How to pick out wheels for an rx8
 

1. Stick to 17", 18", or 19" diameter wheels with 17" being more for autox/track work and 19" being more for bling bling. The really early automatic transmission cars can run 16" wheels due to their smaller front brakes.

2. Don't go thinner than 8" width. That's less than stock. Refer to #11. Some people want 7.5" wheels for snow tires. I have never seen snow, so I can't help with that.

3. Bolt pattern is 5x114.3mm or 5x4.5" as they are the same thing. This is the standard bolt pattern for many OEM brands like Nissan, Ford, newer Subaru, etc. Hub size is 67.1mm. This is not usually important as most aftermarket wheels are made excessively large in order to be compatible with more cars, but some OEM wheels are smaller and will need machined out for the wheel to sit correctly. For the wheel hubs larger than 67.1mm, it would be ideal to have rings that convert it to 67.1mm Link

4. Don't pick heavy ass wheels (greater than 25lbs) because you will notice a difference in daily driving comfort/performance. Try to stick to something 21lbs or less. Diameter plays a part into this but those general numbers should work.

5. Lower your car first if you are trying to be "flush." Do it right and do springs/struts or my personal favorite coilovers. Don't go cheap here. Thank me later.

6. Poke is bad, mmmmkay. If you don't know what poke is, don't learn because it is dumb. If you want poke then you are beyond the realm of this thread.

7. You don't NEED anything wider than 245s for street driving under 99% of conditions. Anything more will slow you down due to extra weight unless you have FI. Wider does look better to some people though.

8. Choice of offset is dependent on wheel width and also how much negative camber your car has (likely related to how low you are). These are general ranges which should be good to go for stock height. A lower number means the outer edge of the wheel is farther from the midline of the car.

8" wide - +30 to +50 with 225/45/18 or 245/40/18 (or equivalent for diameter)
8.5" wide - +35 to +50 with 245/40/18, 255/40/18
9" wide - +40 to +50 with 245/40/18, 255/40/18
9.5" wide - +45 to +50 with 245/40/18, 255/40/18, or 275/35/18.

265/35/18 (9" to 10"), and 235/40/18 (8" - 8.5") are good sizes as well if you are lowered quite a bit. (shorter sidewall means more wheel gap at a given ride height)

9. For every inch you are lowered, you can go about 5mm lower on offset, ie from +30 to +25ish. This is not perfect because not everyone has the same amount of camber but it is a decent general rule. When lowered though, stay away from 255/40/18 or 225/45/18 tires (or equivalent for your diameter). They can cause problems with their height.

10. Rolling fenders isn't hard or expensive and it doesn't make your car look different from the outside. It gives you more room though and will give you greater peace of mind. Pulling fenders is another matter though that is permanent and visible from the outside.

11. Most wheels look "better" when they are wider. Concave wheels will be more concave and wheels with a lip will have more lip. Some other wheels have offset work into that as well but they are far more rare (read that $$expensive$$).

12. Staggered is stupid too. Same width/offset all around for better handling and ability to rotate tires. Being staggered won't make your car explode or anything, but there is no reason to do it.


Anything within about 10mm of offset from this, feel free to ask in the Will It Fit thread. Everything else I won't help on because it probably wouldn't look good to me and I won't promote that. You shouldn't need this thread if you are trying to be hellaflush anyways.

Glossary:




Aspect Ratio - the relationship between a tire's section height and its section width. It is calculated by dividing the section height by the section width. When the section height is half of the section width, the aspect ration is 50. In a tire size description, it would be the 50 in P195/50R15. It is also called the tire's profile or the series.




Bolt Pattern - https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7215/...3a32a06c6c.jpg the arrangement of the bolt holes on a wheel. A 4 bolt wheel with 100mm between opposite bolt holes would be written as 4/100. Some wheels have more than one bolt pattern on the same wheel to accomodate multiple fitments.




Camber - http://www.townfairtire.com/images/camber.gif
the angle of the centerline of a tire and wheel relative to completely vertical.




Offset -http://i523.photobucket.com/albums/w...etdiagram1.jpg the offset of a wheel is the distance from the mounting surface of the wheel to the true centerline of the rim. A positive offset means the mounting surface of the wheel is positioned in front of the true centerline of the rim / tire assembly. This in effect brings the tire in to the fender well more. Conversely, a negative offset means the mounting surface of the wheel is behind the true centerline of the rim / tire assembly. This will cause the tire to stick out away from the vehicle.

reserved for pictures of common wheel/tire/suspension combos

18x9.5 +38 all around with 245/40/18 on Mazdaspeed Springs and Koni Struts (~1" lower all around) http://flic.kr/s/aHsj6yA7D7

18x9 +30 all around with 245/40/18 on ??????? suspension (s-techs pretty sure)
http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/7140/p1016113.jpg
http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/9779/p1016136.jpg

18x8 +25 (stock wheels +25mm spacers) with 245/40/18 on S-techs/stock shocks
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4037/...9bec9696_b.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4026/...67c60f23_b.jpg

reserved 2

Thanks for helping me get this all sorted out and pushing the envelope

Atilla
Tiltmode43

What post? :suspect:

This also means rework on the suspension, cuz' if you just lower the car, it'll mess up the cornering/overall balance, fyi.

these are 18" does style matter? JK LOL

http://images.craigslist.org/5O55Hd5...9c1bb515f4.jpg

Style is another subject entirely.

Just lowering the car doesn't mess up the balance or anything. This isn't the thread to discuss that anyways.

My two favorite rules on that list. Nice consolidation Jbunchofnumbers, :yelrotflm.

I nominate this thread to be stickied and to unsticky the "Will it fit" thread...

I know its not your style J... but you might want to spell it out because we all know there will be a lesser intelligent of a person and ask, "why is staggered setup dumb? it looks so cool."

which then someone else will have to answer his question and blahhhblahhh

There is a sticky for that. You want me to make the post even longer??? It's already tl;dr

I second this, just because you use #1-12 to answer the majority of your questions anyways. This way, you can just refer to a number.

Sticky!

Subscribing for future use!

Nice post! Should help clear up a lot of things for people not in the know!

:bigok:

nice post J.


You should be a mod. :yesnod:

I disagree.

1,2,4,6,11,and 12 are partly or mostly opinions based on personal preference of the op. A sticky should contain mostly facts right? Not mostly opinions.

And 8 is incorrect. Wheel offset is determined by the construction of the wheel. Has nothing to do with camber in the suspension geometry. And about the (aka) portion, How much camber you have is a result of how much adjustment you have and use in the cam bolt. Camber cannot be used as a description of how low you are. A car can be slammed on its face but have a wild camber kit installed to still achieve 0*camber if wanted or ever positive.

The title should be changed to: How I think you should pick wheels for an rx8

you sir have enlightened me, i now feel like i can post in the "will it fit" thread.

I know it would be a huge p.i.t.a. but I think a mod should go through the "will it fit" thread and clean out all the b.s. like team did for the diy thread.

I think this thread is completely relevant and a good start for anyone looking for wheels. Wheels are subjective and therefor entirely based on opinion. This thread is also aimed at newbs looking for fitment advice, not experts such as yourself. It seems almost everywhere you post an argument breaks out, and it's usually you who argues with the advice or opinion that's been given or have asked for. Leave it be.

Sorry 8 should be read more as "offset choice is governed by". The rest of what you said is laughable.

True. perhaps I'm looking into it too much.
It certainly isnt my intention to incite arguments. I enjoy a debate on any random subject where participants have knowledge and facts to work with and can learn from each other. If I come off as argumentative or hostile than I apologize because I don't mean to. Sometime people have a problem seeing the line between debating/expressing opinions and just being insulting and rude.
Understood.

Very nice!

This thread SHOULD clear up a lot of repeated questions in the "Will it fit" thread.

that is... If people looking for the info bother to read before posting.