Mazdatrix

We do not deal directly with wheels or tires, but thought some of you might be interested in seeing 18x10's with 285/30 tires on a lowered RX-8.

PUR NRG

That's 18x10's with 285/30 on all four wheels? With no rubbing anywhere? Nice. What kind of offsets or wheel spacers do you have to use?
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MARIJUANA MEDICAL

Spin9k

285/30/18? Interested?? You must be joking! Isn't that about a 2 INCH extra wide contact patch???? What ta'heck does it drive like? Any comparisons? Any problems at all? How much did it cost and what exactly are they?

Gord96BRG

And how heavy are the wheels? Wheels with tires?

Regards,
Gordon

santino

those wheels look like Kinesis wheels....and the weight might be more than stock. the weight for 18 X 8.5 was 21 Lbs...so the 10in ones might be more.
Looks good though. and good choice in those SO-3s too.

santino

mikeb

I think they look nice

Mazdatrix

Stock wheel AND tire -- 47.1 lbs
These 18x10's -- 51.1 lbs


Off the car: (stock one is on the right if you were not sure?)

iamcanadian

A little wide for me but looks fantastic. Thanks for the post.

MrWigggles

Mazdatrix,

One more time for clarity,

Did you actually get 18X10's in the front with no rubbing? The fronts look like 18X9's or similar. What are the offsets on the wheels?

BTW, a 285/35 would have kept the diameter the same. Is there a reason that a 285/30 was used instead?

-Mr. Wigggles

Mazdatrix

Tire choice? - no. The 285/30's were ON the wheels. A customer had the wheels made for his 3rd gen RX-7 and was not using them. We both thought it would be interesting to see IF they fit.

He only brought two (all 4 ARE 18x10). We were quite surprised that they really do not seem to hit anywhere on the front! Did a few hard donuts in an intersection with big rain channels (purposefully running over them) with no hitting. Full lock turns (low speed) with no hitting.

Drove around some ramps, + misc. roads, with no hitting anywhere. --- Didn't drive all that far as the car did handle a little "strange" with the big ones on the right side ONLY.

Put both big ones on the rear for the drive home and did my favorite off-ramp - has bumps + big dip at the exit apex (speedo showed 114, would have been a record but the speedo shows high due to lower profile of tires). Rears never hit! This is NOT an endorsement! -- the rears HAVE to hit sometime due to the position of the fender lip over the tire.

Have not measured the offset -- will do when they come off.

Dave Lemon

MrWigggles

Dave,

OK now I get it. You haven't even tucked the fender lips and you still haven't hit (yet)? Wow, that's impressive.

-Mr. Wigggles

Omicron

Hmmm, those look NICE, in my opinion. Love big meaty tires on a car. Anyway, coupla questions:

Were TPMS sensors fitted?
How much was the speedo off by? And can it be recalibrated?
How much would a wheel/tire combo like this cost?

Thanks...

XeRo

I like that look...thanks for posting those pics...

Once you get the offset please post...

Mazdatrix

Borrowed the other two wheels and tires and put them on (so we finally had all four big ones). Went around the block a few times with "spirited" driving (hit the traction/stability control a few times) and they still do not hit!! -- Insane that THAT big will just bolt onto a way lowered car.

maxcooper

Dave, feel free to swap my black Volk SE37Ks on there if you want to snap some more shots (and do a joy ride ) with some more wheels. The key to the lug nuts is in one of the bins behind the seats. The rears are a bit larger in diameter than the 285/30-18s, but the outer edge of the tire should stick out to the same place (285/30-18 on 50mm offset wheel versus 265/40-17 on 40mm offset wheel). The front wheels are 17x8.5 +40 with 245/40-17 tires and should fit fine. If you happen to weigh them in the process, I'd be grateful. I never got a chance to weigh those with the tires on.

It is possible go 18x10" and be lighter than the stock RX-8 wheels, at least with R-compound tires. My CCW 18x10" wheels with 285/30-18 BFG R1A tires were 46.4 lbs new, and are down to 45.8 after a few days at the track. The R1A tires are 24 lbs each or so. The S-03s on the Kinesis wheels are great tires (I run them on the street, too), but they are known to be a bit heavy, which may account for the difference in weight between the Kinesis and my setup.

Omicron, Kinesis wheels are very, very nice, and they are priced accordingly. That setup with tires is probably somewhere in the $3,500 - $4,000 range.

XeRo, the offset on the Kinesis wheels must be very close to 50mm. I measured my 18x10" wheels at 7.5" backspacing, which is harder than it seems to convert to offset (10" wheels are really >11" wide at the rim). That offset is the only way they'll fit on an FD, which is where Dave said he borrowed the Kinesis wheels from.

-Max

Omicron

YEE GADS! Maybe the factory wheels aren't so bad after all...

Brian Goodwin

Gorgeous!

Offsets please as soon as you have them!

Thanks for the great shots,

Brian Goodwin
Good-Win Racing

compaddict

Wow!

Vince

takahashi

Nice... I don't think I will go that wide though... I will want some light weight wheels later.

What brakes/caliper do you have there?

maxcooper

I am pretty sure the offset is within a mm or two of +50mm. They would have to be that offset to fit on the FD they came from. Many wheels don't list an offset on the wheel, and custom wheel manufactuers often go by backspacing rather than offset, so it might not be that easy for Mazdatrix to get a solid offset number. That backspacing will be 7.5", since the wheels are off an FD and that's what fits with 18x10"s.

-Max

Mazdatrix

Max - thanks for the offer. If I have time I might put yours on for a few trips around the block.

Btw - I did put my 16x8's with 245/45 Toyos from my 2nd gen on the rear of the RX-8 and they clear fine. I do not care for those specific tires (they are NOT RA01's), and I need some rear tires to trash at the drift practice next Saturday at Fontana.

maxcooper

Your train of thought here scares me! Hmmm... install Max's tires, need some tires for drift practice, hey there's an idea! No drift practice on my rubber, please.

A few laps around the block would be fine, though. I'd like to see some pics if you guys install them. I'm curious how the blue RX-8 would look with the black wheels.

-Max

rx7tt95

Hey Max, how is the finish on your Volks holding up? Just curious...I've given up on my bronze SE37A's. May try to call Volk once more and see if they'll help out.

maxcooper

Well, a car wash has chipped the black off the rim in two places on my LF wheel. The first time I didn't realize it was the car wash. The second time I saw them do it, but it turns out that it was kind of my fault since I installed a new sway bar and it hit the wheel guide and pushed the rim into the other side of the guide. Drat!

The wheels are sort of hard to clean since there is so much surface. The textured finish doesn't help, either. I am not really that conscientious about keeping them clean, which makes it worse because the brake dust gets baked on. But I knew that about myself before I bought the wheels -- that was one of the main reasons I chose black as the color. So, I think there is a lot of junk built up on the wheels, but since they are black it doesn't show up that much. Sometimes after I clean them, there is a blue reflective property to them in the corners and stuff. Kind of like gas in water. It doesn't bother me, but I imagine that it would be worse if the color wasn't black and I cared more about the finish. As long as it was somewhat uniform, I don't think it would bother me much on the bronze, either.

I wonder if anyone has ever tried having them bead blasted and re-anodized or something. I'm not even sure they are anodized in the first place, but that might be a solution if you are unhappy with how your wheels look.

-Max

Golfer

How much was that lowered and how? (eibach or coil overs?)