Black O.Z. ultraleggera 18 x 8 are the rims im going to go with. They are beautiful, and light as hell. And im either going to go with Yokohama AVS ES100 or BFGoodrich g-Force T/A KDW 2 for tires. What do you think for tires. Do you know of any places for rims and tires that are cheaper than tirerack.com?

 

KDW2 in stock size is a good choice. Hard to go wrong, great value. ES100 is noisy.

I doubt you'll find a better deal on the package from a reputable place anywhere else.

You might consider having the wheels and tires shipped to one of their preferred installers local to you, so you can have your tire pressure sensors transferred over to the new wheels before the tires are installed.

 

ok thanks, thats what i planned on doing

 

Sick wheels be sure to post pics. I wanted a set of bronze ultraleggeras for my Brilliant Black

 

FWIW people that work at tire stores and Car delerships typically buy their own tires on Tire Rack. Tire Rack is essentially a retail site with wholesale prices. .

 

so tirerack is the cheapest, ok fine by me, i love these rims, cant wait to get them

and they are light as hell, 18#s

 

What offset would you go with? My guess is Tire Rack would only be willing to sell you the +48 vs a +35 or so that would look much better.

 

Tire rack will sell you anything.

 

i dont know much about offset, so i would want to keep it as close to stock as possible, and stock is 50, so i would go with 48.

 

KDW2's are great tires, I loved the set that I had.

 

well i will get the rims and tires over the winter, a long with other mods, but i wont be putting them on until spring when the snow is all gone

 

Good call, are you planning on driving the car over the winter?

 

i have to drive it over winter, but im getting an underbody rustproof coating from zeibart, and i have winter tires that came with the car, so i will take real good care of my baby

 

http://www.tires-easy.com/
this where i found my tires, best price ever i got anywhere i looked.

take a look!

loved your trims.

how is the offset affects the driving?

 

thanks, i dont know yet, i dont have them, but i will let you know how they are

 

big mistake

 

whys that? like i said, i dont know much about wheel offset

 

under carriage bullshit from ziebart? waste of money.

the whole underpan of the car is coated with a rubberized coating already.

 

yea, but it would be good for all the bolts and exposed stuff, but why is a 48 mm offset bad?

 

why is it bad?

 

Stock is +50 et. Get the +48 et. A +35 et will make your steering suck.

And if you don't have to drive them through winter, get these tires:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires....nSpeedRating=H

The only risk is because they are on closeout, something happens to one and you can't get a replacement. So keep them rotated and pay attention to inflation and your tire pressure sensor warnings. And get your car aligned properly, as close to zero toe as the factory range provides for.

Have the wheels and tires shipped to a Tire Rack preferred installer close to you, unmounted, so you can have your tire pressure sensors swapped over.

 

now, please tell me why a +35et will make the steering "suck"?

 

15mm change in scrub radius is significant. It will almost always change steering feel significantly. Mazda's product development engineers will want to give you a massive wedgie when they hear about you doing it.

Different platforms have different tolerance for change. I've driven an E46 that was ruined by an 8mm difference, other cars that were decent with 11mm change. If a wheel that's otherwise the same with 2mm change is available, why go with the 15mm change? If you want to fill out the fenders cosmetically, 9.5" +45 et all the way.

 

well my wheels only have a 48mm offset, so i will be good

 

Although you provide an example your logic is based on one car and your own "feeling". Keep in mind there are Japanese laws regarding tire to fender width tolerances - read about it in Motor Trend a long time ago (lost my microfische sorry). Also, it would seem ridculous to say that moving outwards 15mm is going to change your steering any more than moving to a wheel that is 1.5" wider, sticks out more (24mm) and also encroaches (14mm) to the inside of the car. 24 and 14 is not exactly a balanced ratio either. It would be like just buying a 8" +40 wheel. 5mm? C'mon.