What do you guys think of these wheels. Ive been looking for a clean 5 spoke design and they are pretty light weight to.

Panorama Rotary Forged 5 Spoke Alloy wheels in matte black, silver w/ mirror cut face, and matte bronze by TSW | www.TSW.com

 

I do like this wheel and have had my eye on it and another, I didn't know they are available yet - I didn't find them listed under catalog of discount tire direct whom I do business with a bit ago..

Biggest questions

- What size and offset do you plan to go with?
- What tire width you planning to pick?
- Do you plan on rolling fenders etc as well?

From what I know, these are the sizes they come in:

18x9.5 +40
18x9.0 +30
18x8.5 +45
18x8.0 +35

17x8.0 +35

Unless you plan on 19's again, I don't know those sizes

 

Im still looking into them Im not going to buy them right away since winter is just around the corner and I wont be driving my 8 very often if there is snow everywhere.

My original plan was to run a 19 again and I was going to go 8.5 but I dont really like the offset choices on it so I did some research and a 9 width with a 30 offset would stick out 3/8 of an inch and I didnt think that would look to horrible if I ran a skinny tire like a 245> all the way around.

Im not completely set on these yet but I was just looking to see if you guys liked the design.

and yes I have a fender roller if needed.
at the moment im also on stock suspension for now. I would like to later get some Stance adjustible coilovers so I can set the correct ride hight etc.

 

That's a clean wheel. Probably heavy though. A 19 x 9 +30 is not that aggressive and may look silly if your not lowered. My new Volks are 19 x 9.5 +27 in the rear and 19 x 8.2 +24 in the front. My tires are 255/35-19 R and 245/35-19F.

Crappy cell pics
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9krpmrx8/8016630605/http://www.flickr.com/photos/9krpmrx8/8016659415/

 

Ok, based on my research on the above, here is what I can share:

17x8 - I think a +35 is not too aggressive for the RX-8. People will R3's use 25mm spacers to flush the wheel with fenders. So, thats effectively a 19x8 +25 offset with 225's. So, the 17x8 +35 with 235's or 245's and a little added camber, I don't think there will be any rubbing issues and require fender rolling. This would be the lightest option for the Panorama.

The 18x8.5 +45 with 245's is a very safe option, very mild.

18x9.5 +40 and 18x9.0 +30 with 255's are a little more aggressive - the correct offset for a 9" wheel seems to be in the 35-40 range and a 9.5" wheel is 40-45 from my research.

Again - When I say aggressive, I am saying aggressive without requiring fender rolling, fender pulling, cutting fender liners, trimming tabs, adding amber and last but not the least, running skinny *** tires that are a stretch like 225's on a 9.5" wheel. I am not a fan of stancenation, hellaflush etc, so thats my personal take and to each his own.

For daily driving a NA RX8, 255 is about the max tire after which I think there is increased drag and such. You will be slower in a straight line esp with incereased grip. Now, if you are road racing and autoxing - I can understand trying to maximize grip on all 4 sides, running 265 and 275's.

I think you also start to lose steering feel with a bigger tire. I experienced this first hand on my s2000 I auto-x'd.

Personally, the max tire size I am willing to go with is 255, but I am almost leaning 235/245's. All I would need for a spirited driver.

Size wise, I am leaning to 17" wheels as rubber is cheapest. I have the 19" R3 wheels in mint shape with new hankooks on it, but I don't want to destroy the wheels, thats for sure!

 

IMO the perfect setup for form and function (lowered of course) on and RX-8 is 18 x 9.5 +30 with 245/40-18 rubber.

 

I went with P255R-40 Pilot Super Sports (from stock P225 Dunlops). Definitely hugely more grip for curvy roads, but like blacksheep515 stated, steering suffered a bit. I didn't notice a huge difference in feel (just a bit), but I did notice a large worsening of steering response. I have front and rear Racing Beat anti-roll bars (with RB front end links). I had those installed while still on OEM rubber. The steering response went from good to incredible. After the 255 PSS tires, that dropped off dramatically, although I noticed that the PSS tires (at least in this width) seem to like a higher tire pressure. The PS3s on my 2012 Focus are supposed to be set to 39 psi, so I've tried that with the PSSes on my RX-8, and that helped a great deal. I plan on going to 245 width tires next time.

 

See I wish my R3 came with factory wheels but she didnt. It will probably look pretty funny for awhile if I buy these because it will be stock hight. I plan on getting some Stance Coilovers so i can adjust my camber/ hight etc to what will work best but that will be in the future.

I doubt ill auto-x mine a lot. maybe like once a year with my brother-in-laws LSx turbo rx7. he thinks it would be a good race lol. though he can run an 8.80 at 160 haha its not slow.

So a 19x9 +30 id run like a 245 tire all the way around that would work with no rubbing issues or anything? Id assume so since ive seen people on here run 10 widths without much done to it.

 

I love your 8. and I will probably end up looking silly for awhile but I cant complain. I love my car so thats all that matters right?

 

Thanks, It will fit no problem but it will look silly. just pick up some lowering springs for now.

 

What kind should I look into? tanbe gf? tein s? cheap ones lol

 

I know you are a big poster on the aggressive thread, so by no means am I challenging you, but isn't a 245 a stretch on a 9.5" wheel? I know for the dunlop star specs, its the maximum allowable suggested stretch by dunlop. I don't know visually how it looks since I have not done this myself, but was just wondering...Thanks!

 

You can't go wrong with either. I have always been a fan of the teins and that is what i had prior to coilovers. The Tanabe's are great too though, they have two versions so check the spec on both. But I put S techs on an S2 and it sat nice.

 

What wheels were you on, Chibana? Curious if weight had something to do with it? A lighter wheel also really impacts the steering response. I really want to do a slight stagger like 235F/245R to keep the steering feel as much as possible.

I am curious why people are so anti-stagger on this forum? I know on s2000's, when you go from stagger to square, you give front more grip, increasing oversteer. I am not sure what it does in the mazda - I assume increasing rear grip and reducing front grip causes understeer? If someone could explain so this n00b learns, that be awesome!

Also, they did a recent test in a magazine with the FR-S vs WRX where they swapped the silly prius tires to star specs and it was 2 secs faster. They also put on wider tires where it lost top speed and some steering feel. I read it and was glad I wasn't imagining it on the s2000.

 

Depends on the tire, you can't really rely on the numbers much. You have to look at the specs from the manufacturer for your specific tire. Sadly the numbers are more of a general guideline. One brand 245 might have a totally different "section width" than another brands 245. For example, Continentals run large as well as federals. I have a chart with various spec i compiled here somewhere.The stretch on my 245's (Hercules Raptis WR-1, friend owns a tire shop) wasn't bad at all.

This is them on my 18 x 9.5" Miro's (for sale BTW)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9krpmrx8/5719533487/
But, for teh most part you are right, a 265/35-18 would be ideal and what I was planning on running next. But i woudl only run 265/35-18 if you had adjustable coilovers.

 

I have been researching springs like a banshee.

I have found the best of all worlds spring is the Espelir Active Down Springs. They lower the car 30mm which is 1.2", but have the highest spring rates of any lowering spring for the stock struts. Tein S-tech is next followed by swift sport mach as far as spring rates go. I cannot confirm mazdaspeed rates on here, but on paper they are super ridiculous stuff

M Pizle - I know a guy who has 2 sets of Espelir springs new in box. He said he would sell them on the cheap. If you want to buy a set, let me know.

 

Well as of now Ill be rolling on my ghetto 19 Falken chromers till winter. A kid in my highschool wants them so I might sell them to him haha. To each his own I guess. but as of lowering springs. I might just wait and but adjustible ones instead of wasting my time on springs. but thanks anyway


BTW 9krpmrx8- what type of coilovers do you have?

 

I am on Stance GR coil overs but with Swift springs. 9k front and 6k rear.

 

M550 - Avant Garde Wheels


??

 

They are quite a bit different looking actually.

 

These are a more concave 5 spoke. I like the way these look to.

Stance Wheels Stance SC-5 Concave Matte black with Gloss Black Lip Wheel and Tire Packages - Stance Wheels Wheels on sale, cheap rims, cheap wheels from Stance Wheels at discount prices

 

Those look tight, only come in 20" though.

 

lol look what i found on that site 9k..


Vertini Wheels Vertini Drift Gold with Stainless Steel Lip Wheel and Tire Packages - Vertini Wheels Wheels on sale, cheap rims, cheap wheels from Vertini Wheels at discount prices

 

Those Stance wheels come in a 19. I think its a 19x8.5 +35 though.

 

I have 18x9 +32 TSW Interlagos RF wheels and they fit my RX-8 very well with Hankook TD 265/35R18 tires on them. These wheels are forged and impressively light (18.3 lbs), and since the Panorama is also rotary forged I'm guessing they'll weigh about the same. This puts them very close in weight to some much more expensive forged wheel options (like the Volk VR.G2's I run on the street), so to me they're a pretty amazing value at about $1k for a set.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/77534829@N03/7850762310/http://www.flickr.com/photos/77534829@N03/7850762310/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/77534829@N03/, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/77534829@N03/7850588550/http://www.flickr.com/photos/77534829@N03/7850588550/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/77534829@N03/, on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/77534829@N03/7850760918/http://www.flickr.com/photos/77534829@N03/7850760918/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/77534829@N03/, on Flickr