elderlycoffee
Member
- :
- 2007 Sunlight Silver mazdaspeed 3
why would I want to go from 18's to 16's?
TireRack info about Speed3 wheels
- Thread starter jheer
- Start date
elderlycoffee said:
Several reasons:
(1) if you autocross, you want less spinning weight, more traction,
(2) 16-inch wheels and tires are generally lighter and cheaper,
(3) more options available which will fit into our wheel wells,
(4) for snow tires, you generally want TALLER tires, and you can't easily fit taller tires on the 18's.
RPI-Speed3
Member
- :
- 2007 Mazdaspeed 3, 2004 Mazda RX-8
If you buy rims without TPMS, you will just see a light illuminate on the instrument panel that is an exclamation point in between parenthesis (something like this--->) (_!_). It won't affect any other systems on the car.
RPI-Speed3 said:
I can attest to this. No problems with the TPMS, just the indicator light on the tachometer. It blinks when you start the car and then stays on permanently while driving.
I have finally attached photos of the new snow tires/wheels from TireRack. They are 16x7 Sport Edition D4's with new Blizzak REVO's in 205/60/16. All shipped to my door for $803. No clearance issues at all.
Yes, the Blizzaks are taller than the stock tires, so there is serious rollover in hard cornering, but they got me safely to work today in the first rush hour with snow and ice. I don't think they look TOO bad.
No annoying dings or chimes from the TPMS?
A light doesn't sound too bad. Means you could order the wheels mounted and balance directly and not have to worry about swapping out the sensors from the original wheels, which would be a major PITA, since you would have to unmount the tire.
A light doesn't sound too bad. Means you could order the wheels mounted and balance directly and not have to worry about swapping out the sensors from the original wheels, which would be a major PITA, since you would have to unmount the tire.
Olestra said:
Wheel gap should be around the same as no one will be changing the diameter of their wheels that much by going to a small rim size, just changing the ratio of tire to rim height.
Regarding going to the smallest rim, highest profile tire; that is the best from a cost point of view, but the worst from a handling perspective. I don't want to ruin my MS3s handling for 4-5 months of the year. I'm sticking 225 performance winters on the OEM rims to keep the good handling, and also get me through most of the snowy days.
I live in Toronto where the roads a cleared pretty well so I'm not worried about the wider tire as there are few days where you are driving through really deep snow.
Just another point of view.
WagonMan said:
I suppose handling will be sacrificed and ruin this advantage in the MS3.
You're right, the diameter remains the same. I've seen some cars with really high profile tires - to me the large amounts of rubber is kinda ugly. But that's a small sacrifice to be able to drive through snow and be safe. In Edmonton, my 205 50 17s do ok as well and they aren't an extremely wide tire but I do notice that on bad snow days, my car gets plowed by the snow and it will shift back and forth trying to make it's way through. Our streets get cleaned pretty well too except in residential (nightmare) where it's lower priority. That and the few days the roads get really bad are where I'm glad I have winters, I think it's worth it.
So I would suppose that this is a bit subjective - if you think that most of your driving will be on very light snow and dry/wet pavement even in winter, then you could probably get away with bigger, lower profiles. If you think you're going to get stuck with such wide tires, then smaller steelies and higher profile.
If I was in Edmonton I would probably not go with the choice I made (the wide, low profile performance winter tire choice). But would go with some skinny, Q rated tires. In deep snow all the MS3s will end up plowing snow as they are a pretty low car. Maybe you could be the first to install hydraulics on the MS3.Olestra said:
I live about 100ft from Yonge street in Toronto, so there is minimal driving on uncleared streets, plus on bad days I can take the subway to work. So I have a different perspective from many other winter drivers.
MightyMouse
Member
Albert said:
Albert, quick question. It is really hard to tell in the pictures, but are the steel wheels hubcentric? I really don't like using wheels that don't fit the hubs properly.
MightyMouse
Member
Albert said:
That's OK thanks, as long as they fit tight on the hubs, that is good enough for me....
turbofever
Member
- :
- MS3
What's the offset on those wheels?Albert said:Here's my MS3 with the 16" steelies and Dunlop Wintersport M3's (from Tirerack):
Last edited:
what is the bolt pattern for MS3 wheels? 5 x 100 mm?
what is the ideal offset? has somebody put a table together yet?
I mean, if you wanted to shoe-horn 8" wide wheels, what offset is needed?
I've got a nearly new set of Rotas in 17" x 8" with a +48mm offset.
will these fit on the MS3? has anybody put 8" wheels on? any rubbing?
what is the ideal offset? has somebody put a table together yet?
I mean, if you wanted to shoe-horn 8" wide wheels, what offset is needed?
I've got a nearly new set of Rotas in 17" x 8" with a +48mm offset.
will these fit on the MS3? has anybody put 8" wheels on? any rubbing?
