Handling upgrade on 2002 Protege5 questions.

New owner of a 2002 Protege5. I figured I drop a little more money into it to improve performance. Thinking about wheels first. Currently the car is used for around town and commuting between towns. The roads are pretty twisty between towns with a fair amount of inclines and declines, good paved roads but there are the occasional rough patches. Climate is north west coast and winter tires are mandatory for 5 months. Not a lot of snow, but rain and ice. I have only one set of factory rims with 2 sets of tires for summer/winter. I'm thinking of leaving the winter tires on the factory rims and getting something different for summer.

Question: Hypothetically, if I go let's say with low-profile 40-series 17-inch wheels and tires, that would mean a suspension adjustment of sorts whenever I change rims and tires (summer/winter) correct? I'm sure the car's sensors are based around factory conditions so I assume changes to the wheels and tire profile will require potential adjustments. Looking for performance 1st and then something that looks a little cooler than stock. Not really sure how I should go as far as improved handling vs comfort.

Which leads me to doing suspension improvements as well. Wanting to keep it inexpensive and again this is for daily driving on twisty roads. Also how about brake upgrades? Any suggestions appreciated.

if the tires are the correct size, then no suspension adjustment would be necessary. there's no electronic sensors or anything else that would be affected by changing the wheels and tires.

Personally, i wouldn't go any bigger than the factory 16" wheels though if comfort of ride quality is a factor for you. There's a lot more options changing to a 205/50/16 tire though and a lot more to pick from. The factory size is an odd size and there isn't a lot available, and what is available is really expensive comparitively. you can fit a 205/50/16 on the factory rims with no rubbing or fitment issues on stock suspension. i can't speak for lowered, where i live a lowered car wouldn't make it down my street let alone up my driveway. i sometimes bottom out at stock height lol

these other guys are much more into modifying these things than i am and could better advise about brake or other upgrades. personally i think in stock form the car handles and brakes great. i've had plenty of modified cars before and while they can handle great, ride quality always suffers.

I tend to make poor choices when it comes to changing rims and wheels so I'm not going to comment about that. I will tell you that there are multiple generations of mazda6 front calipers and rotors that are a perfect fit. Rear Mazda 6 calipers will require some parking brake modifications so I skipped those myself. I think the difference in brake performance combined with Magnum Brakes SS braided brake lines ($56) all around was worth it...especially here in deer country. I never go a month without braking hard for a deer since I live near the boonies.

Holiday, you are over thinking it. As long as you keep the same OD on the wheel/tire combo (easy to compute online!) then your speedo will read correct and everything will be fine. It's not a matter of what the car's sensors, etc.. The Protoge doesn't have any fancy torque vectoring or anything. The only thing you need to take into account is if you want to lower a little with a suspension upgrade. This will obviously make your winter capabilities in deep snow a little worse.

I think your idea of keeping the winters on the stock wheels is a good idea. I would then try to pick up the lightest 16" or 17" wheels you can afford (your car is low on power so light wheels will help it feel a little faster, and also help braking in one fell swoop), and wrap some nice summer rubber on there.

Then think about replacing the struts and springs with something a little sportier.

Thanks for the input. Doing some research on rims and tires (I guess I actually mean wheels and tires) brings up a bunch of options. Cannot find info on weight of stock rims, what would be a good weight to go to? I've been looking at wheels like this: https://www.carid.com/konig-wheels/tweakd-black-red-43947634.html. 16x7. Looks of course is a factor but again looking for more performance gain. Price too is a consideration, basically wanting best bang for the buck.

As for suspension I realize lowering the car will assist handling but I'd be concerned about scraping up the underside. Not sure if there is mild way to lower the car where the gain is noticeable and I don't have to worry about hitting bottom.

Enkei RPF1s are a fantastic light wheel and look good. 17s for your car are 15lbs a wheel.

And sure you can drop it down just a little a bit. Most of the sport springs will tell you about how much drop you get.

That's where I'm at. More considering handling and suspension over engine. Which include for me: sway bars, new tires (on 03 protege wheels I was gifted from a forum member), control arms, and maybe a front lower bar. When I replaced my rear endlinks, it was like night and day. I could take a turn much tighter and it didn't feel like I was fishtailing or swaying as much. I didn't get adjustable ones or fancy.

OK, so a few more questions.

Seems factory rims are about 16 lbs. Which seem pretty light as the rims I've been looking at (not expensive ones) are about that weight, sometimes heavier (mind you factory is I believe 16x6 and aftermarket are 16x7) so let's say spending about $475-$600 for a set of 4 I'm not going to shaving off any weight.

As for a sway bar and endlinks from what I understand this is done to the rear and not the front as changing the front will increase understeer (at least the front sway bar change will, not sure about endlinks) so what's a good combo for the rear?

As for the suspension I've seen one P5 owner go with Tokico HP Shocks & Struts and Eibach PRO-KIT Performance Springs. Sounds good?

Finally out of curiosity at what age of vehicle would you consider upgrades not worth the trouble? My P5 is at 184,000K engine and 215,000K body.

Holiday said:

As for a sway bar and endlinks from what I understand this is done to the rear and not the front as changing the front will increase understeer (at least the front sway bar change will, not sure about endlinks) so what's a good combo for the rear?

As for the suspension I've seen one P5 owner go with Tokico HP Shocks & Struts and Eibach PRO-KIT Performance Springs. Sounds good?

Finally out of curiosity at what age of vehicle would you consider upgrades not worth the trouble? My P5 is at 184,000K engine and 215,000K body.

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My endlinks were completely shot, all 4. I replaced them but didn't really notice the difference in the front. I also did my outer tie rods at the same time but because my control arm bushings are also toast, I might not feel the change until I get to those.

Kind of curious on the suspension setup as I said, it's what I've been focusing on the most.

That's good question. For me, it's a really fun car to drive. So doing little stuff to it, is quite enjoyable. I don't think I'll be getting a brand new car in a couple months so taking care of it so she will do the same to me, only makes sense. plus, it's how I want the car.