I became the owner of a MX5 a few weeks ago and so far it’s mostly been fun. I say mostly because when motorway driving I was getting an unpleasant vibration around 70 mph. So I took the car into a wheel/tyre supplier (Setyres, Tonbridge) and they told me both the front alloy wheels are buckled, one worse than the other.
As a temporary solution they’ve balanced these wheels as best they can and swapped them to the rear. They did say they couldn’t fully balance the most buckled wheel. Nonetheless their remedial process has made things about 60% better, but the other 40% of slight vibration around 70 mph is still bugging me.
The tyre specialist said they can offer a wheel correction/straightening service but it will cost circa £100 per alloy and they’re not sure they’ll be able to straighten the worst of the two wheels.
Consequently I did look into sourcing 2 second hand identical wheels. But so far all the ones I’ve seen via online photos are looking quite shoddy, i.e. bubbling paint/corrosion, kerb marks/scrapes, etc. Whereas the 4 that are on my MX5 were professionally sandblasted and recoated a couple of years back, so they look virtually perfect.
So basically I’m looking for advice. Should I risk the straightening process, keep trying to source identical second hand 15” wheels or just live with the slight vibration?
I’m no Metallurgist, but I would say the molecular structure of both wheels has been changed, and will remain so, e.g - in parts it’s been stretched, and in other areas compressed. My general experience of alloy is once bent, straightening is going to weaken the structure - but I could be wrong.
As both wheels were at the front, then my suspicions would be aroused - any sign of accident damage at all?
Check all panels inside and outside for any sign of being repaired (Bumps, creases, signs of new paint?)- or replaced? Hitting a speed bump at speed would have also affected the rear wheels - you can’t brake half way over a bump!
However, my advice would be replace all four, as most owners don’t sell single wheels, they would sooner get rid of all four. There are often wheel sets on offer in the ‘For Sale’ areas of this forum - currently some Recaros as an example. No matter where you stick these wheels, at least one may inhibit your actions at a critical time, so driving with them on is asking for trouble IMHO. An out of straight alloy wheel will also effect the fit and stability of the tyre, depending on how much it’s out of straight.
No, no signs of an accident. I suspect it’s down to it being a 19 year old car with original alloys. Perhaps years of pot holes and speed bumps does that to an alloy wheel.
Replace all four. Look at MX5 Parts for some good prices. I don’t work for them but purchased a nice set of four after damaging two of mine. Very happy with purchase
If you intend to retain the car for at least the next 3 years then I agree replace all 4, or at least 2. I would buy a cheaper set as I would not be happy with my rims costing as much as my cars’ residual value!
If you can manage with them worth seeing whats on E-bay or what comes up on this site! Oponeo offer rims that are cheaper than tyres !
As seriousrikk said, if you’re looking at £100 a corner you can get some really good new alloys. I replaced the wheels on my NB with aftermarket wheels that came with tyres. IIRC the whole lot cost marginally over £400. I guess it depends on whether you want to keep to OEM wheels…
In the long run I’m open to other wheels, but first I’d like to see if I can get some Mazda ones.
Since I only need to replace 2 wheels I suspect I’m looking at around £100 for a set of 4 on Ebay.
I accept there’s a chance one or more of a set could be buckled, but, depending on seller feedback/honesty, I could end up with at least two good ones… and hopefully 4.
