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so my tyres are up for replacement (I have a '96 Gx lib). been looking on ebay for some wheel/tyre combos, found this set of gold WRX rims and tyres - am attracted to the gold as it would look hot with the dark green paint, but the wheels have +53 offset
- is that a lot?
- clearly I would need to get the alignment redone but what about room inside the wheelarches?

Any thoughts?

nah. WRX, Impreza and Liberty rims will fit bothways, Forester and Outback has 48+ offset but still will fit on Liberty anyway.
Nothing specific needed to be done for arches/alignments.
For example, Since you have 96 Liberty, if you fitted MY05 17" rims you might need to roll your front guards a bit otherwise the tyres will pick the guards and bend it (not bad "bend"). - if you want to know where I'm coming from I can show you a pic.
Cheers
AP

^^^ What he said.