[djmm]

Hi,
I'm from Sydney and currently waiting for the delivery of the Mazda 3 25GT hatch in eternal blue mica

I personally think with the blue colour, darker colour rims would suit this car better. My dealer can only do black gloss and they wanted $1k to paint all four. Just wondering if it's worth doing or I might as well just buy brand new sets of third party wheels.
Do you know if the stock ones from Mazda are of high quality or at least better than say your average wheels (ie. less than $1k for set of 4 wheels?)

I also read that the stock Dunlop Maxx 18" tyres are noisy. I hate noisy tires.

What I actually want is a set of 18" wheels, not too flashy in dark grey or black colour with set of tyres which meet my criteria of:
- sticky/good for confident sharp cornering
- not noisy
- yet won't make me sacrifice speed/pick up speed (at least no worse than stock)

So should I just spend money on painting the stock ones or buy new set of wheels+tyres? If the latter, what brands/specs of tyres/wheels do you think would suit? (budget for the whole wheels+tyres package preferably not more than AU$1,500)

I am completely clueless when it comes to tyres and have been using stock ones for all my cars, and obviously with tyres there are no refunds/change of mind so I need help in choosing one. Thanks guys.

 

[Road Trip]

$1k to paint four wheels is ridiculous. I would instead take your wheels and getting them powercoated. Powercoating is at least ten times more impervious to rock chips than paint -- a major bonus. I got my PC'd at the best shop in the state, choosing "Ultra Black Chrome", then having them clear gloss coated (all 4, both layers, for $350) Most powdercoating shops will give you a choice of over 500 colors.

 

[kota62]

I purchased my wheels from a dealership that received them as new removal when the previous owner bought after market...
They were Infiniti JX35 (2013 OE) 18 X 7.5 Hyper Black wheels. I found them through ebay up here, maybe an outside the box thinking could save you some money
BTW: they cost 400.00 USD delivered to my house
HTHs
Gary

 

[Cookie_Thumper]

Yeah 1k to paint wheels is crazy, should be able to get em done for $100 each in powdercoat.

As for tyres, yep the OEM Dunlops are terribly noisy, Ive tried several different tyres and all were noisy.

Iam now on directional Toyo Proxes ( 225/45/18 ) and they are pretty good for noise, road handling is amazing and wet weather performance is awesome, they feel very soft though so I expect them to not last long but then I put on new tyres every year as the heat here in Thailand makes em go hard quickly

 

[sc489]

I have those Dunlop Sport Maxx TT tyres on my UK Mazda 3. I do find them noisy on rough roads. Oddly they have a quiet EU drive by noise rating. I can't locate a UK tyre in the same size which has a quieter EU noise rating.

 

[oscargamer]

Personally i don't mind the Dunlops

Mine are almost gone at 45km's and will be getting Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3's shortly

 

[djmm]

How do you guys find the quality of the stock rims?

 

[Cookie_Thumper]

How do you guys find the quality of the stock rims?

Seem to be fine but very heavy, Cannot base a factual opinion on them though as I drove from the dealership to my wheel place and took them off !!

 

[oscargamer]

How do you guys find the quality of the stock rims?

i like them a lot

 

[Jack123]

How do you guys find the quality of the stock rims?

Our 1.5 years old 2015 Mazda 3 has recently had all 4 wheels replaced under warranty due to surface bubbling. My previously owned 2015 Mazda 6 also had 4 replacements authorised for bubbling at 1.5 year old (but I traded the car before they came into stock [2months after authorisation]), and a friend had 3 replaced on his 1 year old 2015 Mazda 6 a while ago. Also another friend had all 4 replaced on a previous generation Mazda 6 just before his warranty expired (that was a few years ago tho).

 

[Cookie_Thumper]

Our 1.5 years old 2015 Mazda 3 has recently had all 4 wheels replaced under warranty due to surface bubbling. My previously owned 2015 Mazda 6 also had 4 replacements authorised for bubbling at 1.5 year old (but I traded the car before they came into stock [2months after authorisation]), and a friend had 3 replaced on his 1 year old 2015 Mazda 6 a while ago. Also another friend had all 4 replaced on a previous generation Mazda 6 just before his warranty expired (that was a few years ago tho).

For clarification, The vehicles that have had replacement wheels due to "bubbling. they were built where ?

 

[Jack123]

For clarification, The vehicles that have had replacement wheels due to "bubbling. they were built where ?

How can I find this out, is it part of the VIN number?

 

[Cookie_Thumper]

How can I find this out, is it part of the VIN number?

Your location would be a start as I believe US vehicles are built in Mexico, UK vehicles built in Spain and Aus vehicles built in Thailand.

An issue with Mexican build quality is not going to affect vehicles sold in the UK or Aus.

 

[Jack123]

Your location would be a start as I believe US vehicles are built in Mexico, UK vehicles built in Spain and Aus vehicles built in Thailand.

An issue with Mexican build quality is not going to affect vehicles sold in the UK or Aus.

Profile edited to include my location- Scotland UK.

 

[Davidval18]

@djmm , $1k AUD (Approx. 785 USD $) is way too overpriced to paint all 4 wheels. (Taking into consideration that you posted your quotation price in local currency)

IMO, there is no doubt that the quality and looks of the OEM wheels is very good, the major downside is that they are very heavy (The reason I changed mine).

My humble recommendation would be to search for a good set of aftermarket wheels, in Australia you have very good rim companies (PDW for example), or take @Road Trip recommendation of Powercoating , which provides excellent results and an affordable way to improve the look of your rims.

Regarding the Stock Dunlops SportMaxx TT (if that's your case), every country tire market is different, search for example in https://www.tirerack.com/tires/reviews/MenuServlet?search=surveyComments for possible candidates, then check if in the Australian market they have availability for the tires you want and which can provide the best comfort for you

*IMO the Stock Dunlops SportMaxx TT aren't that bad or great (13,000 KM so far). I'm stuck with them from the beginning since I had no choice and I was not aware of their quality and road noise. So right now it's not worth for me to change them, only when they are completely "done" I would definitely like to try a different pair of tires and If I had the chance from the beginning I would have got them replaced as soon as I could. So perhaps it would be good to check with your dealer if they have availability or can provide a better set of tires besides the Dunlops.

 

[djmm]

Powder coating would take the car out of action for 4 days at least... Whereas changing rims can be done on the same morning. But I've looked around and actually finding rims that suit this car isn't as easy as it seems.

 

[sc489]

Your location would be a start as I believe US vehicles are built in Mexico, UK vehicles built in Spain and Aus vehicles built in Thailand.

An issue with Mexican build quality is not going to affect vehicles sold in the UK or Aus.

That's wrong. UK supplied Mazda 3s are built in Hiroshima, Japan.

 

[Cookie_Thumper]

That's wrong. UK supplied Mazda 3s are built in Hiroshima, Japan.

Got proof of that ?

 

[DuoofDeath1]

Powder coating would take the car out of action for 4 days at least... Whereas changing rims can be done on the same morning. But I've looked around and actually finding rims that suit this car isn't as easy as it seems.

Powdercoating can be done faster but you will pay for it. If the dealer painted the wheels they would still take i'd think atleast a day or two. Plus the dealer would more than likely just scuff the paint that was there and then you'd have that paint that is known to bubble still there under your nice gloss black paint.

 

[Jack123]

For clarification, The vehicles that have had replacement wheels due to "bubbling. they were built where ?

According to a VIN decoder, our 2015 UK Mazda 3 was built in Hofu, Japan. Our previously owned 2015 Mazda 6 also shows as Hofu, Japan. I don't know the VIN number of the other cars since they don't belong to us.