Hi everyone
Very nice to meet you all I’m just after buying a 1997 NA 130bph and I have installed Tein street advanc Z. Just wondering about what’s the best wheel offset and tyre size. I don’t want to change the arches or roll them.
I was thinking Rota Bm8 something with a import look
Opinions differ, however for me there’s an obvious ( and seemingly popular) choice.
https://www.rotashop.co.uk/rota-rb-15-7-4x100mm-et30-gunmetal-polished-lip-single-rim_p1040440.htm
Comes in bronze and a rather sexy gunmetal too. Offsets no issue.
Ooooo yes mate there very nice in bronze as my car is Black not to bad on price either cheers for the advice ???
I had 15" Maxilites over 1.8 brakes, on paper 35mm offset, 7" width
I considered the Rota RB, but the 15x7 in silver is very hard to get in the UK, only in 15x8 (which is a little oversized for 195/50 15 tyres). Plus the RB is a sort of copy of the Panasport iteration of the “Minilite”, with fat banana spokes, rather than the thinner spokes used by Maxilite, which is closer to the Minilite/Watanabe version. Plus I quite likes the less blingy silver-grey used on the wheels.
But there was an issue, which might affect other wheels; an issue with backspacing (not offset). The wheels were certificated as a straight fit on the MX5 by TUV. But upon receipt, it was clear there was a caliper clearance issue on the fronts. Turned out the TUV didn’t know there was a difference in 1.6 and 1.8 brakes. Sorted by adding a 5mm spacer, which is the fattest spacer I would use without fitting new wheel studs. Some in the US have reported similar issues with some Panasports, even though on paper they should have been a straight fit, based on offset, PCD, centre bore.
The best wheel size for the NA can be controversial. At 15" wheel size, there is, at the moment, a decent selection of tyres at reasonable prices. At 14", there is less choice, and more and more, people are steered towards budget brands, though probably these budget brands are likely better than the original 185/60 14 tyres fitted in 1990. But a Mk1 on 14" wheels can feel “right”. And the 1.8 14" Enkei can be made to look good, eg. M2-1028.
For what it’s worth Saz, it was the “look” of your car that motivated my getting the old Panasports to refurbish.
For me, they tick the boxes…on my budget!
However, I’m having an issue finding Panasoprt center caps…amy have to resort temporaily to generic rubbish as 60mm are hard to find.
Sorry for hi-jacking the thread OP.
Have you contacted Panasport Europe, which if you google, is a UK firm. They won’t be cheap though!
60mm ones here:
If yours are 60mm centre bore, then they are certainly aftermarket, and possibly were fitted previously to a different car. 60mm is the common Panasport centre bore size.
Yes I did. I thought almost £400.00…for caps was a tad prohibitive though
Unless you have 4 sets of wheels, the price Nengun want is based on a set of 4, not each.
Ah!
Online senior moment…
In my experience weight is as much of a factor as width and offset. After lots of chopping and changing I settled on 195s on the lightest 15/7” medium offset (37) wheels I could find for my budget.
The car (suspension, geometry, steering etc) was designed for small, light wheels with a high (45) offset. Anything much heavier or further offset stops the car feeling as lively or playful, and can wear components out more quickly too. It took me a while to realise all this.
Looks is clearly a big factor too, and I’d prefer the watanabe/minilite look to my OZ Superleggeras, but they look alright and I can’t see them when I’m driving!
Yes, but then Mazda went and ruined that carefully crafted setup by fitting 18lb 14" steel wheels to the MX5 from the get go (base model cars sold in Japan and US had steel wheels). And then when speccing out their highly limited edition clubman edition, the M2-1001, went and fitted very strong but a bit porkie 15" Panasports (@16lbs).
Not only that, Mazda UK, with the base model, stripped out poverty spec 1.8i, called it the “drivers choice” (or words to that effect).
Yes, very heavy wheels can really ruin things, such as the 21lb 17" aquaplaning beaties that came with my second MX5.
Previous owner thought it would be wicked to fit these with 30mm lowering PI springs. By the time I got it, the 30mm drop had become a 50mm drop. But after changing the wheels, and replacing the shocks and springs with Bilsteins and Racing beat Streets, nothing else was untoward in that car for the following 5 years I had that car.
While the UK concessionaires for Mazda fitted any old wheel that would fit the studs, even the factory got a bit confused on the NB, where if you had 14" wheels, you had 45mm offset, but if you had 15" or higher, you had 45mm offset.
Perhaps, in reality, the tolerance in the MX5’s chassis is a good deal higher than what people think. At anything 15lbs and under, do people really detect the difference in weight, offset? Are the differences between 14" and 15" more to do with actually feeling the tyre sidewalls roll around a bit.
I think you’re probably right in that there‘a some tolerance in the chassis, but driven back to back I‘m confident that for me the higher offset lower weight wheels provided more feel, less bump steer and a more compliant ride. The difference in driving experience beteeen 16lb ET30 and 11lb ET37 with the same tires can’t all havd been in my head. I hope.
Because when you are testing anything you should only ever change one thing at once. What you can say is that a wheel that is heavier and has a lower offset feels different to a wheel that is 30% lighter and a lower offset. What you can’t do is differentiate the two parts of that.
That said it will be the weight difference that you are noticing far more than 7mm offset change, which I doubt you would notice.
I guess the reason I refer to offset as well as weight is that if I’m honest I think the car felt best in lots of ways on bog standard ET45 14” Enkeis which are a similar weight to the OZ. Not as grippy, or quite as sharp, but more steering feel and more compliant.
Lighter wheels definately make the car feel more frisky. It is diminishing returns of course.
Bump steer is a suspension geometry issue where vertical movement of the suspension in a steering action in the car and not related to offset. Offset will result in changes to tramlining behavior and steering weight as you point out, particularly in braking in bends or uneven grip situations. Taken to the extreme, if you could fit 6’ spacers then steering even a small angle to the left would require the right front wheel to be pushed significantly forward up the road (by the arc of steering) and even though this is partly countered out by the trailing left wheel, as it is the right wheel which becomes the most loaded steering effort increases. At a 7mm difference however that can be be masked or accentuated just by different tyres and where the tread pattern falls, the amount of wear on the tyre, lower tread height will excentuate tramlining, and even just air pressure in the tyre.
@ast did you have to pay any customs fees for these?
No, because at the time, we were still an EU member, and so VAT was included. At that time, I purchased from an Italian distributor. They may now have UK distributors.
I have also just learned Enkei has finally launched their CompE wheel in silver; before, it was only white or black. Its basically a replica of one of their 1970s designs, and is their own take on the Minilite look. And now available in a 15x7 size, rather than 15x8 only
Thanks for your reply. I’ll keep hunting then, do let me know if you learn of a UK dealer.
The comp E look great too. Just want a nice lightweight wheel that looks classic too.
The CompE is pretty heavy. The Maxilite is a decent weight, but not lightweight. 12lbs maybe.
There is a UK outfit, Streettech, who have the Maxilites in a BMW fitment, but frankly an outrageous price.
Um, check my ads… Gets you halfway there
I’m also pretty sure the chaps at Maxilite regularly attend the NEC Classic
Note, the 35mm offset won’t clear front 1.8 Mk1 calipers. There is a version in 30mm offset (more metal on the mounting pad).
