Hi forum!

I have a quick question regarding a new set of wheels i am getting and any advice will be great!

I have an m6 but really like to get the ms6 wheel on mine. I am going from a 16 steelies to 18 alloy. The tires will be MICHELIN LOW PROFILE ALL SEASON 225/45R18.

With the car stock in everything:
How will my ride quality will be?
Plus i am in NY and the roads are not that wonderful, is going with 45 low profile a good idea? I fear for bent rims and broken tires going through those holes!!!!!
Furthermore, IS putting a ms6 wheel built for ms6 suspension/brake/etc settings on a m6 with its own stock suspension/brake/etc also or should you recommend me any changes to improve ride quality?

Thanks all in advance!

IMHO,
You will definately noticed a loss in ride quality going from 16's to 18's, there is really no way around it.
Just for example, I notice a BIG difference just going from my 17" winter setup to my 18's in summer on my MS6.
With the 18's I tend to feel every little bump in the road and the car seems to "drift" toward the uneven surfaces in the road more.

I can't really advise on the M6 to Ms6 transition as I only have experience with my Ms6, but a few others on this forum have added the Ms6 wheels to their M6's, hopefully they can provide more insight.

I went from the 16 inch steelies with the skinny 205 width tires to 225's on 18's.
With the 18's the ride is a little rougher but not real bad. Also the handling is a lot better then the 16's.
And it will pull a little more on the rough roads but it's not real bad.

What do you mean by PULL A LITTLE MORE??

anyway thankx all for your inputs...help a little in my decision to go to 18"! cos i lvoe the MS3 rims!

Its a enough pull that you can feel it. But not so much that I need both hands on the wheel.
I know it more then i had with the 205's. But i don't tink it's real bad. It's not enough to keep me from getting wide tires. You just need to hold the wheel tighter.
But then again i always did have a slight pull to the right even when on flat even roads.

I went from the stock 215/50/17 on 17" rims to 215/45/18 on 18" rims and so far feel no differance.

you will notice a difference in ride quality... compare the height of the sidewall of your 16" tire to the height of an 18" tire on a Speed6 wheel and you will see you are giving up at least half of the height - so , there goes all that shock absorbing rubber sidewall

you also give up the protection of the taller tire - so, yes, your chances of bending a rim on a pothole are greater

the OEM M6 suspension will not care what wheels you have on it... if you are worried about ride quality, I would recommend that you change nothing in the OEM suspension as there's really nothing out there intended to make the car "softer" or that will "add ride quality" (aftermarket stuff is intended to improve performance, which always reduces ride quality)

as for a car pulling with wider tires... that is called "tramlining" and it has as much to do with the tire's tread design as with the width of the tire... wider tires are more prone to tramlining and dry-weather-summer tires are also more prone to it...


full disclosure - I have Speed6 wheels with 225/40-18 Yokohama S.drive tires on my 2005 Mazda6 5-door (which also has Eibach Pro-kit springs and OEM shox) and I love the ride - but, then I'm someone who likes a firm, sporty ride. If I wanted to soften it up, I'd put the 17s back on with their 215/55-17 all-season Yokohamas....

You shouldn't be installing 225/45/18s on the stock MS6 wheel.

215/45/18 is the tire size for that rim. 225/45/18s need a 7.5 inch wide rim at a minimum. The stock MS6 wheel is 7 inches wide.

uhmm..i took that information from the sticky on this forum stating the possible tire size for the 18" ms6 rim. whao i almost got the 225 one..are you really sure i can't put that on?

according to Tirerack.com specs on a Michelin Pilot HX MXM4 all season at 225/45-18, the recommended wheel width is 7.5", but it will work on 7" - 8.5"

clicky....http://tinyurl.com/5dbt2u

it will work on a MS6 wheel...

The quick answer is that they will more than likely fit. I cannot attest to the fitment if you lower the vehicle but will add that the Michelin Pilot Sport PS2 will meet the load requirements of the Mazda6. Concerning ride quality you will feel a difference on roads that are not flat and have ruts from traffic in them. The reason that some individuals that posted earlier did not feel much difference is that the overall width of their tire did not change. That being said I love the look of my 18s but love the ride of my 16 snows.

The confusion comes from the differences among "can be put on" and "approved" and "recommended."

It is physically possible to mount a wide range of of sizes of tires on any given rim. Just because the tire can be shoe-horned onto a rim does not mean that the fitment is safe, however; in fact, some fitments are outright dangerous.

The Rubber Manufacturer's Association (RMA), to which all of the major tire manufacturers belong, has adopted standards for safe fitments. Fitments that are "approved" in that manner are shown in size charts (and in the sticky in this forum) as a range of tire sizes for a specific rim or as a range of rim widths for a specific tire size. The fact that a specific fitment is approved means that it is safe, but does _ n o t _ mean that it is a good idea. In fact, most combinations of tire and rim that fit a tire to either the narrowest approved rim or to the widest approved rim in the range of rim widths approved for that tire are far less than optimal.

Every tire is designed to function optimally when fitted on a rim of a specific width, which is designated the "measuring width." It is only when mounted on the measuring width rim, incidentally, that the published dimensions are accurate: a tire spec'ed for a 7" measuring rim as a 215 width tire (that is, it measures between 210 mm and 220 mm at its widest point when mounted on a 7" rim) might actually measure as a 225 width tire (that is, over 220 mm) when it is mounted on a 7.5" rim or as a 205 width tire (that is, under 210 mm) when it is mounted on a 6.5" rim.