Shrinking rims
 

Hello, first post.

You all may think I'm crazy, and I will explain my question for any who want to know why -- but here's the question first:

Can I shrink my stock 17s down to 16s? What would be the best 16 to use?

Now here's why.

I love my Mazda 3, but am about to be given a company car. My father is in need of a new car and will buy it from me (so it will at least stay in the family). Two of the stock rims have bends and need replacement according to my dealer. My dad won't care what's on there, but we are going to split the cost of replacing wheels and tires.

So my thought is to shrink to 16s in order to avoid more rim bends in the future, and in doing that, spend less on the rims and tires than I would in 17s.

I can get some nice looking rims for around $90 each on a site I found, and there are some all season tires in the same range.

If you can put aside your thoughts about this hurting the ride of the car -- we are prepared for that -- can you offer any advice?

Thanks very much.

Shouldn't be any problem. At first I thought you meant literally shrinking your stock rims (haha my bad).

If you buy 16" rims and put them on, you'll be fine. Look on your door jamb and it will tell you what 16" tire size to buy. I think it's 205-55-R16.

My advice is to stick with stockies. I'll bet you could find a couple used Mazda3 wheels on eBay or craigslist.

Or maybe even here:
http://www.mazda3forums.com/

Thanks for the advice.

Actually, I really don't want stock 16s -- they cost more than some aftermarket rims!

If you have a 3i then you can go as small as 15", and if you have a 3s then you can only go down to 16" due to the larger brake rotors.

You're not crazy.... don't get me wrong, I wasn't sure what you were asking until I read the whole thing, but after that... you're not crazy. :D Actually it sounds like a good idea as your dad will also get a smoother/quieter ride.

If you hunt around patiently for used stock rims, you can get them at a decent price. If you really don't care, then just grab the rims you were planning on.