I have a MK1 with 14inch bbs alloys and am considering upscaling as I prefer the look of the car with larger wheels. Reading a book on performance projects for the mx5 the author advises that using larger/heavier wheels can be very detrimental to the handling and I wondered if anyone here has a mk1 with larger wheels, if so what size and have they found this to be true?
Ive seen a set on a black mk1 with the center being a circle with black and silver stripes going to the center with a fox/cat head on top. Anyone know what brand this is?
I swap between 14s and 15s on my MK1 and there is a difference, but its not worse on the 15s. You got more grip on 15s, and its more lively and tail happy on 14s. Both sets are pretty light though, I certainly would not want to put big heavy wheels on. So choose your wheel carefully. Plenty of people however put big heavy wheels on and still get on fine… it depends what you want.
if you’re up this way, i have a set of STD mk2 Wheels with 4good tyres, 2 may need doing in a about 4000MLS. If ya wanted to make an offer, as i put 17’s on mine
If you keep to the zero-scrub radius of the original offset, you’ll have a nicely balanced handling and ride as mazda intended, but as my lil’ 5 shows, this looks really under the arches and would look nicer with a 10mm spacer. I just can’t do it though!
Still wearing the tyres I bought on the wheels 2nd hand;
14" look a bit nicer, especially if lowered a bit but 15" seem to give more, cheaper options on tyres so thinking longer term I’d go with 15s… have a look on somewhere like Camskill Tyres… Toyo T1R in 195/50/15 are about £28 each!!!
Thanks everyone for the info!!! Apologies for the delay in the reply I have been on holiday and only got back late last night.
Muppet: yes you were right they were wolfrace thanks! RE Size: Think i’ll stick with the originals for now but may review in the near future. Pollyanna, If i do sell the wheels i will certainly contact you but in all liklyhood i will probably keep them as i may change back in the future.
I swapped to 17ins many years ago, and the handling is sooooo much better than the 14ins I originally had. Only complaint is that due to the open design they do damage easier on pot-holes.
Fox Racing Alloys and import my MSWUK, But i personly don’t think there that light weight ?? not even sure if mswuk are still importing them normaly sold though halfords.
there a lot of choice in 15" wheels and some very very light weight wheels about but there not cheap.
Just sold a mk1 SE with 16s fitted. Found the car very grippy, sure it would have been more eager to play on smaller, narrower wheels. Ride was crashy, and the inner edges of the fronts scrubbed on full lock. Looked good though:
My 2nd Roadster came with 17s and Avon tyres. Utterly hopeless despite the PO spending over £1000 on the wheels. Heavy heavy heavy, and the tyres were appalling in the wet. Yes, at that size, you can get grippy tyres, but most that are available are pretty poor. Ditto the wheels; though with wheels, there is less of a relationship between price and weight. You can get cheap light wheels, but these wheels are also the same ones that snap and buckle easily.
Plus the MX5 is one of those cars that actually looks better on a smaller set of wheels.
14" OEM wheels, including BBS, have an offset of 45mm (ET45) which is what the car was designed for. Larger wheels with wider tyres need less offset to avoid the tyre hitting the suspension, which gives sub-optimal handling (most aftermarket alloys are 35mm or less). Then there’s the extra unsprung weight.
The only problem with 14" is that V-rated tyre choice is now poor.
