Hey internet.
The wheels on my '5 are bubbling a bit so I’m getting them refurbished soon. I want to take the opportunity to change the colour since they will need a recoat anyway.
The car body is ‘brilliant black’ and the weels are currently the standard silver/grey, but I think the current wheels just look a bit dull. I was thinking of either going for a gloss black, or just a slightly brighter silver to make them ‘pop’ a bit.
Has anybody else got a black MX-5 who has changed wheel colour? Are you happy with the colour you chose? Or anyone else have any thoughts on what might look good?
Thanks!
Personally i’ve never been a fan of black wheels.
I must have a mild form of OCD.
For me, black wheels with black tyres has no opposing contrast.
Put these on a black car and i think it would push that OCD over the edge.
Photoshop is good for projects like this, give you a feel for what you want without commitment.
Personally, I’d stick with silver but as you say probably go with a high power silver finish. Just make sure you wax/ceramic coat them and keep them clean as much as possible through the winter months (if applicable) as I personally don’t feel that refurbished wheels are as durable as they are from the factory.
I have to agree with you there, to an extent. I think some cars can look great in all black (an RX-7 for example, I think looks great in all black), but in other cars it doesn’t work so well. I’m trying to avoid the boy racer look too, and I think black wheels might look a bit too much like a boy racer’s choice.
I don’t have/can’t use Photoshop but I used a phone app to see the car with black wheels:
The app was pretty limited and I wasn’t able to change them to a brighter silver/grey.
I know it’s a mk4 but a black car!
These are graphite finish, l always feel black alloys get a bit lost in with the tyre!
Tend to agree with above comments, for me silver sparkly wheels with the tyres blacked just lift a car, mine is storm blue and i would never change the colour from silver, the contrast on a dark car just makes it stand out…just my opinion, call me boring !!!..having said that though the ND above looks lovely
Back in the day of steel wheels on all cars (1960s, early 1970s) the wheels were all black, and had shiny chrome hubcaps to hide the nuts and bearing caps etc. So back in 1972 I painted my “wide” 6J flat-ledge steelies silver, just to be different. Shortly after so it seemed did the rest of the UK and the car manufacturers… oh well.
Around that time all the Mercs had the centre disc of the chrome wheel-covers enamelled with body-colour. They looked fabulous, especially the SL230, so much better than the boring UK cars.
When I finally bought my first brand-new car twenty years later it had black steel wheels and plastic silver wheel-covers, and within a week two of these had been stolen at a local swimming gala. So I painted the wheel-covers to match the bright red body, and used cable ties to secure the covers. That car looked so much better, until the paint on the covers began to wear off… but they lasted the 205,000 miles. It worked because the tyres were black and the body and covers were red, the contrast matters.
The black cars look utterly fabulous when polished up, to die for, but are a liability in the visibility stakes, and as one who thinks defensively when driving, it is the last colour I’d choose to own. Having a black car with black tyres would suggest having mirror shiny wheels, if only to be seen by the idiot who is about to T-bone you.
i didn’t think they would look right but I now think they do
Believe it or not, white was what I wanted initially, but now I can’t make up my mind whether I like it or not. I think it looks pretty smart there, but it might just be a bit too much for what I’m after. Especially since it’s my daily driver, I’d like it to look classy and a bit understated in the work carpark. If it was a track day car, I might have a different opinion.
I would just be worried that I might start to not like them, and then they are very difficult to ignore.
I am definitely leaning towards a brighter silver. Not chrome, but just a bit of shine to catch the eye. Something like the silver in the image below.
I had a black MR2 with white Team Dynamics on it, works really well IMO ![]()
I’ve got Stormy Blue coloured car, and am really tempted by orange rims :)
So I chose to go with silver (although this thread is a great showcase of great looking cars with different wheel colours). I actually showed that image of a wheel I posted earlier to the bodyshop and they suggested not going quite as shiny as that because it would show up imperfections more.
But I think the result was very nice in the end. I got my car back this morning and I think the silver compliments the silver of the Mazda badge and the luggage/bike rack on the boot. I changed the side repeaters for white ones too.
(Apologies for my finger in the shot - it’s really annoying me but it’s the only shot I have right now.)
They look good and suit the bodywork colour too in my opinion. ![]()
Always silver for me for the alloys especially against a black car.![]()
isn’t it strange how options of something are individual
