Hello, first post here.
I’m driving a 2010 Aluminium Silver NC and I’m planning to update the wheels and tires in the future. Currently on original silver 17s, but not sure about the silver on silver look. I’m considering Enkei TSV or Konig Diverge in gloss black. I like split 5 or split 7 wheels, but I’ll consider other colours.
What are your experiences with aftermarket wheels? What else should I consider?
You can’t go wrong with silver wheels on a silver car, always looks smart.
I don’t recommend gloss black wheels as they make the tyres look awful if they aren’t glossy black too.
Motec Nitro is a nice wheel, Mazda used them for some of their race cars.
I was very close to going matt black wheels on an aluminium silver car but decided against it and ended up silver on silver. As long as there is a contrast of sorts with different shades I think it looks really good.
Do take into account that the stock MX5 wheels are actually relatively light and replacing them with significantly heavier wheels may make handling worse, as more unsprung weight degrades handling.
I got my wheels from a Mazda 3 and had them resprayed with new Mazda centr caps. The MX-5 wheels have an offset of 55mm and are 7" wide I think. My new wheels are the same width but the offset is only 40mm, equivalent to adding a 15mm spacer to the original wheels. Don’t forget that the centre bore will also need to be the same (67.1mm?)
But very pleased with the new look
Gloss black wheels and matt black tyres (i.e. without tyre dressing) look fine on 4x4s but less so on sports cars. Black wheels still show the dirt, by the way, especially in sunlight - brake dust is reddish-brown. A compromise is what Mazda call “palladium” that comes on some CX-30s, and is black with a silver overspray. That’s better at hiding dirt and looks ok with matt tyres.
Great colour and fitment look great, thanks for sharing. Was it costly to get them resprayed?
The silver wheels also act as brake dust magnets, that’s another thing I’d like to fix.
Perhaps a Palladium or gun metal wheel will give me the contrast I’m looking for, thanks!
Just using this TT quattro sport to illustrate the look I would try to avoid, especially after spending money on a new set of wheels.
I know they don’t photograph well, but yeah that isn’t a look I’d be happy with. Do different tires maintain their darkness better?
Silver wheels are my favourite always have been, regular wheel and tyre cleaning keep them looking fresh
Hi Jack
The wheels were £175 on Facebook marketplace and it cost me a further £165 to get them sprayed and they did a fantastic job (washford finishings in Redditch). A further £20 I think was to get the tyres swapped over plus £10 for 4 new Mazda centre caps (eBay), so total cost was £370
Hope that helps
Russ
Forgot the wheel nuts - £25 eBay, so total £395
Get some of this wonder stuff and never look back.
https://www.theultimatefinish.co.uk/products/bilt-hamber-auto-wheel.aspx
These are CX-30 “Palladium” finish wheels on my not-very-clean Mazda 3. The offset is -45mm, so only correct for the 3 or CX-30 in the current range, but you get an idea of the colour.
The wheels that came with the car are 18" black with a slight sparkle, but I only use those in summer when I can see the potholes!
I do like 5 spoke wheels
Everything seems to be 10 spokes these days.
Are these a Mazda wheel or did they just come off a 3?
Black on black I had on my old bmw and is a different story all together 
. Even though people said I looked like a drug dealer 
. Also had black on my mustang but that was a dark grey.
On a light car not so sure they look right, unless perhaps it’s got black accents and a black roof…
Whilst the wheels came from a Mazda 3, they are not Mazda wheels - they are Calibre Panik
R
