help with wheels

[killjoy33]

so... i just bought a liquid silver 4dr 2010 mazda 3. am a first time car buyer, so i didnt notice that i dont have alloy wheels. i have the stupid plastic crap. i want to change the wheels i have to somethings that looks cool/decent that is also inexpensive. i know nothing about cars so can anyone explain to me about the wheels and suspensions. my plan is to get wheels and drop the car a little bit. great ones please guide me

 

[CorkSport]

Define inexpensive.

-Derrick

 

[not yellow]

easiest thing to do is get wheels that are the same size and offset as the stock wheels. then fit them with stock size tires. this guarantees no fitment issues. if you want different sizes/offsets then there is much more to consider. after that, springs will be the cheapest way to drop the car a bit. both decent wheels and springs can be found used...

 

[spotch]

I got mazda miata wheels. Here's what they look like:

http://www.mazdas247.com/forum/showthread.php?p=5071364#post5071364

The ones off the 06+ miatas fit perfectly, and are light as hell for not being aftermarket. You can find 16s like mine, or 17s that came on the higher-end miatas for 400~ bucks after shipping, maybe less. If you stick with 16s, like the ones you have on now, you can pay a tire place 50-60 bucks to swap the tires onto the new rims and put them on the car for you. If you go up a size you need to buy new tires in addition to the new wheels. Either miata wheel set is super light for oem (15 pounds for the 15s, 17.1~ for the 17s, not as light as lightweight aftermarket wheels, but a lot lighter than most cheaper aftermarket ones), which is good because more weight = worse braking, worse gas mileage, worse acceleration, worse handling on any kind of uneven surface. Another option is look at used wheels off older 3s, you could swap those on as well. Not as light as the miata wheels, but they should all be at least a little lighter than the steel wheels. The steel wheels + hubcaps that come on the 3i sport do suck, heavy as hell.

 

[killjoy33]

corksport: wheels that would cost me not more than $600, and i dont know how much good tires cost.

not yellow: i want to change size to like a 17-18. so... more of your opinion is needed. haha

spotch: ha great idea! i want to go up a size though. i want to make my 3 look badd on the road. lol all my friends drive EVO's and STI's, i want to look good while im all the way behind trying to keep up with them. hehe

 

[CorkSport]

Getting a set of take off wheels is a good way to go for 17s or 18s with tires for the price range you have.

Getting a decent wheel and tire package for that budget might be tight. You could get lucky though, craiglists can be your friend for picking up a set of wheels locally.

-Derrick

 

[killjoy33]

take off wheels?? lol

 

[not yellow]

if you are going to change the wheel size and drop the suspension there are more factors to consider. amount of drop, wheel diameter, wheel width, wheel offset, tire height, tire width, fender clearance, strut clearance, camber. really depends on what you are going for. using a wheel/tire calculator like this: http://www.rims-n-tires.com/rt_specs.jsp can help you with comparing wheel/tire sizes against stock sizes for fitment.

 

[spotch]

corksport: wheels that would cost me not more than $600, and i dont know how much good tires cost.

not yellow: i want to change size to like a 17-18. so... more of your opinion is needed. haha
e
spotch: ha great idea! i want to go up a size though. i want to make my 3 look badd on the road. lol all my friends drive EVO's and STI's, i want to look good while im all the way behind trying to keep up with them. hehe

If I were going up to 17s here are what I would consider.

1. 17" miata wheels, again, because they're affordable, durable, light, and built for mazdas (for what that's worth)

2. 17" Rota slipstreams. Rota makes lightweight wheels in a ton of configurations, and I've always thought the slipstreams were the best looking and arguably more durable than their thinner-spoked brands. New these should still be around 550-600 if you go through a good seller. There's a guy on the hondatech forums that wells 16s for 490$ including shipping, so maybe 550-600 for 17s, plus 450~ for a set of tires depending on where you go. Lots of places will do a wheel/tire package for you and while that's usually cheaper, it leaves out your tire pressure monitoring sensor that is inside your current set of wheels/tires. If you get shipped a whole wheel/tire package, there's no chance to take the sensor out of your current wheels and installed on the new wheels unless you take it somewhere and spend another 60~ bucks to have them do it for you. (Which kinda negates the cost savings of doing the wheel/tire package online for me).

3. 17" kosei K1s. Another awesome-looking lightweight wheel, a little heavier than the rotas but stronger too. It's been so long, but I think the 17" kosei's weigh somewhere between the 16" and 17" miata wheels, maybe 15 pounds? You'll have to go used because they just stopped making them but for your price range you'll have to go used anyway since new 17's that are 600 dollars or less will probably be super heavy (other than the rota's of course).

4. Used 17" enkei rpf1 - super lightweight, awesome wheel.


Oh and I guess you could buy some used RX8 wheels on the forums here.... those seem to fit well and they're 18s. You won't get any of the gains that you would with going with a lighter 16" or 17" wheel though. I think you can find used miata wheels for the same price as used rx8 wheels, and the miata wheels are definitely lighter.

 

[CorkSport]

take off wheels?? lol

Sure,

We have changed the wheels on our 2010 Mazdaspeed 3 project car. We are not selling them but there are people who do upgrade who have the factory wheels they have taken off which will be for sale.

-Derrick

 

[Perro del Sol]

The Kosei's are a great lightweight and strong wheel, they weigh 15.5 lbs and look good. As has been mentioned previously, you may be able to find a nice wheel & tire packages that are affordable.

 

[spotch]

When I was looking a few weeks ago, no one had any of the K1 Racing (older 5 spoke version) in stock anymore, and the newer ones are expensive when new (not as much as the rpf1s though).

I think that unless you want miata 17s (miata.net is a good place to look) or RX8 wheels (this site or ************ are good for that) then craigslist will be your best bet (you can get miata wheels OR rx8 wheels there too). At least given your budget.

 

[killjoy33]

wow the rx8 wheels look nice!

uhmm well i saw these wheels http://www.buyourmazdaparts.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=868, they're 18x7.5. what tires should i buy? cuz i dont have knowledge about wheel sizes + tire size. whats 225/40 mean? and all that stuff?

ohh and these too http://www.tirerack.com/wheels/Whee...alse&filterBrand=All&filterNew=All&sort=Brand

not yellow: so i wont be lowering the car anytime soon. but i really wanna get new wheels. do i have to change anything if im gonna get 17-18 wheels?

 

[not yellow]

not yellow: so i wont be lowering the car anytime soon. but i really wanna get new wheels. do i have to change anything if im gonna get 17-18 wheels?

if you are not lowering the car then you have a lot more options. 17s or 18s should be ok as long as you get a tire size that isn't overboard. the tire/wheel size calculator i gave you a few posts back is your friend. enter the tire and wheel specs from your stock setup and then the sizes from the setup you want to get. it will show you exactly how much bigger or smaller it will be. and if you have plenty of fender clearance then the offset shouldn't be much of an issue either unless it's something low like +30.

edit: you should also check the clearance between the inside of the wheel and strut on your stock setup. just stick you hand in over the top of the wheel and feel the gap. if it's tight and you want a wide wheel, then it needs to have a low offset(or you could possibly add spacers). if there's wiggle room back there then you have more options on wheel width and offset.

 

[spotch]

wow the rx8 wheels look nice!

uhmm well i saw these wheels http://www.buyourmazdaparts.com/index.php?l=product_detail&p=868, they're 18x7.5. what tires should i buy? cuz i dont have knowledge about wheel sizes + tire size. whats 225/40 mean? and all that stuff?

ohh and these too http://www.tirerack.com/wheels/Whee...alse&filterBrand=All&filterNew=All&sort=Brand

not yellow: so i wont be lowering the car anytime soon. but i really wanna get new wheels. do i have to change anything if im gonna get 17-18 wheels?

Those first mazda wheels are 480 per wheel, and I love them too

Those kazeras seem o.k, but they're heavier and more expensive than the other 17" wheels I would go with (the used 17" miata wheels, the used kosei k1 racing wheels and the used enkei rpf1 wheels).

If you don't want used, I would still go with rotas over those. The rotas will end up being cheaper after you ship them and they'll will be much lighter (which you'll need every bit of if you're trying to keep pace with your friends' evo )

http://www.jlbmotorsports.com/rims/rota-list.html

You want 5x114.3


Oh and 225s would fit fine on a 7.5 inch wheel.

 

[killjoy33]

ok but can someone explain what 225/40/18 stand for? like what is it? i know 18 pertains to the wheel diameter. thats about it

 

[liquoredonlife]

http://www.lmgtfy.com/?q=tire+dimensions+explained&l=1

 

[not yellow]

ok but can someone explain what 225/40/18 stand for? like what is it? i know 18 pertains to the wheel diameter. thats about it

simply:

first number is tire width in millimeters.

second number is sidewall aspect ratio(tire height) expressed as a percentage of the width. in your example it would be 40% of 225mm.

third number(as you mentioned) is interior tire diameter in inches.