eepr5

I currently own a Protege5 thats sitting at a body shop after an accident (not my fault btw) I was in thanksgiving weekend. Due to the extent of the damage and the fact that this is the second time its gone to a body shop in less than six months (hail then accident), I'm seriously considering moving on to a different car. So far, after looking around, the RX8 is still at the top of my list (provided I can actually afford to finance it) anyway, to the point. Winter is here/approaching. I'm in southern Maryland, where the snow has been fairly light the last 2 years I've lived here. When it did snow, the roads were generally cleared by the time I had to drive on them (or I waited till they were) and on base they get cleared even faster and better. Pretty much the only significant snow/ice situations have been the parking lots at my apt and work. Reading the boards for a few days made it very evident how bad the stock RX8 tires are on anything snowlike. And while I understand that snow tires are the best, if I get an 8 its going to be very hard to afford a set of snow tires, let alone dedicated rims for them. However, on my 5 I currently have a set of 18x7.5" rims with a +47 offset wrapped in 215/35/18 toyo proxes fz4 all seasons. I have been able to find anything real concrete, but it appears the fz4's do ok in the snow (ive only had them since last april or so, so they haven't seen snow yet). I know my tire size is a bit skinny and short compared to stock, but I could live with that. what worries me is if the rims would fit. They have the right lug pattern, but I have yet to see any real good guide to rim fitment on this board to tell me what offsets/sizes will or will not fit. I also don't know if the tmps would fit them, but as long as they fit and and I can drive on them, i can ignore the light for a month or two. thanks eepr5

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Gord96BRG

The wheels should fit fine - but those tires are seriously too short (diameter). Check out the Miata.net Tire Size Calculator - compared to the stock 225/45-18s, your 215/35s are 2.1 inches shorter!!! (23.9 vs. 26.0) That's 8% shorter, and you'll throw off your speedometer by 5 mph at 60 mph. Not to mention, shortening the diameter by 2 inches means you'll lose 1 inch of ground clearance.

I'd recommend against using those tires on an RX-8.

Regards,
Gordon

eepr5

yeah, that had me kind of worried. guess I'll have to try and figure somehting else out. Might be able to get enough from the wheels and tires for a new set to fit the stocks.