This is the first car I've owned where the tire sidewalls do not extend wider than the width of the rim. Thus, a contact with a curb which might ordinarily only result in a bit of tire rub, on the RX-8 stock the rim bead will contact the curb instead of the tire.

"Noticed" this maneuvering in a parking lot. Not a catastrophe but did scrape the rim bead a little on the rear.

Note - I've got the Dunlops; don't know if the same exists for the Bridgestones...

i did the same thing a couple of days ago, cut the turn in a bit too much and scraped it in a parking lot. Very hard to notice, but still bothers me. I'm extremely careful now when parrallel parking also. what would be a good size tire for the stock rim so that this wouldn't happen?

yea on a side not to thread jack but watch the front air dam when parking in a spot with the concrete slab at the end. i drove right over one the other day and scraped the bottom of the spoiler. i backed off it right away. cant see it unless you look underneath but if you hit one hard enough you could crack it.

Yeah that's one of the reasons I didn't want the appearance package - I just know that kind of S&*# is going to happen to me.

Yea...I just noticed a nice long scrape on my rim...argh! Makes me nuts but what can you do.....I don't recall scraping anything and wonder if it happened when they put my winter tires on....it was so cold out (4 below) that I just did a quick glance and did not check thoroughly. I'll touch it up with some paint come spring. I noticed alot of tiny chips in paint on front end too....Mazda has crummy paint! I can't afford the $800 3M stuff yet! Oh well....just take care of her the best I can. Stay tuned took some more pics and will download them this weekend.

Cruz

Well, with the exception of Wendy it seems these probs are only with the guy drivers! I have a scratched rim from my husband backing out of a parking spot. Otherwise, my rims & air dam are fine.

Ahhhhh, that felt good.

No offense guys!

If it were the other way around you couldn't resist either!

"Hey Wendy, you did say you don't know how that happened... has your hubby driven it??"

:D

I've taken to backing into most parking places or simply pulling in far enough to get the tail clear of the traffic lane.

My air dam gets installed next week so there will be even less clearance than on the stock front end. So far I've only touched those concrete wheel stops once. That will hopefully be enough.

I'm kinda glad I put the 245/40WR18's on mine. It gives me just enough sidewall for the rim protectors on the tire to do their job without giving it the fat tire look!

on my brigdestone potenzas, the outerlip meant to protect rim did in one case save me. I rubbed curb when parallel parking, and the rim protector saved it from scraping. Depending on curb, I'm not sure how many times that protection will save me. i'd imagine one of these days, depending on how I hit it, the rim may still come in contact with curb.

wow,
great to know im not the only one that did this.

caught a little of the rim edge, can file out.

but the bad thing is it caught a section of spoke. not big but anoying.

can this be polished out??????

beers

i see this is a commanality.. i feel better.. i still need to figure out how to clean it up.. so slight yet soo annoying.

if you do damage the wheels where is the best place to get the rim job done?

Monique...my hubby drives it once a week and when we are together!! I think he did do it......he put several dinks in my last car (5 to be exact) and is not careful at all like I am!!! I get on him when he's not careful(makes for a nice relationship) hee, hee.

Man I sure am glad to see that I wasn't the only one to do this!

I took a right turn a little tight and scrape... About two inches long on the edge of the right rear rim.

A friend (who is very mechanically inclined) says it can be sanded & then polished out. I'll post some before/after pictures to this thread when I actually get around to doing it. I've driven much more carefully around curbs now!

I scratched one of my rims the 2nd week I had the car- can't even see it anymore, and I'm extremely careful not to get near any curbs.

GUYS don't worry ..... rims can be polished out ... they will be as good as new and it is not that $ less than 100$ or so.i don't have that prob and i have AP pak but my friend just polished his for 75 $

Originally posted by flatso
if you do damage the wheels where is the best place to get the rim job done?

roflmao.

anyone?
maybe I just have a sick twisted mind

Originally posted by pmacwill
roflmao.

anyone?
maybe I just have a sick twisted mind

it's a job best left to a professional. i wouldn't try it with a 10 foot pole. i hope you won't hold it against me.

I have since developed a mild case of curb-a-phobia (parking 2 feet away from the curb) since I scratched my wheels parallel parking too

AHH! Was driving into a Wendy's tonight, and curved around toward the ordering menu and caught the left rear tire on the curb. I have about a 3 inch scratch on the very outer part of the rim. Haven't seen it in daylight yet, but I will tomorrow.

*smacks self*

Originally posted by flatso
if you do damage the wheels where is the best place to get the rim job done?

I forget the name, but I've heard there's a pretty good place on Castro street in San Francisco. Then again, the guy giving the recommendation was kind of weird... he was obsessed with the back doors on the car, insisting they've be good for taking back roads. I didn't really understand, but he complimented my differential so I suppose he can't be too bad.

Scuffs on the rims are gonna happen just a matter of time. I scuffed both rear rims (which are now in the front) but you really have to inspect to notice them. The scuffs don't seem to show in my sig pics.

Originally posted by winter
I forget the name, but I've heard there's a pretty good place on Castro street in San Francisco. Then again, the guy giving the recommendation was kind of weird... he was obsessed with the back doors on the car, insisting they've be good for taking back roads. I didn't really understand, but he complimented my differential so I suppose he can't be too bad.

:eek:

boy im glad im not the only one who has scraped rims. i did mine in the drive through at he bank.when i got out and looked i felt my car was ruined. you reallyhave to look to see the damage but i know its there. sucks. if anyone knows how to polish out please post.

I scraped one of mine a couple of weeks ago. I am too anal so I had to go buy a new one from the dealer. It cost me $286. Although for me it is piece of mind that there is nothing wrong with the rim.

Originally posted by Chameleon
I am too anal


:eek: :eek:

I admit I'm a guy driver. Scraped the rim alittle against a curve at the airport. My wife was pissed even though it was her I was picking up. I touched it up with a little silver paint. Can't tell I scraped it. I'm redeemed.

Been there, done that :(

Sounds like a good reason to put some curb-feelers on :D ?

what are curb feelers?

Originally posted by flatso
what are curb feelers?

http://www.miata.net/skidmarks/images/CurbFeelers1.jpg
Text under the image says "Where are the white walls to go with those curb feelers?"

from this Miata site (http://www.miata.net/skidmarks/archive1.html)

looks like a kickstand!

Originally posted by flatso
what are curb feelers?

damn I feel old. Before you know it there are grown-ups that were born in the 80's and now there are people who don't know what curb feelers are! Maybe I need to get my AARP membership, sit down in my La-Z-Boy and listen to some LPs. No wonder I scraped my friggin' rims! I can't see s***! Help!

Originally posted by rx8cited
[IMG]
from this Miata site (http://www.miata.net/skidmarks/archive1.html)

The miata site is hysterical :D

As for the curb fenders... I don't think so!

Scratched the H#%$% out of my front air dam this weekend - tried to pull a u-turn over what I thought was a very small curb (less than 3 inches), but misjudged. I was on a first date, so just acted cool and collected, but was really pissed!

Tagged both passenger side rims big time this morning. Arghhh. Was still asleep. about 5 inches on front and 3 inches on back. Pissed at myself. Ah well...will get it fixed/replaced soon enough.

Tagged both passenger side rims big time this morning. Arghhh. Was still asleep. about 5 inches on front and 3 inches on back. Pissed at myself. Ah well...will get it fixed/replaced soon enough.

Lots of threads on this, including one I started just this week, but I just used the Sunlight Silver touch-up paint on my rim a couple of hours ago and made it look much better. That seems to be the recommended fix here on the forum if the scratching is minor.