any reviews on these wheels? they appear to be light, but can they take a good old fashioned country road? will they help on gas mileage?

 

In order:
1) Yes.
2) Yes.
3) Well??
4) Not really.

Check out my sig, and you will see the wheels in question.

And here's what a giant pothole that opened up literally overnight did to my right front...



And I wouldn't trade them for the world. I LOVE mine.

 

YIKES!!! I bet that made a horrible thump. Have you replaced/repaired it? And when you say giant pothole... how big is that? In Oklahoma when someone says giant pothole it means new tires, wheels, alignment, ect.

 

Potholes are nothing. Wives are worse on rims.

I just have the stock 17's for my 5, but two of them have a nice case of curb rash. Grr. I hear you can repair them, but its too much work/money for stock wheels IMO. I have better things to spend $$ on ... like beer.

The wife is lucky I love her

 

don't know how the roads are in Canada, here in Oklahoma, when you see a sign that says "bump" you slow down as soon as you can. are you happy with your 5? do you have 6 seats or 7? any mods? if you don't mind me asking

 

OK, in order:
1) Yes, you can bet it did. My automotive sense for vibrations and strange noises was certainly heightened on the rest of that ride. But... nothing. I thought I had gotten away with it.
2) Not yet. Its installed with the new tires on the RR, but will get it repaired before I rotate them. I was assured it could be repaired w/o a lot of trouble. The damage is on the weakest part of the wheel after all.
3) 'Bout 2' in diameter and +/-4" deep, maybe more. I didn't stop to measure it. But as I'd said, I drive this road every day and it wasn't there the day before on my ride home. It literally opened up overnight.
4) W/any alloy wheel, especially a lightweight one like the Kosei's are, you might want to slow down for them. These are not the strongest lightweights (e.g. forged BBS's,) but they don't cost $1500 ea either. KnowhatImean?

 

I am in British Columbia, For the most part the roads here are fantastic and kept in great shape. I have driven through alberta a few times and the roads there are in way rougher shape.

As far as potholes, sure you see them, but really they are few and far between so not really a big issue - plus they end up being fixed rather quickly when they appear.

All that said, in the far north where I used to live (near the BC / Yukon border) the road gets "Frost Heaves" and is in bad shape, so when you see a bump, or a sign, you slow down to almost nothing.

As for the 5, we have an 08 6 seater with no mod's (unless you count the xmas bow in the grill ) Generally speaking we are VERY happy with our 5. The manual transmission has a big part to do with that. We have had some issues, but all were covered under warranty so no biggie really... Here are my thoughts on our car. Its updated now and then: http://www.scottblogs.com/2008-mazda-5-review/