RX8 2004-2008: Wheels and Tires
When shopping for new RX8 wheels there are a couple critical issues to consider:
- Weight. The Mazda RX8's fine handling and ride quality is very sensitive to what is called "unsprung" weight (which can best be understood as what hangs off the RX8 suspension rather than what sits on it). More than most automakers, Mazda tunes and equips its sports cars with very light wheels and owners should be very careful about keeping the weight down when they select replacement RX8 rims. Most RX8 owners can feel a deterioration of ride quality from a gain of as little as 3 pounds per corner in unsprung weight. We therefore strongly recommend that you use only light weight wheels for your RX8 like those we sell here. Unlike other vendors who rely on overly optimistic wheel weights as listed by the wheel manufacturers, we weigh each wheel that we sell to verify the lightness. For that reason, many of our listed weights here are slightly higher than the marketing weight listed on the wheel manufacturers' websites.
- Offset and Size. RX8 wheel offset causes a lot of confusion. Here is a simple explanation. If the rim is 8 inches wide, and the mounting surface of that rim (backside of the bolt holes), is 4 inches from either outside edge, that rim has a 0 offset. To the extent that a rim's mounting plane is offset from that zero position, that offset is measured in millimeters for Japanese cars. The Mazda RX8 factory 18x8 inch wheel has an offset of 50mm. A 40mm offset choice is moving the track wider by 10mm per side. RX8 owners looking to stick to stock width can consider any of the offsets we offer here, but RX8 owners looking to go with substantially wider tires should stick to our 45 to 48 mm choices. For those looking to mount maximum tire width for autocross or track events see our 45mm 18x9.5 RP-F1 alloys which are lighter than stock wheels but allow 265/35, 275/35 and even 285/30/18s to be mounted on all four corners of an RX8.
| Shop our RX8 2004-2008 Wheels and Tires catalog by clicking below: |
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| RX8 Wheels and Tires - Wheels - Click here to pick a wheel. |
| RX8 Wheels and Tires - Tires - Click here to pick tires. |
| RX8 Wheels and Tires - Wheel and Tire Combo Specials - Click here to view popular combinations. |
| RX8 Wheels and Tires - Accessories - Click here for lug nuts, hubcentric rings, and center caps. |
