The fronts are 17x8 and the rears are 17x8.5. Thanks for the info.

 

Well the stock Mazda tire sizes for the stock Type RS wheels are 235/45-17 and 255/40-17...personally, I'd go for 225/45-17 and 245-40-17...mostly because the stock RS wheel widths don't support the wider OE spec sizes as well (I know, I know, I shouldn't be questioning the wisdom of the Mazda engineers!).

If the stock wheels wer 8.5 x 17 and 9 x 17, then, yeah...I'd go with 235/45-17 and 255/40-17s, or better yet, 245/40-17 and 255/40-17 to decrease the understeer...

 

I just put mine on the car.

Put 235/45-17 on the front.

and 265/40-17 on the back.

They look great and there are no problems.

(265 is within the limits for the rear wheels..... just ask anyone with a book) The tire shop manuals say that 275 is the limit. I wanted wider, but opted not to take a chance and go THAT wide. THEY HANDLE THEM FINE

I can't believe how many people seem to think that the back wheels cannot handle the wider tires......

It all depends on if you are going to race your car or generally drive it like a dumbass... then I might think about going with the factory recommended 255's or maybe even smaller. It is obvious that the wheels will affect performance, but are you really going to test it out??? I am not.

 

The general of thumb for selecting the optimal tire widths with a particular rim width is to have select a tire that's only 10% wider than the rim widht. An 8.5-inch wide rim would work well with a 9.4-inch wide tire...the closes metric width would be a 245-mm... An 8-inch wide rim would well with 9-inch or 225-mm

 

Where did you find the 99 wheels at? And how much?

Thanks

 

Can you run the 8.5" wide wheels on the front?

 

I'm running 9-inch wide wheels at all 4 corners, with 255/40-17 tires...the key is a 45-mm offset...with an 8.5 -inch wheel and 245/40-17s, you can get by with 40 to 42-mm offsets up front...