I currently have a mazda3 with stock 17 inch wheels. I was thinking of getting some used 18’s but I didn’t want to lower my car. Will I end up with a huge amount of gap between the tire and my rear fender? I want some bigger wheels for spring-fall and I was going to use my stocks for winter, but I don’t wan’t to have a ton of wheel gap. What do you guys think?
use a tire size calculator. It will be dependant on the profile of the 18" tire.
Well, I already looked it up and it would definitely fit without rubbing, I was just worried about a lot of wheel gap visually when you look at the car. I have never increased the wheel size on any of my cars before so I just am worried about getting the 18’s and the having it look like my car is lifted or something.
Not the brightest are ya? It’s simple if u think about it really. If the O.D. is the exact same - you will have the same exact wheel gap is you do now and the same ride height. If the O.D. is larger, you will have less wheel gap and your car will sit higher. If the O.D is less(unlikely if upsizing), you will have more wheel gap and the car will sit lower.
Oh yea - since you don’t seem to be the brightest - O.D. stands for outside diameter
it will look gay, and your ride quality will suffer from the (lack of) sidewall…not that 17’s are a huge step better.
Haha, sorry, I guess I didn’t think it all the way though. I am bright, but only when I want to be. 
I understand the smaller sidewall, but what would make it look bad?
I like less sidewall…sacrificing ride quality. Usually a good tire have minimal effects on ride quality. Less Sidewall = less rollover. Depending on your use, you may or may not want this.
It’s just a daily driver that I want to make some visual upgrades to. My only plans are:
-New wheels/tires (maybe)
-Mild exhaust
-Intake
-Stereo
-Debadged (already done)
-HID’s or LED lights in tails/headlights
I was joking about the gay part, why are you moving up in size anyway, and are these polished lip wheels…it’ll look smaller than your stock 17’s if so
Oh, I have just seen some 18’s for sale that are a good price, so I did some research to see if they would fit. But I didn’t want to get them if they are going to look like crap. And no, they don’t have a polished lip.
what color is ur 3?
Galaxy Gray
Sickest Mazda color out there. I’d leave it be. If you do get wheels be concious of the weird offset requirements. Many other import wheels aren’t fit for the mazdas.
Thanks. I had to have it brought in from ohio becuase all the dealers around here just had the silver which i thought was a little boring. Once I took off the door trim (the strips running horizontally on the side of the car to keep from getting door ding), it really made it look even better. I still have a little bit of badging to take off, but when the car isn’t cluttered with trim and badging it looks really sleek. I wanted the shine of a dark colored car without the scratching and swirls that you can get with a black car.
Titanium>Galaxy
No way :slap:
Uh…Yes, it is.
Anyway, what wheels are you looking at getting? Since you’re worried about wheel gap, i think people are running 225/40-18 and the gap remains the same. If the gap is too much with going with 18s, you could get a spring that has a very mild drop, but retains a nice ride comfort. I’ve read people recommending Racing Beat springs since they only drop the car about an inch (or less). There’s also the Eibach ProKit which drops 1.3". I’m getting those in the spring.
Just trying to think of some options for you.
I am actually considering these ones that someone is selling in the classifieds:
18X7’s should fit from what I have read at mazda3forums.com
Those won’t fit. They’re 4x100. Mazdas have 5x114.3