hello

we have owned our 2004 mazda 3 for many years and other than the 17" alloy rims and low profile tires, we really love the car.

we have spent untold fortunes, however, on replacing tires and having the rims reshaped as any time you hit a pot hole, park on uneven ground, or think about my tires the rims get bent and the tires lose their seal.

I want to get some regular old steel rims that are small enough to house regular (ie non-low profile) tires and still have the same overall diameter.

looking for any guidance anyone could give me on this. This is my wife's daily driver and she's usually carting my 3.5 year old around and our newborn son as well. I just want something that won't bend so easily (steel I suppose) and tires that are thick enough to be able to absorb the occasional pothole.

 

lol, or you could go around the potholes.

Your stock wheels' lug pattern is 5x114.3 and your offset is +52mm. If your car has a 2.3l engine, you can't go smaller than 16" or your brake rotors won't clear the inside of the wheels.

Good Luck!

 

check tirerack or 1010tires for what you like the look & price of. I'd suggest alloy weels, they aren't much different price than steel, and they have the proper angle hole for TPMS units... which you can probably find used off eBay.

 

Try 16 inch rims from a Mazda 6 (steel or alloy) or a Mazda 3. Check craigslist. I've seen them advertised for as low as $200 (alloy) and steel as low as $100 for a set of four. Mount 205/55-16 tires. They are a lot cheaper and are about the same diameter as your 205/50-17's. You can get 205/55-16 tires as low as $90 at Sam's Club with a three year road hazard warranty.

 

Probably too late, but Tirerack has the cheapest wheels I've seen that look good and are lighter than stock. Onlinetires dot com has really cheap tires. I priced Nitto Neogens in 215/45/17 for $352 shipped, and those are great all season performance tires. I do know they're very slow to process and ship orders unlike Tirerack.

 

I bought Goodyear Eagle GT's from Discount Tire in November for $444 shipped. I got 215/45/17's on my stock snowflakes. Huge difference in handling with a performance tire over RSA's. I've driven them in light snow since and had no problems with traction.

Check out Discount Tire. They usually always have free shipping.

 

Great tire choice too. I have some cheap Falken Ziex 529's or something. My experience is all Falkens wear crazy fast.

 

when I get 18's for the summer, I really like the Falken 452's. But for now I'm satisfied with black snowflakes, it was a lot cheaper