In my quest to lower and unsprung weight through the purchase of new rims and tires, I've done a lot of research and have narrowed my options to 3. I'd like to get ypour thoughts on which way you would go with it and why. Appreciate your feedback.

 

Option 2? It might help if you showed what you have it narrowed down to.

 

^ sorry, took me a few minutes to get the poll going...

 

Have you seen what a 235 tire looks like on a 9.5" wheel?

 

No I haven't. I was just going by what the tire manufacturer was stating in terms acceptable rim widths. For that particular tire, they said 8 to 9.5 inches is the range to stay within. Why, does it not look good?

 

https://www.rx8club.com/rx-8-multimedia-photo-gallery-6/ivorys-got-some-new-wheels-145426/

read the coments.

 

^ Read it. Good food for thought. I might consider a narrower rim or 245's.

 

If stretching is a concern and wanted to go to 245's, I'm covered above with the 17 inch option (option 3 in poll) and I could add a forth option, a 245/35ZR18 as -- this is the same weight as the other 18 inch option (both tires 22 lbs) but overall wheel diameter is 1 inch less than OEM.

 

I'd probably stick with 18" wheels, if only for appearances, but if you're going for light weight definitely don't get 9.5" wide rims unless you're thinking of getting much wider tires in the future. This relates to what I was saying in your earlier thread: try to accomplish most of your 'added lightness' with more expensive wheels because you will want to have more options with tire choice in the future.

 

Looks like everyone want's you to get the 18". That's what i would do as well.

 

255-40-18 on 18x9.5

Same OD as stock

 

Saw those but they are an extra 2 pounds. Was thinking that the smaller diamter would be good for performance anyways. It will just screw up speedo (no biggie), would increase wheel well gap by half inch because 245/35 are 1 inch smaller in diameter -- this would also put me a half inch lower to teh ground (clearance of 4.75 inches an issue?).

 

Well it depends on what you want to do with them.
I like to have a minimum 100mm sidewall for street use to protect the rims.
And 255 on 9.5 looks cool
For track use all's fair!

 

I'd go for the 17x9s but not with 245/40/17s but rather 245/45/17 tires.... as these 45 series are closer to stock (1% off). Beyond that the combo with 17s is 1) far less expensive than 18s for both the tire and the wheel, 2) they give a nicer ride (even a little extra sidewall makes a big improvement), and 3) you'll not notice any handling difference to speak of, and 4) the saving multiply next time you need new rubber.

Oh yea, the 17x9 Enkei weighs only 15.6lbs - you'll have a hard time finding anything that light in 18s, even the 18 Enkeis weigh 17.6lbs!

 

^
Good to hear a counterpoint to teh 18's. BTW, I thought the Enkies were 17.2 lbs -- perhaps it varies by offset (38 vs 45)

Only concern with 17's is the look because all of the other factors suggest that 17's are a better choice. I'm planning to powder coat the enkies white, so perhaps that will make them look larger than they are???

Thanks everyone for ypour votes and commnets

 

Yes, offset and width do matter.

 

Where I got them ( http://www.good-win-racing.com/Mazda...t/60-1290.html )says 15lbs, my shipping scale said 15.6lbs. I think these are special Japanese manufacture to fit our car's offset. With a 255/40/17 NT-01 mounted/balanced they weigh 42 lbs.

Yea, white makes everything look bigger...not a bad idea and it should look very nice me thinks