I bought my first mx5 a couple of weeks ago, a 94 v-special in BRG and I’m dead chuffed with it so far! I’ve decided to treat myself to some new wheels and tyres for it though, as although the 7 spoke alloys that came with the car are nice enough, I’d prefer something a little sportier so I can customise it to be more like “my” car if you get what I mean! I’ve spotted these wheels on ebay for £300: They are a sort of unnamed gold faux BBS replica, and after some searching on google I reckon they are Dare RS wheels from the look of it. Does anyone have any knowledge of them and can give me some info as to whether they are any good or not? I don’t want to ruin the handling of the car with rubbish alloys, but sureley most modern wheels are pretty decent? I’d probably go for 15" 195-45 tyres, probably uniroyal rainsports, does that sound like a good combination? I tried toyo’s on my old car, the handling was brilliant, but I suffered the dreaded toyo sidewall pinch and it almost ruptured so I shan’t be buying them again!
If anyone could shed some light on this problem I’d be most grateful!
If so, the offset will mean the wheels will be a bit sticking out, but I don’t think excessively so. I’m not sure with these if the arches will need rolling. I had a set of Watanabes once with a similar offset; they didn’t hit the arches, but on hard cornering, for some reason they caused scuffing on the front wing liners.
His other wheels are Calibres, which I think are pretty much knock-offs of Drag wheels, which are knocks of Rotas, which are knock-offs of Japanese and German wheels, and so it goes on.
These wheels go by the brandname “Motorsport”
General comments about these sort of wheels:
They’re not always all that round.
The “polished” finishes are lacquered, and suffer horribly in this country, quite quickly.
The fake split rim bolts are sometimes plastic.
If you break one, you pretty much have to buy a whole new set.
Any wheel should carry VIA and JWL approval marks, indicating its been made to a recognised standard. If it doesn’t, don’t touch them.
Why 195/45s, and not 195/50s, the correct size? I know some people will go to this size to avoid scraping the bodywork, but that doesn’t sugges handling is a priority.
I had a Toyo PX4 blow out on me. No idea why. Think I’m also done with Toyo when I get around to replacing all 4 tyres.
My other option is to buy a set of BBS 15" and refurb them and paint them gold in the centre, but I imagine it would cost a heck of a lot more than those wheels! You gets whats you pays for I guess, but finances are tight as it is for most people at the moment. In the instance of the laquer, could you strip it and paint it with higher quality laquer or just strip it and polish it up normally, or is it likely to be made of inferior metal?
The 195/45s were just because I’d seen people mention them on here and in case there was any rubbing, but if you think 50’s are ok I’ll go for that instead and enjoy the extra comfort!
I’ve heard Toyo sidewalls are basically rubbish, theyre made far too thin and pinch on curbs, causing the sidewall to fail. When mine went I’d just driven to Milton Keynes 70 miles away when I spotted it! it was fit to burst and Kwk Ft held me ransom to a £65 arrowspeed tyre so I could get home in one piece!
Can’t even remember curbing it ever, hit a few potholes on country roads, but never anything major, it had only done 2000 miles as well so can’t say I was impressed!
Looks the same, but be careful of the offset. Other VW fitments I have seen are ET20 offset, which will need modifications to the wheel arches. MX5 wheels are hub centric, so you will also need spigot rings.
To keep them good; don’t take them out in the salt. Keep your stock wheels for winter. The metal used is probably the same as any other cast wheel.
I blew a PX4 at the end of a day from hell. The day from hell started in heavy traffic on the A41, when the clutch pedal suddenly went limp. I managed to limp the car into a nearby ASDA carpark. No clutch fluid in the master cylinder, pool of fluid under the car. Simple I thought; catastrophic failure in the slave cylinder. AA guy turned up, and concurred. Pity that, I said, as I have a new spare, at home, 30 miles away. AA patrolman helpfully offered to drive me home, let me pick up the new part, and some brake fluid, and run me back to ASDA, and he’ll fit/bleed it for me. Top guy I thought. 90 minutes later, we are back at the car. It doesn’t go well. I can’t seem to bleed the cylinder, and he’s run out of brake fluid. Then he starts swearing. The slave cylinder hadn’t failed; the flexi hose over the bell housing had ruptured. Game over. So now I get a tow, on a dolly. While towing, 20 miles down the road, he suddenly pulls over, as the tow has gone “funny”. The tyre has failed catastrophically, chewing up the wheel arch. I’m actually not bothered about the bodywork damage, since the car was booked in for a complete repaint. Miraculously, the BBS wheel has in perfect condition. By now its 10pm, at the side of a dark country lane outside of Tring. The day can’t get any worse. AA man gets out my spare. Its flat…
A month later, it all happens again, as the slave cylinder he fitted then falls off.
Man that sounds like the day from hell indeed! Looks like I’ll be joining the RAC then!
Sounds like we’re well placed in our mistrust of Toyo’s! I’ve read that BF Goodrich G Force Profiler (what a ridiculous name!) and The Uniroyal Rainsport 2’s are the tyres to beat as far as mx5’s are concerned, so whichever I find cheapest I’ll pick up a pair of them to fit whichever wheels I buy.
Like the look of those rota minilites, though if I bought them and painted the inside’s gold, they’d look just like Dr Eunos’s real watanabe’s and I think he’d kill me!
I may give the company selling those BBS lookalikes a ring and see what I can prize out of them, unless a set of 15" BBS alloys in good condition come up at a similar price, but I doubt it! Anyway I’ve gotta flog an old surfboard first to get the money for the new rubber going on them so I’ve plenty more time to procrastinate yet!
Hi, Stay away from cheap laquered diamond turned finishes would be my advice. Unless it’s a summer-only show car they’ll break your heart once the salt gets in and there’s very little you can do about it
Would you suggest me buying a set of used BBS alloys then, and stripping, then painting the centre gold instead? What sort of price should I be looking to pay for a good set of BBS’s? my budget will only stretch to around £450-£500 including tyres, so I guess I could either A: buy a manky set and pay to get them refurbed and new tyres, or B: buy a decent set and change the colour myself and keep the tyres on them if they are much cop, or stick my own on accordingly to price. Decisions decisions!
BBS wheels can go from £50 to £600. And then you need to make sure you get a set that come with the centres; the centres are £50-100 each. You will find BBSs intended for 4-stud VWs and BMWs will fit. Refurbished BBS wheels, with the diamond cut lip will likely have as fragile a finish as the cheap replicas; BBS I think uses a finish similar to clear anodizing, so they are actually usually quite resistant to corrosion. Wheel restorers will take this finish off, to clean metal, and then either recommend you keep waxing the wheels, or, worse, apply a thin clear coat, which will chip, causing spidering corrosion under the lacquer; this can happen quite quickly.
If you are on a budget, you are best keeping to wheels that are fully painted. These look alright, if you want gold wheels:
Its a copy of a Rota Circuit 10, which is a copy of a Mugen design. I haven’t come across any particular issue with Drags wheels (though I wouldn’t trust their “polished” finishes). Weight @15lbs is ok; similar to, say, a Panasport.
I guess I should say they are going on a BRG mk1 v-special, so I’m trying to keep them “period” as it were, so I’m looking for something with that classic look, hence the variations of the BBS look. Dr Eunos has a nice set of the Watanabe minilite alloys so I’d possibly go for some like that, but I really like the BBS look, just not the price tag for new ones! you dont get much change from a grand for them by the look of things!
As for the cleaning it doesn’t really bother me too much as I’m into car detailing anyway, so I’m happy to give them a wax and polish every few weeks, as long as it’s not a weekly job I don’t mind!
I guess I may have to keep my eyes peeled for a good set of BBS’es in 15" for the right money, then make friends with someone who knows how to clear anodise wheels! Either that or spray the polished lip metallic silver… It doesn’t have the same bling factor, but if it protects the alloy and makes it less of a b*tch to clean I’ll sacrifice some of my street cred!
Edit: Correction, buy silver painted and just paint the middle gold… duhhh!
Wish I’d read this thread earlier in the week before splashing out on Toyo T1-R Proxes all round, £ 350 worth of rubber and now I find out there is a possible weak tyre wall issue
I wouldn’t worry yourself too much shoestring, if the roads by you aren’t too bad you should hopefully be ok, if they aren’t, do your best to dodge the potholes! My tire only lasted 2k miles before it went, but that’s not to say yours will go too! I won’t buy Toyo’s again if I can help it, but thats just because im twice shy now, and the potholes round my way can be like the Zambezi Gorge!
it was fit to burst and Kwk Ft held me ransom to a £65 arrowspeed tyre so I could get home in one piece! 
Looks like I’ll be joining the RAC then! 
