A Rookie Shopping For Rims

[carter1551]

I have no clue what to look for as far as rims when i go to purchase some however i would like to start looking and get some within the next month. What do I need to know and look for when shopping? By the way these rims must fit on a stock p5 suspension and on the stock dunlop sports.

[Kansei]

Well first off you'll need wheels with a 5x114.3 bolt pattern to fit on the car. You'll want to look for an offset +45mm or higher. Check the wheels/tires/brakes/suspension subforum on here for Rishies Fitment guide, it'll let you know what tire sizes you can fit.

[ProtoType5]

The first clue you should get ahold of is how terrible the rubber on the stock tires is...And if you're upgrading rims...I would go 17"s just for the look...Look at the Kosei K1 TS...They are some of the lightest 17s you can buy and not extremely expensive...Go to tirerack.com and check out the way they look on the P5...

[Demoniam]

do yourself a big favor and forget about those stock Dunlops!

[redpr5]

dunflops FTL!!!!!!!!!

[carter1551]

wow i got zero help from any of you guys.

[mountjonas]

wow i got zero help from any of you guys.


Well first off you'll need wheels with a 5x114.3 bolt pattern to fit on the car. You'll want to look for an offset +45mm or higher. Check the wheels/tires/brakes/suspension subforum on here for Rishies Fitment guide, it'll let you know what tire sizes you can fit.

tirerack is a start. it'll show you what wheels fit your car. and they are trying to help. it'll help if you give us more clues to what you want. what's your budget, do you care about wheel wieght, etc.

[carter1551]

well aside from his comments , i also heard that discounttire.com is a good place, how much would it cost to have my tires mounted on the rims?

[mountjonas]

call your local tire place. mine charged about $30 for a mount and balance.

[low_psi]

Read the fitment guide in the Rims,Tires,Suspension section.

www.autornd.com (http://www.autornd.com) is a good site for wheels.

[carter1551]

any thoughts on these?

http://www.discounttire.com/dtcs/findWheelDetail.do?rcz=95054&rc=CSBINT&mk=MAZDA&yr=2003&wd=16&sw=false&dVeh=dVeh&pc=52419&rw=&bp=&vid=008079

[mountjonas]

not my style.

[susamafone]

if you get new rims, youll want to get new tires. im trying to kill my stock dunflops becuase they suck hardcore. everyone here will agree that the stock tires are pretty much the worst tire ever. you can pick up some nice khumos or yokos for a good price. im looking at the prada spec-2's personally. 66 bucks for 205/45/16's. or edgracing has azenis for 88 in the stock size. mmmmm, falken

[susamafone]

not my style.

agreed. theres a red p5 around my area with those on and im just not a fan. but i assume he likes them otherwise he wouldnt have them. its up to you.

[carter1551]

i figured it might look good because i have a silver p5. I thought the colors would match really well

[mountjonas]

the colors would match. it's more the style of the wheel. but again, if you like it go for it.

[CTt3P5]

Tirerack.com and Discounttiredirect.com are two very good places to start, which I see you have. Check out ebay too. You can find some very good deals on rims there....I did. I would agree with everyone else to dump the stock rubber. I have no personal experience with that tire but I have yet to read or hear a good comment about them. If you use tirerack or dtd they will mount and balance the tires for free. I paid $55 for my mount and balance including chrome valve stems.

In the end it is your car and your money so do what you like. As for the 'reasons' I like the rim but wasn't crazy when I saw it on the car online. Of course I am sure it is different in person.

[Kansei]

I paid 200 for a mount and balance o_O

... nearly 550 with alignment

they did a really good job though.. :)

check www.wheelmax.com for wheels. I bought mine there and love them. I recommend them since they have a MASSIVE selection of wheels.. just don't expect any name brands on there, all replicas :)

[CTt3P5]

^^^(shocked) Did they use gold weights? haha The tire tech at the place I went to was all of 100lbs or so. But she knew her $hit and did a great job...total time was an hour and a half but we were also talking.

[Canecreekfreak]

wow i got zero help from any of you guys.

That's a great way to get help- start insulting long time members of this forum when you don't get the response that you like with in 2 hours. (bang)

Anyways, look here http://www.msprotege.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9129

I'd avoid wheelmax- lots of mixed reviews- but that's just me. Tire Rack is great, as is discount tire, and I like Machiii.net as well. Otherwise there's lots of great info. on this site when you use the "search" button, and the tire rack has tons of reviews on tires once you find a set of rims you like. And wheeelweights.net has alot of rims weights listed since lighter is generally better.

[Action Jackson]

You can also consider the physics involved. Let me explain.

I have 16x7 rims that are about 3 lbs lighter than the stock rims (3 lbs lighter each). The stock rims are 16x6.

However with the upsize to 205/50/16 tires, they are heavier than the stock size. Overall the wheel and tire weight is exactly the same as the stock system.

So what's the problem?

The mass is now distributed away from the centre of the hub and towards the outside (the tires). If you remember your physics, it is more difficult to accelerate and move something that is farther away from the centre axis.

What does that mean to you?

Acceleration is slower.
Cornering might be improved a bit with a slightly wider size.
I know my top speed is a bit off too (but don't tell the cops that!)

This is assuming no change in tire rolling resistance and no decrease in road grip.

The answer you're probably looking for?

With a new wheel and tire package, the braking, steering, and directional stability of the car can be affected either negatively or positively. Your speedometer might be off too, and your gas milage could be off from what you're used to.

Depending on your tire choice, you could have a smooth and quiet ride, or a noisy and rough ride. Not to mention various levels of grip. You can ride smooth over everything, or track ruts and streetcar tracks like a heat seeking missile.

Personally I like the weight and durability of the stock rims. The tire choice is very crucial. However if you want to maintain the stock tire size then finding a lighter 16x6 stock sized rim will be beneficial to you.

Check out this thread. Take all tire reviews with a grain of salt. You'll see that I'm on my 4th set of street tires (including the stockers):
http://www.protege5.com/vbb225/showthread.php?t=115385