My dealership offers chrome 18" as an option. I thought they were from Mazda, but it turns out that they are just off the shelf, so I had a few qustions:

1) will the wrong rim affect the performance of the car? I've heard that a rim with the wrong [offset?] can mess the handling.

2) which I should ask my dealership. Do they normally let you keep the stock 18's as well, possibly for winter?

3) they are charging me $1500.00 for them, so would I be better off buying them aftermarket, and if so, is it possible to have the price of them rolled into my loan?

4) how much would I get if I were to sell the stock 18's?

5) I noticed in the mazda parts catolog, that they offer poliched 18" rims. Are these an upgrade for the stock ones? how much do they cost?

Thanks for all the help, this site been a godsend

1) The wrong rim can mess things up if it's wrong offset and not designed for car, however the dealer 18s will be a perfect fit for your rx8 so no worries there. The dealer shoulddn't be selling rims for the rx8 that aren't a perfect fit.

2) You should purchase the extra rims, and have them mount your current tires on the chrome ones, then you have option to buy winter or all season radials for your original rims for use in winter. Yes, you keep the other rims as well.

3) Depending on the style $1500 is not that bad of a price, especially if they are same design rims as stock, and look factory. If they are completely different thet stock form you can certainly look around and find a style you like better. Lots of perfect it rims are available already for thr rx8. If you haven't purshased car yet, they can certainly add the rims to price of loan as dealer install, if you have car already, I do not know if that is possible.

4) That all depends. You most likely will not get anywhere near what they go for new, unless you keep the brand new tires on them, they they will appeal to more people. Hard to say what they will go for, but with brand new factory tires mounted on them, 12-1500 is certainly possible.

5) I love the dark shadow chrome wheels available for the rx8.
Same rims as stock, only in shadow chrome. I'd LOVE to have these babies. They run between 1500-1600 online. I am not sure if this is what your dealer is offering, but these are in parts catalogs all over internet. I can't imagine the polished ones being upgrade other then in looks.

Capital Wheels in CA will exchange your stock 18's for chrome for $600. Factory Mazda wheels, but stripped and chromed. I love mine, in my opinion it made the car look so much better. You should be able to look up capital on ebay, just search for "RX-8 wheels".

The polished factory wheel shown in the Mazda parts brochure is no longer available. I know, I tried to get them.

Hopefully this helps.