need advice!!!!!! wheels

[bubble3]

Ok guys I'm a newbie here on the forums is my first post

I need some advise. 2004 3 hatch is drop 2in on skunk 2 springs and kyb shocks.

Now I love the way it looks with the stock wheels. Bt is time 2 put some new shoes
On the 3. I got a couple of options.

1- 18x8 on 225 40 18 all around

2- 18x8 on 225 40 18 fronts / 18x9.5 with 235 35 18 or 245 35 18 on rear ( stareggared)
I know fender pull and rollin and negative have 2 happen.

3- 18x9.5 with 235 35 18 allround

18x8 have offset of 42 and 18x9.5 have offset of 35

I just wanna know if any one seen or have a setup like these or close 2 it. My biggest question is if the 9.5 wheel is gonna fit or flush good on the rear?

Any input good or bad ideas opinions any thing welcome

Thanks

 

[Yuko]

I could be wrong but i think the 9.5's will rub esp. through the corners. Good luck though sounds like a nice setup.

 

[Chefsp0t]

^That's a pretty huge understatement.

First off, get coilovers if you want an aggressive wheel setup. You might think your lowering springs are stiff but you will eliminate a lot of rubbing issues by switching to coilovers. Plus you would gain camber adjustment if you get a setup with pillowball mounts on top. You will at least need rear camber arms to run negative camber on wide wheels.

Good luck fitting 9.5 +35 on a mazda3. Especially without coilovers, which take up less space inside the fender than the stock spring/strut combo. There probably isn't room inside the fender to even fit 9.5's in there. With anything wider than 225 on those 9.5" wheels it would be impossible without a big fender pull front and rear. I thought about it until I looked up some pictures from people who have tried it. Too much poke for my taste and a HELL of a lot of work to even make them look decent.

I'm going with 18x8.5 +35 next time around.

18x8 +42 with 225/40/18 would fit pretty easily. You probably wouldn't need much of a roll either.

 

[bubble3]

Thanks for the inputs guys.

Chefspot. With the 18x8 35offset will better then 9.5? Thanks

 

[Chefsp0t]

18x8 +35 will stick out a little over an inch more than the stock wheels do. It should be pretty flush with the fenders.

 

[bbrich57]

If you are not planning to turn this car into a full on racer and are only using is as a DD why would you want to cause yourself, and the car, so more distress?
Putting any of those combinations on a Mz3 will:

1) Put more stress on the suspension components and therefore wear out much faster. Pushing the wheels out that much further (+35), or adding that much additional wheel (9.5") will reduce ability to control the car in normal, street situations, as well as add extra load on the wheel bearings and bushings.

2) Add to that almost any wheel/tire that big will add to the unsprung weight of the car further reducing braking and handling, and adding to wear.

3) (As discussed already) cause you to run w/even MORE negative camber than before and these things eat tires for breakfast in stock form!! You will be lucky to get 15k out of your tires and be replacing expensive tires about once a year.

If this is your DD, do yourself and your car a favor and stick to more sanely sized wheels... like 18x7.5 and run 225/40's, or 17x7.5's and run 225/45's.

 

[Chefsp0t]

Sorry man but the whole eating through tires thing really doesn't have any facts to back it up. There are a hundred different things that contribute to rapid tire wear and as long as the car is aligned correctly the wear would be just as much as stock with bigger/wider wheels. Better if you aren't running those bad goodyear rsa's they came with from the factory. Negative camber doesn't cause fast tire wear but bad toe adjustments will.

 

[bbrich57]

I disagree.
Yes, bad toe-in will contribute but even my regular alignment shop says Mazda's in general go through tires.
I rotate mine every 5k miles religiously and still I'm on my 4th set of rubber in 60k miles.
I recently installed adjustable rear camber arms and a new set of tires. I have been keeping a close eye on wear after having the camber reduced to +/-1* and it is much, MUCH better than before.
Adding extra wheel width or offset would just make that situation worse... especially as things like bearings and bushings wear out due to the excess stress placed upon them.
And adding offset to the front as well will certainly change the steering/scrub angle and will cause additional wear AND understeer.
If you are racing the car and need additional track and or scrub angle, by all means do it!! But as a DD, I don't feel it very practical in the long, or even short run.

 

[Chefsp0t]

I still don't understand how "a mazda" can eat through tires faster than another car. That's a ridiculous statement. There are a lot of things to consider here. Every car runs different tires in different sizes so there really isn't a comparison unless you have two cars with the same size and brand of tires. Even manufacturers will tell you that different sized tires of the same model will wear faster or slower than others.

I am not saying anything about handling being affected because it is. Very much so. So are the wear items that you listed. However, you COULD get a good handling car with wide wheels/tires and low offset wheels but you wouldn't be running it slammed to the ground with a lot of camber like we are talking about in this situation. If you were going to race you would get wide, lightweight wheels and you'd be running the suspension at the proper geometry for the best handling.

 

[bubble3]

Im a mechanic and I do a lot of alignments especially on lowered cars. And I know about the wear and all.
The toe is the biggest wear problem. Camber will wear cuz u u r ridin on that side of the tire more often than the outer thread
But is not gonna eat the tires by a month like if toe was out. Perfect example my 92 integra I lowered 2" on 17x7.5 and was eatin my tires every 2
Month did an align. And my toe was wacked out. So my specs are -2 camber all around and 0s toes and is been a year with rotation and
It hasn't eatin my tires like before.


And yes the 3 is my dd/family/ wife car..... lol but we want some wheels and I wanna know if the idea of 18x8 35 offset will fit better than the 9.5 on the rear? Come ppl keep coments comin!!!!!! Thanks. 4 the inputs guys

 

[bubble3]

Im a mechanic and I do a lot of alignments especially on lowered cars. And I know about the wear and all.
The toe is the biggest wear problem. Camber will wear cuz u u r ridin on that side of the tire more often than the outer thread
But is not gonna eat the tires by a month like if toe was out. Perfect example my 92 integra I lowered 2" on 17x7.5 and was eatin my tires every 2
Month did an align. And my toe was wacked out. So my specs are -2 camber all around and 0s toes and is been a year with rotation and
It hasn't eatin my tires like before.


And yes the 3 is my dd/family/ wife car..... lol but we want some wheels and I wanna know if the idea of 18x8 35 offset will fit better than the 9.5 on the rear? Come ppl keep coments comin!!!!!! Thanks. 4 the inputs guys

 

[Zoomzoom17]

9.5 would be extremely idiotic in my opinion. I have 18x8's on mine and they stick out flush with the fenders and they are +45's. Both of those options are close and with that drop and 18x8's or 9.5's that would REALLY be pushing it to have rubbing issues. In my opinion it should be a big drop with no wheels, upgrade wheels a little and drop an inch-ish or no drop and 18x8's. With your drop you have even more neg camber and that wouldn't be good with 18x8s, I think you should be a little... uh, resistant on the size wheels you get if you even upgrade, I'll suggest 17x7's or 17x7.5's.

 

[MonchieM3S]

hey guys, 215/45/17 alright to go on 17x7.5 45mm offset?

 

[Tifun]

Seems like the folks around here are scared to play with offsets and wide wheels lol. The "wearing affect" isn't an issue, and generally speaking most aftermarket wheels weight less than OEM which reduces the unsprung weight. Just because a wheel is wide doesn't mean it will kill bearings. If it sits in laterally similarly to stock then there wont be any issues ever. Now you take a 7" wheel and push it out 2" to be flush and that will cause problems due to stress. I can go on for days about this. But it comes down to this. Wide wheels>skinny wheels

 

[Chefsp0t]

Monchie I am installing my 17x7 +38's tomorrow with 215/45/17's on them. I will be updating the thread in my signature with pictures of how they fit. They'll poke a 7mm more than those 17x7.5 +45's will.

I agree that some of these things wear faster because of extreme lowering or wider wheels but it is about style, not function. You have to pay to play. I know my car is slow hence the low & slow decal on my mirror and on the rear bumper.