If you knowledgeable fella's can tell me if there are handling problems, or any technical problems that come from a setup like this. I'm completely ignorant when it comes to this type of stuff. I'm just looking at new wheels, I want an aggressive look and from the other posts wider rear wheels seem to create handling problems and I know I can't rotate. I'm not that simple.

 

Even if you bought the same nominal width tires for the 18" front and 19" rear - the handling would be affected by the different sidewall heights, ie the tires would not be responding the same to side loads while cornering. That would probably mess up, er, change the handling even more than running wider tires on the back! I would recommend against running mixed diameter wheels on the RX-8.

Regards,
Gordon

 

I tryed running staggered wheels w/ my 3rd gen and the handling was completed out of wack. 235/40/17's front & 245/35/18's rear to make up for the diameter but still, like Gordon stated, the sidewalls were screaming. I would recommend to stick with the same rim diameter. You will not regret it.

Good Luck to you Nufan

 

That's all I wanted, thanks for the reply guys. This option is out, so I guess I'll stick with powedercoating my rims. I found a place that will powdercoat for $30 a rim but I need to get them sandblasted at a body shop. They charge about $30 a rim for that. Cheaper than the place that does both for $90 per, but it's more aggravating carrying these wheels all over the county.

 

for the purists, changing the wheels and tires will negatively affect handling, but in reality i think it's slight. you're not gonna slide off the face of the earth when making a turn. i have switched to 19 x 8.5 (45mm offset) and it's not a very dramatic change. if i were autocrossing, i'd have an issue. however, i'm a spirited daily driver and it's a fine tradeoff for me to have better looking wheels. to each his own. good luck.

 

by the way, i'm running 235/35/19 in the front and 275/30/19 in the rear.

 

and another thing, i'm NAPBOY, not jdmruby.

 

Unfortunately that doesn't mean anything to me, I just registered this month

I could understand if there is a larger problem going with 19" rear and 18" front than a larger diameter all around.
When I do get my rims I will absolutely get 19 inchers. I'm moving into my own business now so I'm not financially secure enough to spend on it right now, just need to fill my head up with all the knowledge I can. The stock wheels are a fine looking wheel but I do like the look of larger, and have noticed it fills the wells in quite nicely. Just wish they were black.