I bought a 2009 Mazda3 for my daughter before last winter and she has indicated that the car skates under all wet (rain, sleet, snow, etc) conditions. The car is factory equipped with 17" wheels and Goodyear RSA tires. I have ordered 4 Blizzaks at Costco ($100 off a set of 4 starting Nov 10th) for her and foolishly assumed that it would be easy to find reasonably priced aftermarket wheels. The price, $150 and up per wheel is crazy, so I am looking into used auto parts (okay: salvage yards, ebay, etc).

Based on the collective experience and knowledge of this forum I am trying to determine which model year 17" Mazda3 wheels will fit her car.

Also, if you have a good lead on where to buy OEM (new, used, refurbished) or after market wheels please also share that info.

Thanks!

 

all the same bolt pattern, may i ask why you are replacing the rims as well? just an fyi tire rack has pretty good reviews on tires you may want to purchase

 

I am looking for a 2nd set of wheels to avoid having to pay mounting and balancing fees 2x a year.

The typical mount and balance fee is $10 and up per tire. With that fee, we would be hit with ~$100 fee per year for dismount, mount and balance fees... and be limited on when we change tire patterns. With a 2nd set of tires and wheels we will be able to switch whenever we want and not be hit with fees.

 

That's how I do it as well, two complete sets of wheels. TireRack sells new steel wheel for the Mazda3; last time I checked they were under $50 per wheel.

FWIW, the Eagle RS-As are absolute crap; I bought my 2009 Mazda3 in November of 2008, right before our first snow that year. The RS-As were banned from my car only two weeks after it rolled off the showroom floor. I've found that both the Michelin Pilot Sport A/S and Yokohama AVID ENVigor sets that followed the garbage Goodyears were actually pretty good in the snow.