SdotConley

Look i've noticed everyone here argue that weight loss is great and its benefits and others say its not worth the cost...both sides are right but these are all opinions. If we all agreed all of our 8's would be identical and that would kinda **** me off...I'm striving to have an 8 that is not similar to anyone else's. Personally I'm a daily driver but i want volk GT-U cuz they are phat and well THEY ARE VOLKS BABY!!! i could care less about the weight all tho i would like to improve my car's power. Anyways what i'm tryin to say is that its whatever makes u happy, and whatever you think looks good then do it! our differing taste is what makes it interesting to compare rx8 pics. Its all about hey what do u have???....oh yah check out what i got....but if its all the same light weight fly wheels light weight rims....then it gets kinda boring. Anyhow keep on tryin to be different people. I'm loving the pictures of everyones 8. ***REMEMBER YOUR 8 REPRESENTS WHO U R*** a car is a personality. So whats your personality?

Swedishmax

alright...so how much do the Stock 19" rims weight??? I am buying the PIAA super Rozza 2piece rim which at 19"-8.5" weighs 26.5 pounds. is the stock rim less or more ???
thanks
-Max

IZoomZoomI

stock 19s???

18s weigh like 23lbs... pretty light compared to a lot of other factory rims.
Best motoring did a comparison with the evo mr with its standard evo rims and the lightweight bbs rims, outside of the drivers positive comments on the lightweight rims, the improvement in time was minimal. I guess its depends on how drastic the weight change is. I have lighter flywheel with the ssr comps, car brakes overall better and it feels like it drop a passenger so overall i think it was a good investment in my part

Blue-J

Well, I made the plunge to Kazera S Chrome wheels at 26.5 lbs with Michelin Pilot Sport PS2's from Tire Rack, as my stock tires were worn out. After that, I had the old tires dismounted from the stock 18" rims, and took the 18" rims home, washed off all that old brake dust (the new chrome wheels don't build up NEAR as much after 2.5 weeks) and weighed the original wheels, and guess what? They weigh just about the same at 25-26 lbs! Nice to know for myself. I love that new sticky, stiffer ride!

Brian Goodwin

I can feel 2 pounds a corner difference and I suggest that most drivers could if they had similar opportunity to blind test as I have. The difference IS felt as much on the street as it is on the race track. On the street the prime benefit is ride quality...the lighter the wheel and tire package, the better the ride quality because the suspension does not work as hard to slow up and down momentum of the wheel and tire package meaning less NVH is transferred to where you are sitting. There are good reasons that unsprung weight reduction is a holly grail of automotive engineers and it is not just details of handling that only an autocrosser would notice.

Happy riding faster and smoother than stock on 17.2 pound 18x9.5s on all corners...

Brian Goodwin
Good-Win Racing
www.good-win-racing.com

Razz1

Brian which wheel are you using? I'm interested in a lighter wheel.

takahashi

I was going to see the difference in size with the same tyre.
My question is do you have experience on the following?
"Somone chose a 245 on a 8" 8.5" and 9" and tested it and the 8.5" and 9" runs a second a lap faster on the same size tyre"

As in weight, my Enkei 18x8 is 8.3kg is much lighter than stock 10kg. I put some semislick Potenza RE55S on the stock rim and beat my lap time by 4.5 seconds. I drove better of course, but at least I think I am not going backward.

Brian Goodwin

Enkei RP-F1....18x9.5 and 17.2 pounds. That's lighter and less expensive than the same size SSRs. I have pics up on our site if this link does not work:

http://www.good-win-racing.com/mazda....php?p=194#194

On takahashi's question, yes, you get more performance from a given tire size if the sidewalls are better supported which is why I run the 9.5s. Stock class autocrossers are stuck under the rules with 8 inch wide rims but run the same tire size I do, 275s. I run STU class and don't have the limitation of 8 inches so I run the 9.5s to get better support of the sidewalls (particularly helpful given I am in a street tire class). As the ratio of rim width to tire width improves the tire rolls over less and the initial turn-in is sharper and more consistent. Thus, in your example, it is no surprise that the 245 wide tire is going to perform better on the 9 inch wide rim than it does the 8 inch wide rim (to think of it another way, 245/25.4mm per inch means that 245 tire is roughly 9.6 inches wide and that makes for a real angle to the sidewalls on a 8 inch wide rim which you fix significantly by going out to a 9 inch wide rim for the same 245 size.).

Brian Goodwin
Good-Win Racing
www.good-win-racing.com

crimson-rain

:D DITTO :D

crimson-rain

I've had arguements with my friends on this stuff. They keep telling me go wider in the rear. I've seen people do this on FFs (got to love SOME Civic owners)!!!! And then claim they handle better!!!!

The 8 is 50/50 ~ balanced. So the wheels should be balanced also. I'm getting 18 x 8s or x 8.5s. Maybe some Enkeis or Grams Lites (probably Enkeis cause they are a lot cheaper than the Grams). As far as tires, I don't know. Maybe some BFG KDWs or Falken Azenis 615s.

Brian Goodwin

It has been noted here time and time again by many experienced racers, staggard setups on the RX8 do NOT improve handling. If folks want staggard because they think it looks cool that is okay by me but please do not think it improves handling....adding unnecessary weight and upseting already perfect balance is not a good thing for handling. If you want staggard setups buy a Porsche 911 (post rear axle motor gives it a rear bias and high polar moment which benefits from massive rear tires).

I was instructing at the MazdaFest at Buttonwillow Raceway a few months back and we had some very fast full race trim Rx8s fron Mazda on hand....and those full race trim RX8s had the same size wheels and Hoosiers on all four corners. In contrast, the street guys with staggard setups are consistently back of the pack beginners that do not know any better...but they sure look cool going slow.

OR to put it another way, as soon as I get passed by an RX8 on a staggard setup I will be happy to let you know. Weekend after weekend it has not happened yet but perhaps when I am too old to reach the gas pedal it will finally happen.

Brian Goodwin
Good-Win Racing
www.good-win-racing.com

MedicineMan

Brian, what is the smallest size tire (i.e. 225/45 or 245/40) that will fit on the Enkei RPF-1 18x9.5? I was thinking a 275/35 would weigh a few more pounds then a 245/40 or even more than that vs. a 225/45. And if the 275/35 is the only size that fits the 9.5" rim, can you get the wheel in an 8.5" or 9" that would accomadate the lighter 225/45 tire? I hope this question makes sense.

Brian Goodwin

My Miatas use 215s (street) and 225s (autocross/track) at nearly 800 pounds lighter so it is no surprise I like a little bit more stick than stock 225s on the RX8 for the aggressive street setup. I think the 245 is the first step up for street and you can run the 245s on the factory 8 inch but I would get at least a 8.5 which is, frankly, "enough" for street use though you can run that size on 9s and 9.5s. Certainly the 9.5 is going to give you the most performance out of that tire but I should note that the downside of giving the sidewall all the support it can take is that you are more at risk for curb rash with the 245 on there. If looking for a dual purpose setup for street/track/autocross the Falkens in 275s provide amazingly good ride (surprising that the Falken 615s are so smooth given that the old Falken Azenis were such bruisers). I should note that many are also running 265s happily for a dual purpose setup...

Brian Goodwin
Good-Win Racing
www.good-win-racing.com

TeamRX8

iTrader: (25)

this thread has so many generalities it's not funny.

Light weight alone is not necessarily a true picture.

Light weight means nothing if the wheel flexs under load, It often happens that a heavier wheel can have a lower inertia than a lighter wheel; SSR wheels are notoriusly light in the hub area where there is little impact on inertia with excess mass in the shell area which has the largest impact on inertia. How the weight is distrubuted across the width i.e. relative to the lever arm working on the shock/spring, also has an impact. So to simply say this wheel weighs less than that one and is better or 1# rotating mass = 1.5# of non-rotating mass is false science.

It just depends ...

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RPIRX-8

Lovely how you put that last paragraph in yellow. I agree with you though.

Weight is the single most important factor in purchasing rims for me. I went the route of good looks/not caring about weight the first time. I ended up with a set of rims that were 24.1 lbs each. It completely killed to fun in the car, everything was slower, the ride sucked because the springs/shocks couldn't do their job. I ended up sacking those wheels for some 18.5lb Enkei RPM2. At the time i bought them i didn't like the look at all, just wanted a light strong rim (Boston roads are terrible). Now i almost wish i went lighter than that. Ther difference is unmistakable.

axelaspeed

just wanted to know how much does the stock rx-8 rim weigh

RPIRX-8

Approximately 22.1lbs. Take a look at Brillo's vbGarage. He used to have pics posted of the stock rim on a scale with a weight displayed.

axelaspeed

nice, i'll have to check it out, i just bought a set of rx-8 shinka rims for my 3, i was looking all around to find out how much the weighed but couldnt find anything

RPIRX-8

you might want to recheck on the shinka rims. I'm not sure if the alloy used is different than the regular RX-8 18 inchers or if the rims are just painted a chrome color.

axelaspeed

i believe its the same weight, and its just painted in that finish, not positive, anyone with a rx-8 shinka? maybe they can find out how much it weighs

takahashi

Does the stock 8 rim fits into the 3? I know it fits for the 6.

We are probably getting a Mazda 3 rather than a 6 (don't need the size of the car, just the same engine).... if it fits the 8's wheel than I will have a new wheel for track day.

axelaspeed

yes they will fit on a 3, just get 225/40/18 for the tires, haha i learned that the hard way cuz when i got the rims i didnt realize that they were 225/45/18's stock so now i got 4 extra tires i dont need, but thats a good choice if ur gonna chose the 3, i prefer the 3 over the 6 anyway, better mpg, and it looks better than the 6 imo, but i still like the rx-8 only wish i had alittle more money i would have bought the 8 over the 3, cept insurance would kill me thats why i chose the 3

takahashi

Sweet.......

What is the stock wheel offset? I wonder if it will fit on my 8 for some drifting practice?
(you may see the offset in the inside of rim).

We are only 1 kid family and not expanding atm so I think we like the 3 more now, plus a few $K cheaper - sparing some cash for mods on my 8.

Oh found the answer:
http://www.mazda3forums.com/index.php?topic=25387.0

axelaspeed

haha, you beat me to that question, but ya i know a couple of people that use the 17' stock 3 rim on the 8 for winter, fits fine

takahashi

You can be my Mazda salesman. I am sold on the 3! :D

Oh my love to do the drifting on the 17".... LOL

Must go and test drive the 3 in the weekend then.