badM3

When the Spring comes.. and the money I saved tallys: I truely think this will be the battle plan >

Suspension Tuning - adjustable shocks with Mazdaspeed or H&R springs, Sport Drop of course.

Brakes - At least a vented rear, slotted with pad upgrade. Fronts get a slotted disc and pad upgrades.

Wheels - 19x8" shod with 225/35/19s... a deep dish look with possibly a gunmetal center and polished lip.

All depends on if I save correctly or not. I dont think many tuners will have a turbo or supercharger kit readily available until next Fall. I hear many companies will be introducing turbo kits and other upgrades to the potent 3.

But my main focus.. will be suspension. Nothing beats a killer stance

gtgray

19" wheels???

That is going to kill the handling, braking, and acceleration. Might look good, maybe.... But it will be like bolting the car to the ground.

Truth of the matter from a performance perspective the wheels need to get smaller, 16" or even 15" to ehance the performance. Unsprung weight is a killer, makes the suspension work much harder. All that rotating mass, well it does want to rotate, and when you finally getting it rotating it wants to stay rotating. Big huge gyroscopes is what you have. The car won't want to turn either, it will want to keep going straight.

19x8" would be for bling.. bling factor only. I know big wheels are the style today, but they hurt handling much more than they help it.

Oh and they would bend ever so easy. Nothing like spending thousands on wheels and tires, and have them die at the first pothole. Don't mind me I am sure you know all these trade-offs anyway.

The reason I did not buy the hatch was it had 17" wheels and weighed and extr 50 lbs. I will be looking for ultra stong, ultra light 15" wheels. Maybe some 15x7.5 " and some 225 50s.

badM3

Show baby show.

When my lil ol 3 grows up and drags, it will be high performance 15"s for sure.

Oh btw, if u havent noticed.. there are 19" wheels out there that will weigh in close to a 17" combo (hint hint.. HRE)