PDA

View Full Version : Mazda 3 w/ STI wheels


USarmyEthan
01-24-2012, 08:22 AM
Figured I'd carry this over here as well since it'll be an interesting project considering it's rarity.

Yes, I got STI wheels last week and yes I put them on my car Yesterday. Still needs work though.

It's been done and documented 3 times. Once by a girl in canada with no lowering springs who put spacers on so that the difference in hub sizes wasn't an effect. Another by a guy who had the hub on the wheels bored out and then put 5mm spacers on the rear just to push them out more and lowered his car 1 inch, then he sold the wheels. Lastly by a guy with a speed3. no lowering. Just had the hubs bored out to 67.1mm.

I'm going my own route and making another reference for anyone else interested in a setup similar to mine.

First off the wheels are Silver 17" with BBS center caps straight off an STI. My car is lowered 1.8" all the way around. This does create some small problems when going from a 6.5 inch wide tire to an 8 inch wide.

I couldn't get a machine shop in the Dallas area to bore out wheel hubs for me. Most assumed I was on drugs and promptly ended discussion. So spacers became my only option. They work as long as you have 5-7 threads visible that the nuts can screw onto. The front spacers work perfectly and the rear needs to run a wider spacer (wider than 5mm) in order to clear the hub because for some reason it's longer.

So once everything was bolted on and seated up I took it for a quick spin through the dealership parking lot and realized a couple of things I have to work on:

1. Rear spacers (since they don't touch the wheel) slide a little on the bolts because of the inertia

2. The wheels are terribly unbalanced in the front (wheel shaking started at 35 mph)

3. When I hit even small bumps the back wheels scrape on the metal part of the rear fender.

4. When the wheel is cut all the way left or right it rubs slightly on the inside fender well.

5. I want longer studs just to be safe.



All of these things I will get too in the next week or so and I will come back and update here piece by piece as I get through with it all.

Vandit
01-24-2012, 10:18 AM
The 3 looks cool on the RX8 18"s

dukenukem
01-24-2012, 10:21 AM
Where are the pics? :)

I love my stock STI BBS wheels. However, if you are running brake pads that tend to dust a lot you will soon find out just how much fun it is to try and keep the wheels clean.

MarbleGT
01-24-2012, 10:29 AM
...sounds complicated. :dontknow:

ken o
01-24-2012, 11:14 AM
Hold on. If I am reading this correctly. Are you saying the rear wheel hub is not seated flat on the axle hub? If so, DO NOT drive that car. You will have a stud break and a wheel separate. There should be no space between the hub and wheel.

1. Rear spacers (since they don't touch the wheel) slide a little on the bolts because of the inertia
What are you talking about? Wheels should never slide on the bolts.

2. The wheels are terribly unbalanced in the front (wheel shaking started at 35 mph)
Are they mounted flat on the hubs? If not that is why they shake.

3. When I hit even small bumps the back wheels scrape on the metal part of the rear fender.
Easy, roll the inside lip.

4. When the wheel is cut all the way left or right it rubs slightly on the inside fender well.
Run lower profile tires.

5. I want longer studs just to be safe.
You want wheel that fit over the hubs and flush to be safe. Long stud wouldn't do crap.



If you are adding spacer to bypass the hub and get the wheels to fit make sure they fit flush to the spacer and the spacer is flush to the axle. I would recommend a spacer with a lip in it.

goofygrin
01-24-2012, 04:23 PM
^ what he said. Holy balls dude... there's no way I'd drive that car.

And you can get the wheels hubs redone. I'm pretty sure that a wheel repair shop like Wheels America can do it.

Although once you've gone to all that trouble I bet you could have gotten a nice set of Volks and they'll fit right without a bunch of hoop jumping...

MarbleGT
01-24-2012, 05:43 PM
could have gotten a nice set of Volks and they'll fit right without a bunch of hoop jumping...

This.

USarmyEthan
01-24-2012, 08:41 PM
The wheels are mounted TO the hub the noise was coming from the rotor jiggling (floating rear brake system on the mazda 3) and slightly catching the caliper when driving. This is because when I took the 5mm spacer off (the hub is 8mm long) it wasn't being forced to the wheel like it should. Wider spacer will fix this. I know this because the front hub is 5mm and the front spacer is 5mm and the front wheels give me no problems whatsoever.

The steering wheel shakes because the wheels are unbalanced. I checked it and balanced them and It's fine now.

I am going to roll the inside lip tomorrow morning when it's on the lift in the shop and I'm putting on the new 8mm spacers for the rear.

The tirs currently on it are 235/45/17's and they have about 5-10k miles treadlife on them. My next set will be 225's because they will give me slightly more clearance to what I need.

It's been done before and when everything is flush to the hub (which it is now it just isnt flush to near the rotor) then I'll get either 55mm or 60mm studs (stock is 50mm) and run them just to be safe. I'm never going to track the car and I do not drive aggressively so the bolts will hold.

ken o
01-24-2012, 09:17 PM
Be smart and be safe. Hooah.

MarbleGT
01-24-2012, 09:58 PM
The tirs currently on it are 235/45/17's and they have about 5-10k miles treadlife on them. My next set will be 225's because they will give me slightly more clearance to what I need.

235/40s might be cheaper for you.

dukenukem
01-24-2012, 11:10 PM
235/40s might be cheaper for you.

I would be surprised if it is the case. Also, there are a lot of options in 225/45 than 235/40 on tirerack. :dontknow:

MarbleGT
01-25-2012, 10:29 AM
I would be surprised if it is the case. Also, there are a lot of options in 225/45 than 235/40 on tirerack. :dontknow:

Guess I should've researched it. Figured it would be similar from my car to his.

USarmyEthan
01-26-2012, 12:39 AM
Be smart and be safe. Hooah.

Hooah.

Spent the past few hours having the rear hubs machined down to a spec that the spacer fits now. The caliper is not touching anything but I still need to re balance the wheels and roll the fenders.

USarmyEthan
01-29-2012, 05:02 PM
Finished for now, still need to fix a little rash on em and powdercoat them dark bronze.