Why do people purchase aftermarket wheels for their RX-8?

Is performance really better? If so, how? How much lighter are aftermarket wheels than stock?

Are 19" rims really better than 18"? How?

How much of this has to do with looks? Not just in terms of the style of the wheel itself, but the sizes (do they fill the wheel well more etc)?

Why do people use "staggered" sizes when using aftermarket wheels? Are there advantages to doing this, or is this actually a "no no" in terms of handling?

Are the stock RX-8 wheels decent?

Thanks!

 

You can find lots of info on the tirerack.com website, but I'll give you a few short answers.

18" wheels, like the SSR Competition wheels, weigh around 15 pounds each, which is 5 or more pounds lighter than stock. This may not sound like that much, but it's unsprung weight, meaning not supported by the suspensions springs. That means that the performance gain is much more than simply saving that much weight by removing the seats for example. The lighter weight also means that the engine wastes less effort in simply rotating the wheels, which helps perfomance quite a bit I think.

 

For performance reasons, I don't think the 19" are really justified. The wheels are more expensive, heavier (although there's necessarily less tire also), and I don't really like the look that much. The tires that are required have a much lower profile (much thinner), and this means that it cushions less, so ride comfort will suffer.

That said, most of the wheels I've seen here are mostly for looks, and there's little performance boost. In fact, I think most of these wheels will cause a lose of performance. In this I'm excluding the people that buy wheels for snow tires in the winter, which is necessary if the rx-8 in question is going to see snow.

The staggering front/rear can change the handling dramatically, causing understeer or oversteer. On a rear wheel drive car like this one, putting fatter tires in the rear will cause more understeer.

 

Yep...I have the SSR Comps and saved 6 pounds per corner. The car accelerates much quicker. But I did also get them cause I like the look of Anthrocite legs on a silver body!

 

When it comes to what looks best, I realize it is completely subjective, but I have not seen a set of aftermarket wheels that look better than the stock ones. It seems to cheapen the look of the car, even though I know that the new wheels are very expensive.

 

Performance wise a large percentage of aftermarket wheels don't do any good and IMO about 90% of them don't really make the car look better. However, there's a few cars on this forum with aftermarket wheels that look really good.

 

MS has a set of 19s available... With the right setup, you can improve the stock performance and looks...

 

I would think they would buy wheels to get a smaller rim (17 maybe even 16) to drop the gear ratio and lose weight. 18's are already to big, if you buy 19's it certainly is not for performance.

IMHO the gear ratio is already to high.

 

16's are not possible with the larger brake/rotor setup on the sport models and up...

 

1. Only if the wheels weigh less.
2. No the larger the wheel the more it weighs. It only looks good. Well not all on all cars.
3. Depends on the person. But the larger the wheel the better chance you have of the wheel rubbing on the wheel well or you going slower
4. Personal opinion. I don't like them. The Mazda MVP or what ever its called(Minivan) has the same style of wheels we do.

Hope this helps you out.
:D

 

I just like to waste money, so the more money I can waste.. I'll do it. Bigger, flashier because I want to show the rest of the world I'm big pimpin. Here in Los Angeles, you have to be riding in 19" spinners to get the ladies... we just love to live large here.

It's all a matter of personal preference.

 

Care must be taken to choose the wheels

Fair reason for change:

1. Look better (very personal)
2. Want to get 255/35-18 wheel in ... arguably most reputable rotary tuner (Fujita racing) in Japan use this size for their model car after different size testing - you need a 8.5" for that. Stock is 8"
3. Lighter - yes some SSR, some version of Volks, and most Gram lights. NOTE: not many are lighter than stock which is 22pounds...? Anything lower than 8kg is worth the effort.

 

Thanks for the great responses thus far!

Another thing I meant to ask, and I am showing some ignorance here, what exactly is the 8 vs. 8.5 vs. 9 etc. a measurement of?

 

A rim might be 18x8.0, 8.0 is the width of the rim, it goes hand in hand with the first number on a tire...

a 245/45/18 tire means:

245 = width
45 = height (how tall the tire is measured from the rim to the tred area)
18 = diameter of the rim

 

I see.

So would you be able to put a wider tire on a 18x9.0 wheel vs. a 18x8.0 wheel (assuming there are no clearance problems)?

BTW, Jason, you have the color I am 95% sure that I will be getting (despite the fact it appears to be one of the least popular colors for this car).

 

larger wheel smaller tires = better handeling..

smaller wheel taller tire = softer ride.. less hp, shiiter handeling....


the taller the tire the better the top end.. the tire make less rev to go the same distance..
so a 19' wheel with a small thin tire give you both.. Gret handeling.. and better top end.

have you ever seen a real road race with 16' ? hehe.. my 4*4 has 16 with huge tall tires..

that give me a better advantage to climbing over rocks... but does not help the top end or handeling at all..


Stick with the 18's ther MAzda Enginers butil the car for um.. and or step up to a 19.. you will love the handeling

 

There are some other threads that people discuss the widest tire they were able to get on the car. I personally went with 245/35/19 all around (so that I can rotate front to back).

I only got silver because it was the only one on the lot with the options I wanted, and I couldn't decide which color to get - I liked red, blue, silver, and black, but my wife said she liked the silver... and the rest is history. I didn't dislike silver, but I wasn't sure that it was the best choice for a few weeks. Now that I've had it about 3 months, I've got no doubt the color was a good choice. The blue still looks sweet to me, and I'd have insisted on blue if mazda had a two tone black/blue leather option for GT.

If anyone has doubts about silver, check this video I made: http://tyrannical.org/rx8/rx8_2.wmv (I think moving around shows the reflections better than a still photo)

 

I may be the only one on here that will admit it but i got 19" for the look alone. i thought the rims i picked out looked good and then went for 19's because they are dark and the 18's in a dark color looked real small.

 

I knew the stock tires would wear out quickly. So I decided to replace the rubber sooner rather than later. While I was swapping rubber, I decided I may as well swap rims so my car looks different than every other stock RX-8. My decision too was based only on looks, but my rims don't weigh more than stock.

aftermarket rim pics: http://tyrannical.org/rx8/index2.html

 

hey jas nice video, love the spoiler...did you have a stock wing when you bought your 8? i am looking into a mazdaspped wing and was wondering if i would have problems removing mine and attaching the new one...


...by the way you are right about the color, my nordic green does the same thing (it almost changes color)

 

I bought my car without any spoiler because I planned on getting the ms spoiler. I had the dealership install it because I didn't want to be responsible if I messed up drilling in the trunk You shouldn't have problems if your car came with a spoiler - several others on the forum have swapped. They use the same holes in the trunk.

Far as color changing, I saw a yellow Lamborghini Gallardo in person the other day... best paint job I've ever seen. It blew me away with the way the colors shimmered from dark yellow to bright yellow. Photos online don't do it justice.

 

If you go with a 19 inch wheel, but a tire with a height of 35, will the speedo be off?

And Jason- thanks for confirming that I will be going with Silver after seeing that video!

 

Rob, a 245/35/19 will be almost exactly the same size as the stock setup because the tire is not as thick.

Silver is stunning - especially if you use Zaino

 

speedo seems fine to me. a bunch of people told me that 19's would slow my car down and blah blah blah, but i have felt no change.

 

That's what I thought Jason, thanks!

As far as Zaino, I am one of the "original" users. I began using Zaino 8 or 9 years ago, when they were still a very small company trying to make a name for themselves. This was the best paint protection/polish I had ever used (and I had used a TON of different products).

I've never looked back and it is the only polish I use on my cars, including my 3rd Gen RX-7 (which also happens to be Silver)!

Sal is a great guy, and I can't recommend Zaino any stronger.

You just can't say no to Zaino!

:D