut.

By the way, your Forester is a SG !
 
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Deer killer ? interesting . but they high animals even if your bumper will survive it can fly up to your hood and then front window, so its even more damage then just bumper anyway. Or you need very high metal frame on bumper. that would look weird.
 
scalman said:
Deer killer ? interesting . but they high animals even if your bumper will survive it can fly up to your hood and then front window, so its even more damage then just bumper anyway. Or you need very high metal frame on bumper. that would look weird.
Click to expand...

Hey scalman , yeah that’s just what they are called out here, of course if I actually hit a deer it would cause quite a bit of damage. I am more looking for kind of a small/mid size front bumper
 
jf1sf5 said:
Hi !

Buy local, take a Subieliftoz 2" lift kit ! Sorry, didn't see you are local to ADF....!

If you have some more cash, I would suggest HotBits coilovers (a few of us have them here and ADF sells them too), but first mod you must do is a skid plate. As for the wheels, maybe some more offset, ET30 could be a good advice so you have more space between the wheel and the strut.

By the way, your Forester is a SG !
Click to expand...
Yeah it’s pretty nice, ADF is like a few hours away I guess, any ways what is ET30? I don’t know much about offset or all those technical sort of things. I want to learn though!
 
ET30 (+30 or os30) is the offset of the rim. The Method wheels you're looking for have +48 offset. Here's a short video explaining offset.

 
Oh man, that video was super helpful thank you my man!
 
So you mentioned you have hotbits coil overs, What kind do you have, what’s you lift size on your Fozzy? Did you have custom brake lines done? How often do you service them?
 
G'day & Welcome @The Bovine

jf1sf5 said:
Buy local, take a Subieliftoz 2" lift kit
Click to expand...

A very well recommended kit, well made and well designed and will ship - worth getting a quote from @NachaLuva

jf1sf5 said:
ET30 could be a good advice
Click to expand...

Make sure the wheel will fit over your front brake calipers. As for tires it depends how hard you want to off-road, heavier more agressive tires means more fuel usage. Some of the popular brands are BFG AT, General Grabbers, Yokohama AT, Maxxis, Bridgestone D697, Coopers (don't like them) and Falken Wildpeak are gaining a good reputation. I've run BFG, AT on the Subie and MT on the ute, for many years and while I like them they are becoming very expensive here.

I think you will find you're better off with the auto for off-roading, especially in an XT.

Primitive make a nice skid plate
 
Hey Kevin any wheels you recommend? are there whells I should stray away from that would not work on my car?
 
Several folks here run the Audi A3 "Pepperpot" 15" wheels for off-roading.
There's discussions on wheels here: Tyres/Tires and Wheels
and lots here: Wheels and Tires

I changed to 15" wheels many years ago but if I was to do it again I'd be looking for the Pepperpots or probably something like the Method rims. Depends how deep a wallet you have really ;-)
 
Is off set super important when deciding on off road rims

I only ask because the method wheels I posted have a 48 off set and I just didn't know if that was to big a deal. Sounds like that off set is OEM size for my rig.
 
Yes, offset is important when fitting larger tires so this advice is good:
jf1sf5 said:
ET30 could be a good advice so you have more space between the wheel and the strut.
Click to expand...

When you fit a strut and/or spring lift it does not change the distance between the center of the wheel and the bottom of the spring perch so a way of overcoming this issue to fit larger tires is to reduce the size of the rim and also reduce the offset to move the wheel and tire away from the spring perch so there is no rubbing.
 
Those Methods with the stock +48 offset are good for running up to a 215/75r15 tyre or maybe a 225/75r15 tyre in some makes. This will give standard track with tyres well in the guards.

I went to a Raceline 141 with a +40 offset. This allowed me to run a slightly wider tyre. The slightly wider makes the tyres sit flush with the guards. I had to grind about 1mm of the corners of the front brake calipers to fit these rims. Some 15" rims will require a fair bit to be ground off the front calipers. Methods don't require any grinding.

My mate runs Dynamic steel wheels with 0 offset. This allows him to run massive 30/9.5r15 tyres. This sits way outside the guards. Other mods are required to reduce rubbing on the guards. But the offset makes it possible to clear the spring perch.90057369_2479387345612280_7388910802297683968_o.jpg
 
so those 0 offset or less offset rims put more preasure on bearing as your wheel center now is more far outside is it ?. same as wheel spacers do. lots arguing about this, but result its same as i see it, your wheel center is more far out from bearing
 
but it looks amazing like totaly different car for me, like not forester anymore , so mean and high, like its grown now to big 4x4 league. good that they still have then enough power or use lower gears. I remember i saw some good looking forester here lifted , mean mud tires and all but it was 2.0 with auto. so it couldnt even move lol
 
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