Mike's 2018 CX-9 Signature

sm1ke- where did you get the carbon fiber section on your steering wheel bottom? That is really cool. Thanks.
 
sm1ke- where did you get the carbon fiber section on your steering wheel bottom? That is really cool. Thanks.

I believe I got it on eBay, but you can also find it on AliExpress. The ones that don't have a logo stamped into them (like mine) are usually more expensive. I think I paid like $15 for the steering wheel piece, and maybe $4 for the shift handle cover, but the handle cover has an ugly "RS" logo stamped into it. I also recently added a CF trim piece for the top cover of the steering wheel.

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I believe I got it on eBay, but you can also find it on AliExpress. The ones that don't have a logo stamped into them (like mine) are usually more expensive. I think I paid like $15 for the steering wheel piece, and maybe $4 for the shift handle cover, but the handle cover has an ugly "RS" logo stamped into it. I also recently added a CF trim piece for the top cover of the steering wheel.

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Looks awesome! Thanks. I'll check ebay and AliExpress.
 
Wheels look perfect on the cx-9 , found a set of vossen 22x10.5 with 42 offset should it be fine? See that you went with 30offset
 
Wheels look perfect on the cx-9 , found a set of vossen 22x10.5 with 42 offset should it be fine? See that you went with 30offset

42 offset might be cutting it a little close based on the clearance photo I posted. If they don't fit, you could always throw on some 5mm spacers.
 
Ok cool , I'll keep that in mind..you think would be pretty flush with fender well?

I think so.. with a +30 offset, the wheels poke out very slightly, which is perfect for when I lower the car an inch or two. The natural camber should result in a nice, flush look (without the inner wheel interfering with the suspension). If I wasn't going to lower the car, a 22x10.5 +35 to +40 would be the sweet spot IMO.


How did your tests go with your Sprint Booster @sm1ke ?

I think they went well. Here's a video of the short tests I did (forgot to post it here afterwards, oops lol)


Very very slight difference in hard acceleration from a stop, but if you skip to 0:17 you can see the difference in moderate acceleration at cruising speeds. You also really notice it in regular driving. It just feels much more responsive, and makes it feel closer to driving an N/A car.
 
Been a while..

Last weekend the car hit 37,500 kms, so yesterday I did an oil change and swapped my summer wheels back on. Used Castrol Edge 5w30, a Tokyo Roki OEM oil filter and a new crush washer. I was able to get everything done a lot quicker than I usually do, so that was nice. (Previous oil change was done in Oct 2019, using the same filter and oil).

Post oil change level check.. looks perfect.
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Post wheel swap. I was going to wash the car but the weather kind of sucks for that (lots of puddles due to the snow melting). I think I'll just give it a quick rinse later today.
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One more oil change in the books. Car has 43,500 kms now. I used 5L of Castrol Edge 5w30, a new crush washer and a 1WPY-14-302 oil filter (the PY8W-14-302 Tokyo Roki filters are no longer available locally).

Still too warm to swap to my winter wheel set, so I'll save that for another day.
 
When I ordered my wheels, I also ordered an "upgraded" set of centercaps for them. About a month and a half ago, I noticed that the red powdercoating on one of the centercaps was starting to peel off. The other three centercaps are perfectly fine. I've had the centercaps for maybe a year and a half, but they've only seen maybe 8 months of use since I swap over to winter wheels when it gets cold out.

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I contacted Vossen's sales team a few weeks ago, and they said they would take care of it. Kat at Vossen sent me a new set of replacement centercaps that just came in last week. Needless to say I'm very pleased with the customer service!

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Hey Mike, apologies for bringing this thread back from the dead - did you just say you're effectively running a +25 offset because of the spacers? Any performance / suspension impact? Reason I'm asking is because I'm looking at a set of 22x10.5 TSW's, with a +25 offset, and the back spacing is 6.800 …but I wasn't sure if the tyres would touch the fenders on a "hard bounce", so to speak.
 
Hey Mike, apologies for bringing this thread back from the dead - did you just say you're effectively running a +25 offset because of the spacers? Any performance / suspension impact? Reason I'm asking is because I'm looking at a set of 22x10.5 TSW's, with a +25 offset, and the back spacing is 6.800 …but I wasn't sure if the tyres would touch the fenders on a "hard bounce", so to speak.

No worries @AWDrei! Yes, I'm basically running +25 in the rear due to the 5mm spacers. Fronts are still +30. I've got 285/35/22 tires all around, and I've gone over some big dips and high speedbumps and never heard a peep from the tires/suspension. No visible scrapes or rubbing on the inner/outer tire sidewall when I inspected them after swapping my winter tires on a couple of months ago. All tires are wearing evenly as well. Performance-wise, the difference amounts to a slightly better turn-in due to the width of the tire. You could probably shave a few more pounds of unsprung weight off of the wheel/tire setup by going with a narrower wheel/tire setup, but I prefer the aggressive look of wider tires.
 
No worries @AWDrei! Yes, I'm basically running +25 in the rear due to the 5mm spacers. Fronts are still +30. I've got 285/35/22 tires all around, and I've gone over some big dips and high speedbumps and never heard a peep from the tires/suspension. No visible scrapes or rubbing on the inner/outer tire sidewall when I inspected them after swapping my winter tires on a couple of months ago. All tires are wearing evenly as well. Performance-wise, the difference amounts to a slightly better turn-in due to the width of the tire. You could probably shave a few more pounds of unsprung weight off of the wheel/tire setup by going with a narrower wheel/tire setup, but I prefer the aggressive look of wider tires.
Awesome, thanks for the info! The set I was looking at would be 10.5" wide with a +25 offset on all corners, but I just read your posts regarding the dirt being kicked up, and now I'm wondering if I may end up having the front wheels kick crap onto the side body (even if it's just a 5mm diff from yours). Maybe a +30 or 35 10.5" set works instead?
 
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Awesome, thanks for the info! The set I was looking at would be 10.5" wide with a +25 offset on all corners, but I just read your posts regarding the dirt being kicked up, and now I'm wondering if I may end up having the front wheels kick crap onto the side body (even if it's just a 5mm diff from yours). Maybe a +30 or 35 10.5" set works instead?

Yeah the sides will definitely get dirtier a little faster, but I think I have overblown the issue, lol. It isn't too bad as the wheel/tire setup in the front is pretty close to flush with the fender, so the actual tread of the tire is still covered by the fender. I don't have any issues with stuff like more road tar sticking to the sides of the car or anything like that, but I've noticed that in certain conditions (i.e. after a rainfall, when the road is wet) the tires kick up a mist that finds it's way onto the side of the car more easily. With thinner tires, most of the "mist" stays in the wheel well (but will still find its way onto the side of the car). I just kind of wrote it off as the difference isn't enormous, and if you drive on a wet road, the car's gonna get dirty anyway lol

A 10.5" +35 set would work, and would probably be a little safer, but I wouldn't risk going with any higher of an offset than +35 due to how close the inner rim/tire will be to the suspension. IMO +25 to +35 is the sweet spot for a 10.5" wide wheel.
 
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