2019~2025 Mazda3 New wheels and tire size...Am I nuts?

[popeyecahn]

So call me crazy, but I am just not loving the 18” rims and Toyo Proxies that came on my ’23 3 Hatch Premium. I’m supposed to like them and aesthetically I do, but… in practice I loathe them. Aside from the fact that I’ve never owned a car with low profile tires (road feel, noise), my biggest gripe is the fact that I cannot keep the rims from getting torn up, curb rash has made me give up on having nice rims. The Toyos lack a shoulder to help prevent this and you would think after the first time and 2.5 years of ownership I would have worked past scraping the curb, but for some damned reason I have not.

So the tires are ready for replacement and honestly I’m considering going with 16” steelies and a good set of all season because winter’s coming up and I head to the slopes and if I need to chain up I don’t care of the rims get scuffed like they did previously with the 18s. Here’s some photos for thought…

w/18s, though not the OEM rims...

W/16" rims and tires

As the image says, I need help lol

 

[N7turbo]

my biggest gripe is the fact that I cannot keep the rims from getting torn up, curb rash has made me give up on having nice rims. The Toyos lack a shoulder to help prevent this and you would think after the first time and 2.5 years of ownership I would have worked past scraping the curb, but for some damned reason I have not.

This won't prevent your wheels from touching the curb...it will just mean a messed up tire that needs to be replaced asap.

 

[popeyecahn]

This won't prevent your wheels from touching the curb...it will just mean a messed up tire that needs to be replaced asap.

A very low speed rub will generally just scuff the sidewall, but of course chews easily through aluminum, it's those 10mph+ drop ins that will cut the sidewall.

 

[leeharvey418]

First, those pictures are hot garbage. The first one is what a 20” or 21” wheel would look like on your car, and the second is almost as big. Go to Tire Rack and use their wheel visualizer - it only gives side views, but they’re much more representative of actual wheel sizes.

Second, a wider tire is going to be the first thing you want to do to protect your wheels.

 

[youri]

Nothing wrong with steelies. Up here in winter a lot of people use them to swap their winter tires and run them for 6 month, so you would only look out of place during the summer months. You are also forgetting about wheel cover, you can throw some cover on them and it won’t look as out of place (it still won’t be as nice).

If you are hitting the mountains often I recommend you try all weather tires instead of all season (like the michelin crossclimate 2). It will do significantly better in ice and snow. (Between an all-season and a dedicates winter tire)

All weather tires explained:

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a15338788/all-weather-tires-explained-merging-all-seasons-and-winter-tires/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=mgu_ga_cd_md_bm_prog_org_ca_a15338788&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21140873194&gbraid=0AAAAACfH9Whd8vTOnlx9NOwqecTP-UKDC&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIq8rU_v_pkAMV2FhHAR1CNRZAEAAYASAAEgI-JPD_BwE