Lighter 17's anybody?

[phunky.buddha]

The design of this wheel suggests it could handle the CX-5's weight. Its a good alternative if you can find some locally. Also, my cousin has an EVO 8 with 17inch forged BBS wheels. I believe they fit but too bad he ain't selling them to me.

Considering that the CX-5 GT curbs in at 3200 pounds and my Mazda 5's curb weight is around 3500 pounds, I think you'll be ok with MX-5 wheels on a CX-5. I've flogged the crap out of my 5 with the roof box overloaded and every seat filled plus stuffed with cargo inside- so the CX-5 will be just fine on a set of these. Most OEM wheels are way tougher than they need to be anyway so that the factory doesn't have to deal with broken wheels coming back and being a safety issue.

As long as you stick with a 17, 18,19 inch rim, you will likely not see any change in the mpg at all. If you have a 17inch rim, go with 65 tire, 18 inch 60 tire, 19 inch 55 tire. In my opinion a 8 inch rim with a 235 finishes the look as the the 7 inch rim and a 225 tire is too narrow......which is the only thing I did not like about the CX-5.....the stance was too narrow for a vehicle which such a muscular shape. The Kia Sportage top model sits on 235/60/18.....all just my opinion though.....do what you think looks best or feels good too you.

235 on a 7" wheel, especially on the height that would fit the CX-5 wouldn't be bad at all in terms of profile. I'm running 235/45 on my 17x7 and the sidewall is only slightly pinched. The CX-5 would be a good bit taller, so probably 235/60 or 235/65, which both actually specify a 7" wide wheel as the measure wheel from most manufacturers. It would look "right" on a 7.

 

[MikeM.]

Then I thought about retaining the stock 17inch size tires and replacing just the stock 20+lb oem 17 inch wheels with some super light 14-16lb 17inch wheels. I figure losing 4-6lbs of rotational mass per wheel would provide a noticeable difference. I'd like to know what you guys think.

Right. On a relatively light car such as the CX-5, lightening up the wheels will make a noticeable difference. You can probably save about 20 lbs. overall which might not sound like much until the realization that those 20lbs. have to be accelerated forward and also in rotation, making the difference more than simply taking 20lbs. out of the trunk. Your brakes will last longer as well.

The next best thing to a forged wheel is a pressure cast wheel that has been shot peened after casting such as these:

http://www.tirerack.com/wheels/Whee...se&filterNew=All&filterWeight=All&sort=PriceR

I've got my eyes on these for my yet to be delivered CX-5 Touring model.

 

[mobius120487]

subbing...know very little on tire sizes in relation to rim sizes...gonna reread this a few times later to try and understand....