Looking for new rims + tires for the summer, opinions and pics?

stivine6

Member
:
2001 Mazda Protege ES
Hey guys

so i picked up an mp3 about two weeks ago and i already have some plans for it when summer hits. First things first i will be lowering my car on tokico blues again and pair it with teins or eibach pro kit, would go with megans but i think theyre too stiff for daily driving.

I had a few options of rims that i was thinking of going with. I want to go as flush as possible without rolling my rear fenders, so a semi-aggressive stance would be my ideal set up.

First one was to stick with my MP3 racing harts and put some new 215/45/17 rubber, add 20mm spacers up front and 15mm spacers in the rear for an aggressive OEM look. Just not sure how that will turn out, does any body have pictures of MP3 racing harts with spacers?

Second choice is to find some work CR-KAI reps, yes reps i'm not willing to spend 2k+ on rims on a 12 year old car. Ideally will go with GP racing GR-4 cr kai reps 17x7 with a +45mm offset and run 215/45/17 tires. Still hope that will give it a semi flush look. I've had gp racing gr-3 on my other pro and never had a problem, solid wheels. Would love to see some pro's with cr kai or reps but having a hard time finding some pictures.

My last choice would be FD rims but i heard i will have to roll my fenders if i want to go with 225 tires and add 3mm spacers all around, not sure if this will be practical for my daily usage but would look aggressive.

Let me know what you guys think, i want to go for "jdm" style or clean oem style with the racing harts
 
Personally lowered with the mp3 rims is pretty good for a daily and sat pretty flush for my tastes. 215-45 tires probly helped that. 20 mm spaces will probly make them stick out a bit from the fender. Which for a car that isn't slow looks good. But honestly on an mp3 would look horrible
 
4E029C51-A2A9-4B56-A2B7-81415C95659B-1842-00000357C797B20F_zpsb71cb725.jpg


9AADFD49-830A-42BD-B9F4-E4F34DAAFD00-4295-00000673C9FF9F1D_zps87c91ab6.jpg


This is how mine looked. Hard to tell from picture but if you look at the 323 front tires stick out about 5mm from fender. It actually looks awesome on it and a lot of the old school imports

Edit: before it's asked there is no positive camber on the 323 picture looks weird though
 
thanks for the input! I got the idea after seeing on the forum a black msp with racing harts same offset (+55mm) with 20mm spacers up front and 15mm in the rear i believe and i thought it look really clean lowered. It looked slightly aggressive but kept it OEM style. So i figured with the same offset on the MP3 rims would look sick..

Got the idea from this clean looking msp

g0t2.jpg

iew9.jpg


This is ideal because its nothing crazy but with the spacers the stance is greatly improved and compliments the car
 
Why not just go 20mm all four? Unless your not wanting to roll the fenders...

Edit: reading first post I did see you don't want to roll... So the 20mm up front and 15mm rear should be fine, and should give the look your after
 
Last edited:
Yeah I want to avoid rolling my fenders if possible, don't want to risk cracking anything or snap any metal off from hidden rust etc..

I can't wait to get spacers and lower my car, but any recommendation on hubcentric spacers that aren't too costly?
 
Yeah I want to avoid rolling my fenders if possible, don't want to risk cracking anything or snap any metal off from hidden rust etc..

I can't wait to get spacers and lower my car, but any recommendation on hubcentric spacers that aren't too costly?

I'm planning on getting some 20mm eBay hubcentric spacers when I get the money for a fender roll and the spacers
 
Any person that has any sort of clue what they're doing will check for rust or bondo first before rolling them
 
Any person that has any sort of clue what they're doing will check for rust or bondo first before rolling them

Yup I'm aware of that, just not sure to the extent how much bondo/filler is on it so I'll play it safe and not go to crazy on the aggressive stance. 15 mm in the rear will hopefully set that straight
 
Back