The story behind these: I bought my car in January and had the dealer mount snow tires on the OEM wheels, since I lacked the foresight to line up some 17"s ahead of time.

I wanted to be able to do summer/winter swaps myself, and I didn't want to change the look of the car too much, or throw out the practically new OEM tires, so I settled on SSR GT2's as summer wheels. Light, but reportedly strong, and the look reminds me a little of the Mazdaspeed wheel, but in silver.

This thread would be useless without pics, so:

 

Awesome, I wanted some of these too, do you have any pics on the car? Are you getting 17's or 18's? Besure to get light tires with them, such as the Toyo T1-s or Perelli P Zero Nero's.

 

Hey, thanks! I got them in 18x8 so I could use up the OEM tires that have been sitting in my basement (that shouldn't take too long if I believe what I read here...) After that, yeah, I should definitely get something lighter weight, otherwise what's the point in getting a light wheel?

I had them drop shipped from TireRack to a really good local installer to have the tires mounted on them. They look like they just came out of the box mounted and balanced, not a mark on them. Great job, Auto Tech Performance!

The plan is to put them on the car this weekend -- I couldn't find a 21mm socket to get the OEMs off last night, and the factory lug wrench doesn't look like anything I want to touch my car with. Off to the tool store...

 

how much did they set you back?

 

post pix up as soon as you put them on...

 

Tirerack had them for $422, about on par with what Mazda wants for an OEM wheel. Drop shipping was only about $30 or so, I think.

And don't worry, there will be pics...:D

 

next question is, did you install TPMS in these wheels???

 

Ah, the sensors. You know, I thought that one over for a while. Cons: extra weight, plus extra balance weight. Pros: there's all sorts of crap on the roads around here, and I don't usually check with a gauge more than once a week when I wash the car.

Sooo... I ended up ordering sensors from finishlineperformance.com, and had them installed when I got the tires mounted. They're actually quite lightweight, and there were no problems with the fit.

 

ah so they do fit

*jots down note: SSR GT2 fits Mazda TPMS sensors*

you're gonna make me end up buying these lol, only 16lbs!!!!

 

Actually, I don't think the weight matters at all. I had some 17" winter wheels from Tire Rack on during the winter, and I had trouble with the TPMS sensors leaking. (The guys at the Tire Rack had tightened them way too tight during installation, causing them to leak. Don't let your guy do that.) For a while, I had to have one sensor removed and a conventional valve stem installed. I worried about the loss of weight throwing the balance off. My mechanic balanced the wheel without the sensor, at my request, and found it to be almost in balance. By almost, I mean that they didn't have a weight small enough to correct it. We left the wheel alone, and I had no balance problems at all while driving. Just FYI.

 

Makes sense; when I got them from Rosenthal and got a chance to look at them, they're just a molded plastic housing with (I assume) a lithium battery, small electronic bits, and not much else of consequence.

And thanks for reinforcing my healthy sense of paranoia. I actually printed out the latest TPMS-related service bulletin and stuck it in the box just in case they needed exact procedures, torques, etc. Looks like I wasn't being cautious for no good reason this time.

 

Good choice.

 

darn thougt you bought the comps

 

Better late than never, here they are mounted:

 

and in the sunlight:

 

Did you say 16lbs for an 18 " ?

 

TireRack says 16.8 lbs for the 18x8 size. Since I had them drop shipped, I didn't have a chance to weigh them myself.

 

Close up:


...looks like I missed a little of the tire lube there -- that'll teach me to wash the car in the dark.

 

Funnything is G2's are not posted on Tirerack site. G3's are at 26.5lbs and H comp at 20.5lbs.

EDIT: Oh I found them, but they don't say G2's

WOW 5lbs per wheels, that's about 3 tenths or more in the quarter. :D

 

looks clean...now go lower your car!

 

comps can't be 20.5 i weigh them myself and it weighs a little under 16 lbs.

 

Looks nice.

 

they look really small but nice

 

*humps wintergrn's 8 feverishly*