Is there anybody here running 16's? Have any pictures? Im looking at all the wheel set up's the members are posting and it seems there are more people here into bling bling 18 - 20 inch rims then real tuners. Is the RX 8 a Tuner car or a bling bling car? im confused

 

I don't think you can fit 16's over the front brakes of a MT 8. That's what I have heard anyways, otherwise I would be looking into them.

 

well chuckles... you can't very well "bling bling" a 16" rim because 90% of the time the OEM bigger brake kit on the 8 won't accommadate the size..

 

Here's a dirty OEM 16" rim for ya partner.... I have clean pic but that will cost ya... Actually, that pic is at home, maybe somebody else can show you a clean OEM 16" rim..

http://home.comcast.net/~store0001/comedy/target4.html

 

Im not trying to go bling bling thats my point. Thanks for the picture. And I didn't know 16's wont fit over the bigger brake set up OEM. On my last car i had 16 inch volk TE37's and q 12.1 inch Wilwood Big brake seturp with forged calipers. Can i do this same type of set up with the RX8?

 

You're going to have to go figure that one out. Most people gave up on 16's as far as I can tell. Go take some measurements. Be sure to let us all know

 

I will as soon as i buy my RX-8 :| I will be purchasing a 2006 if everything goes as planed by christmas time. This why im researching now so i dont have to go through alot of trial and error ounce i have the car. There has to be someone out there with a similiar set right?

 

Everyone goes 18 (stock) or up. I haven't seen anyone downsize except for on a set of autocross wheels.

 

Why?

 

large wheel well, is my guess.

when I get around to buying rims (as soon as my tires wear out), I think I'm going for 17" SSR Comps. I know those'll fit, because people have used them for auto-x. Most of the autocrossers gave up on 16's I guess. There just don't seem to be any that fit.

 

i think a real tuner would not get this car.. but go for a true sports car

 

Rx-8 Is A True Sports Car

 

trollmeister

 

like a honda civic

 

I did, although it does appear to be a fairly unusual choice.
Ditched the 18's as soon as I got the car for
17x8 SSR comps. Look just fine to me (car was
lowered a tiny bit with mazdaspeed springs, which maybe helps), not that I'd care unless it looked really silly.
Lightweight; I'm almost 10lb/corner down from stock.
But more importantly there seemed to be far more
tires of the general type I'd want that fit 17". Nothing's
more important than the tires so work back from that,
that's my theory.

 

Got any pics ajg?

 

No, check back a day or two and I'll get something here.
(Remember of course, my standard was/is
"doesn't look too silly" :-)

-Adam

 

Here are some OEM 16's...

 

Wow, even those stocks look pretty close to the brakes. (No, I have not seen one with the 16's in person.)

 

as big as the factory wheel wells are anything smaller than an 18 would probably leave a hellafied gap, maybe not that big a deal performance wise but looks wise itprobably throws the car off something fierce, I've seen some of the 16s around town driving and on a lot and they looked awful, but if that's your thing more power to you

 

Are those 16s on an MT?

 

All MT rx8's (in the US at least) get 18" wheels, incuding the base MT, the only way to get 16" wheels is to get a base AT.

The bigger brakes that that car has avalible are 12.7 in front and 11.9 in rear, add the calipers on to that and there are no 16" wheels that will fit, you would have to go with a smaller setup, like the willwood kit you mentioned.

You could make up for the smaler brakes with a better system, but your better off just getting a 17" wheel that will fit.

There are lots of light weight 17" and 18" wheels that would be great for the 8.

Also some competition rules state that you have to run a wheel that was offered for the car, or a wheel of the same size. so that leaves 16 or 18...

 

Ya if you want to run in a stock class....but there are other classes...