Prodrive PFF7 Speedline 18″ Alloy Wheels – A Closer Look

As mentioned in the post detailing the purchase of my Impreza, I managed to bag a set of Gold Prodrive PFF7 Alloy wheels into the deal. Let’s take a closer look at this much coveted wheel choice.

Made exclusively for Prodrive by Speedline in Italy, the PFF7 (Prodrive Flow Forming 7-Spoke) was a popular optional extra for owners of Newage Imprezas. Good condition sets seem to be getting harder to find now (can you still buy these new??), and they can fetch a premium compared to other popular wheel choices.

The Prodrive PFF7 wheel (not PPF7, a common mistake) is a striking seven spoke design utilising flow forming construction techniques. These enable the wheel to be made lighter than standard die cast wheels without sacrificing any of the wheel’s strength or durability. From personal experience they’re not mega lightweight – but does that really matter when they look this good?

Prodrive PFF7 Colours

Complete with Prodrive branded centre caps, the PFF7’s look amazing on any Subaru of this era. With a colour choice of Bright Flitter, British Pewter, Anthracite and Gold, they suit a variety of body colours – but with my Impreza being blue I just had to go for the gold.

Prodrive PFF7 Sizes, PCD, Widths and Offsets

The Prodrive PFF7’s come in two different PCD sizes, 114.3 and 100, perfect for all iterations of the Newage (‘Bugeye’, ‘Blobeye’ and ‘Hawkeye’) Subarus. The limited edition Subaru Impreza WR1 released in 2004 even had the Prodrive PFF7’s as standard. For my particular application, I have the rarer 100 PCD to suit my 2003 Impreza.

Picture from August 2014

Recommended tyre sizes for these 18″ wheels come in at 225/40/18, which is enough to maintain the rolling diameter of the original 17″ wheels and tyres.

Unfortunately the Falken tyres already fitted to my Prodrive PFF7’s were a reduced 35 profile, a little too low profile for my liking when it comes to both looks and road feel. I’ve got my eyes on a set of Vredestein Ultrac Sessanta tyres for the future.

The overall specification of my wheels is as follows:

Size: 18″
PCD: 100×5
Offset: ET51
Width: 8″ (8JJ)

Here’s a link to the original Prodrive Brochure for these wheels, including their part numbers.

Click here to download

And here’s a useful table of part numbers:

Beautiful!