Pic of my rear end debadged and w/spacers
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Registered, "The Buttman"
Joined: Jan 2004
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From: PORTLAND, OR.
Pic of my rear end debadged and w/spacers
This is the back end of my car now that I've put 6mm spacers in the rear. I cannot feel a difference, but hey... instead of 50mm factory offset, I've now got 44mm offset!
Thread Starter
Registered, "The Buttman"
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 21
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From: PORTLAND, OR.
sorry for sh@**! pic of car... I'll take more later today and post. I want you guys to see how much better the car looks when the tires are coming out closer to the rear fenders, actually filling the cavity, the way it's intended to look 
Absolute Rotary Madness
Joined: Mar 2004
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From: Thessaloniki, Greece
nice and clean. how did you debadge the rear? I want to take out the 'mazda' logo.
I've never seen any other firm doing the same thing...
I've never seen any other firm doing the same thing...
Last edited by RotorManiac; Sep 19, 2004 at 07:11 PM.
Registered User
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 3,281
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From: Glendale, CA
Originally Posted by Ellar
You know, that might've been an option I would have paid for. Don't Porsche and BMW offer badging deletes?
6Spd Blue 230
Joined: May 2004
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From: U.K.
Originally Posted by RX8GUY73
This is the back end of my car now that I've put 6mm spacers in the rear. I cannot feel a difference, but hey... instead of 50mm factory offset, I've now got 44mm offset!
). I am thinking that this is maybe a little too much?Thanks.
BTW, nice rear end.
Thread Starter
Registered, "The Buttman"
Joined: Jan 2004
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From: PORTLAND, OR.
more pics of the 8
Ok, here's a few more "clear" shots of back end, debadged and with spacers in back only. As far as handling, it's same... if not ever so slightly improved w./ wider tracking! STEVE
Thread Starter
Registered, "The Buttman"
Joined: Jan 2004
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From: PORTLAND, OR.
Cost To Debadge....
Yeah, as for debadging.. it costed almost $600, because they weld in holes in rear, and remove front bumper to fill those w/ special "bumper like" compound. The front bumper had to be removed to do it, and I did verify that they really did! Anyways.. I love it, now people really stare, walk around.. trying to, "figure out what the hell it is!" STEVE
You change a bunch of things when you change the offset of the wheels. Whether or not you feel it depends on how much you change it, and how sensitive you are to nuance in your car’s behavior.
- Wider track means less lateral weight transfer, which means increased cornering limits. So if you widen the rear but not the front your car will understeer a bit more than it did from the factory.
- Wider track also means that your wheel has increased leverage against the suspension, which means your wheel rate goes down a bit. This can change how the car responds to bumps, cornering, and braking loads - it will move around more with a wider track.
- Increased leverage also means greater loads on the wheel bearings, which means theoretically they will wear out sooner. How much sooner varies from car to car (and the amount of change in offset); Miatas don’t seem terribly sensitive to this. Other cars have been. The RX-8 is still too new to know one way or another.
- At the front, you also change some more esoteric steering parameters, like scrub radius. I can’t give you a full description of what this does, other than to say widening the track is better than making it more narrow. On my Miata I am convinced that by installing wheels that widen the track, turn-in is reduced. It makes the car feel a little “dull” which is, in my opinion, bad. To me, this change in SUBJECTIVE handling is the single largest downside to pushing the wheels out.
Based on my Miata experience, I’d say that of the above effects, only the scrub radius change is likely to be noticed on a day to day basis for a 6 mm change. Whether or not you like the effect is up to you. Personally, turn-in is one of the reasons I bought the RX-8 as opposed to some of it’s competitors, and I don’t like to dull it. I’m sure there are people here who have wheels with different offsets that can chime in with their impression of the effects on an RX-8.
I’d be concerned about changing the offsets by, or too, the 20 mm range. Seems like allot to me, but that’s just a guess. Perhaps others have tried.
- Wider track means less lateral weight transfer, which means increased cornering limits. So if you widen the rear but not the front your car will understeer a bit more than it did from the factory.
- Wider track also means that your wheel has increased leverage against the suspension, which means your wheel rate goes down a bit. This can change how the car responds to bumps, cornering, and braking loads - it will move around more with a wider track.
- Increased leverage also means greater loads on the wheel bearings, which means theoretically they will wear out sooner. How much sooner varies from car to car (and the amount of change in offset); Miatas don’t seem terribly sensitive to this. Other cars have been. The RX-8 is still too new to know one way or another.
- At the front, you also change some more esoteric steering parameters, like scrub radius. I can’t give you a full description of what this does, other than to say widening the track is better than making it more narrow. On my Miata I am convinced that by installing wheels that widen the track, turn-in is reduced. It makes the car feel a little “dull” which is, in my opinion, bad. To me, this change in SUBJECTIVE handling is the single largest downside to pushing the wheels out.
Based on my Miata experience, I’d say that of the above effects, only the scrub radius change is likely to be noticed on a day to day basis for a 6 mm change. Whether or not you like the effect is up to you. Personally, turn-in is one of the reasons I bought the RX-8 as opposed to some of it’s competitors, and I don’t like to dull it. I’m sure there are people here who have wheels with different offsets that can chime in with their impression of the effects on an RX-8.
I’d be concerned about changing the offsets by, or too, the 20 mm range. Seems like allot to me, but that’s just a guess. Perhaps others have tried.
6Spd Blue 230
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 254
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From: U.K.
Originally Posted by GeorgeH
You change a bunch of things when you change the offset of the wheels. Whether or not you feel it depends on how much you change it, and how sensitive you are to nuance in your car’s behavior.
- Wider track means less lateral weight transfer, which means increased cornering limits. So if you widen the rear but not the front your car will understeer a bit more than it did from the factory.
- Wider track also means that your wheel has increased leverage against the suspension, which means your wheel rate goes down a bit. This can change how the car responds to bumps, cornering, and braking loads - it will move around more with a wider track.
- Increased leverage also means greater loads on the wheel bearings, which means theoretically they will wear out sooner. How much sooner varies from car to car (and the amount of change in offset); Miatas don’t seem terribly sensitive to this. Other cars have been. The RX-8 is still too new to know one way or another.
- At the front, you also change some more esoteric steering parameters, like scrub radius. I can’t give you a full description of what this does, other than to say widening the track is better than making it more narrow. On my Miata I am convinced that by installing wheels that widen the track, turn-in is reduced. It makes the car feel a little “dull” which is, in my opinion, bad. To me, this change in SUBJECTIVE handling is the single largest downside to pushing the wheels out.
Based on my Miata experience, I’d say that of the above effects, only the scrub radius change is likely to be noticed on a day to day basis for a 6 mm change. Whether or not you like the effect is up to you. Personally, turn-in is one of the reasons I bought the RX-8 as opposed to some of it’s competitors, and I don’t like to dull it. I’m sure there are people here who have wheels with different offsets that can chime in with their impression of the effects on an RX-8.
I’d be concerned about changing the offsets by, or too, the 20 mm range. Seems like allot to me, but that’s just a guess. Perhaps others have tried.
- Wider track means less lateral weight transfer, which means increased cornering limits. So if you widen the rear but not the front your car will understeer a bit more than it did from the factory.
- Wider track also means that your wheel has increased leverage against the suspension, which means your wheel rate goes down a bit. This can change how the car responds to bumps, cornering, and braking loads - it will move around more with a wider track.
- Increased leverage also means greater loads on the wheel bearings, which means theoretically they will wear out sooner. How much sooner varies from car to car (and the amount of change in offset); Miatas don’t seem terribly sensitive to this. Other cars have been. The RX-8 is still too new to know one way or another.
- At the front, you also change some more esoteric steering parameters, like scrub radius. I can’t give you a full description of what this does, other than to say widening the track is better than making it more narrow. On my Miata I am convinced that by installing wheels that widen the track, turn-in is reduced. It makes the car feel a little “dull” which is, in my opinion, bad. To me, this change in SUBJECTIVE handling is the single largest downside to pushing the wheels out.
Based on my Miata experience, I’d say that of the above effects, only the scrub radius change is likely to be noticed on a day to day basis for a 6 mm change. Whether or not you like the effect is up to you. Personally, turn-in is one of the reasons I bought the RX-8 as opposed to some of it’s competitors, and I don’t like to dull it. I’m sure there are people here who have wheels with different offsets that can chime in with their impression of the effects on an RX-8.
I’d be concerned about changing the offsets by, or too, the 20 mm range. Seems like allot to me, but that’s just a guess. Perhaps others have tried.
Unfortunately, I don't have any first-hand experience with the RX-8 in this regard, so I can only guess. Personally, I tend to want to stay as close to stock as possible, but strictly for subjective reasons (turn-in, etc). I'd guess that 6-8 mm would be fine, but it might not make much of a difference appearance wise.
Now, if you went with aftermarket wheels that were, say, 8.5 inches wide, and they had an additional 6-8 mm offset, now you are talking about pushing the outside face of the wheel out 18-20 mm but the scrub radius, installation ratios etc only change by the 6-8 mm change in the wheel offset. Wrap some 245s around those rims, and now you have a good looking setup that still handles well.
I couldn't in good conscious recommend slapping 20 mm spacers between the stock wheels & hubs. It might work, but I sure wouldn’t do that to my car.
George
Now, if you went with aftermarket wheels that were, say, 8.5 inches wide, and they had an additional 6-8 mm offset, now you are talking about pushing the outside face of the wheel out 18-20 mm but the scrub radius, installation ratios etc only change by the 6-8 mm change in the wheel offset. Wrap some 245s around those rims, and now you have a good looking setup that still handles well.
I couldn't in good conscious recommend slapping 20 mm spacers between the stock wheels & hubs. It might work, but I sure wouldn’t do that to my car.
George
6Spd Blue 230
Joined: May 2004
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From: U.K.
Originally Posted by GeorgeH
Unfortunately, I don't have any first-hand experience with the RX-8 in this regard, so I can only guess. Personally, I tend to want to stay as close to stock as possible, but strictly for subjective reasons (turn-in, etc). I'd guess that 6-8 mm would be fine, but it might not make much of a difference appearance wise.
Now, if you went with aftermarket wheels that were, say, 8.5 inches wide, and they had an additional 6-8 mm offset, now you are talking about pushing the outside face of the wheel out 18-20 mm but the scrub radius, installation ratios etc only change by the 6-8 mm change in the wheel offset. Wrap some 245s around those rims, and now you have a good looking setup that still handles well.
I couldn't in good conscious recommend slapping 20 mm spacers between the stock wheels & hubs. It might work, but I sure wouldn’t do that to my car.
George
Now, if you went with aftermarket wheels that were, say, 8.5 inches wide, and they had an additional 6-8 mm offset, now you are talking about pushing the outside face of the wheel out 18-20 mm but the scrub radius, installation ratios etc only change by the 6-8 mm change in the wheel offset. Wrap some 245s around those rims, and now you have a good looking setup that still handles well.
I couldn't in good conscious recommend slapping 20 mm spacers between the stock wheels & hubs. It might work, but I sure wouldn’t do that to my car.
George
). I can't imagine that this sort of offset would affect the handling too adversely; especially as I will be fitting 245/40's at the same time... :D
yes, I bite
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I put on 18 X 8.5 Fittipaldis with +22 offsets, with 275s on the back and 245s on the front, but the back wheels are rubbing real bad, so Discount Tire is going to replace them with 18 X 8 with + 42 offsets and 245s all around (8mm from stock).
Rubbing sux. They should have checked the proper offsets before putting them on. Of course, now I learned a lot about wheels and offsets.
Here is a pic.
Rubbing sux. They should have checked the proper offsets before putting them on. Of course, now I learned a lot about wheels and offsets.
Here is a pic.
6Spd Blue 230
Joined: May 2004
Posts: 254
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From: U.K.
Originally Posted by Speed-ER doc
I put on 18 X 8.5 Fittipaldis with +22 offsets, with 275s on the back and 245s on the front, but the back wheels are rubbing real bad, so Discount Tire is going to replace them with 18 X 8 with + 42 offsets and 245s all around (8mm from stock).
Rubbing sux. They should have checked the proper offsets before putting them on. Of course, now I learned a lot about wheels and offsets.
Here is a pic.
Rubbing sux. They should have checked the proper offsets before putting them on. Of course, now I learned a lot about wheels and offsets.
Here is a pic.
Shame about the rubbing tho... 
Ah rubbing. I forgot the most basic problem with increased offset. 
By all means, keep digging. Just because I don't like added offset doesn't mean you won't like it as well. There is a Miata driver in germany who has been running +25 wheels for years (factory is +45) and is perfectly happy. The thing to remember about handling changes is that it's so subjective.
And, you still may be able to run +20 offsets with 8 inch rims and 225 section tires.
By all means, keep digging. Just because I don't like added offset doesn't mean you won't like it as well. There is a Miata driver in germany who has been running +25 wheels for years (factory is +45) and is perfectly happy. The thing to remember about handling changes is that it's so subjective.
And, you still may be able to run +20 offsets with 8 inch rims and 225 section tires.