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There was all kinds of misinformation about these being 55 offset, but the 17's off a 2.0 ND are 45 offset and work fine on the NB.

Finally I got my hands on a set, I really like them, just what the SP needed....




Center bore is also the same and I am not getting any rubbing at all running 205/40/17 Falken RT615.

They look great. Much better than the Racing Hart 17's from the SE.
They look very dark, I think a light allot silver might work better on the sunlight silver. Could be the photo lighting though.


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17s look a bit too big on a NB.

smy0003 wrote:They look very dark, I think a light allot silver might work better on the sunlight silver.

Yeah they look pretty dark in the photo. There is a silver version of them, I went back and forth on which ones I wanted, but I had silver wheels on it and I like the change of contrast... even more than I was expecting.

Looks good, and yes the offset looks factory, heaps of room. I'd like to see some of the base model 16's on a stock NB as well.

flamingsamurai wrote:17s look a bit too big on a NB.

Amen!

samx5 wrote:Looks good, and yes the offset looks factory, heaps of room. I'd like to see some of the base model 16's on a stock NB as well.

+1 regarding the 16" comment.
The general consensus is that 16" rims look best on NBs and 15" rims on NAs.

What's the weight of the ND 17" rims?

I HATED with a passion my 2004 SE's 17" boat anchors - and what did Mazda do for the 2005 SE? They put even HEAVIER rims on the car:
2004 SE Racing Hart boat anchors 7.8kg (17.1lbs)
2005 SE Racing Hart heavy-duty boar anchors 8.3kg (18.4lbs)
- see http://www.jason-parker.net/images/wheels.htm for MX5 rims, including weights and offsets.

Needs more poke (less offset).
I reckon the 16 inch NB2 wheels on my NA look purr-fect.

They look good

I have a spare set of the 16 inch 1.5 Roadster GT wheels that would look good on an NA or NB if anyone is interested?

Lokiel wrote:

flamingsamurai wrote:17s look a bit too big on a NB.

Amen!

samx5 wrote:Looks good, and yes the offset looks factory, heaps of room. I'd like to see some of the base model 16's on a stock NB as well.

+1 regarding the 16" comment.
The general consensus is that 16" rims look best on NBs and 15" rims on NAs.

What's the weight of the ND 17" rims?

I HATED with a passion my 2004 SE's 17" boat anchors - and what did Mazda do for the 2005 SE? They put even HEAVIER rims on the car:
2004 SE Racing Hart boat anchors 7.8kg (17.1lbs)
2005 SE Racing Hart heavy-duty boar anchors 8.3kg (18.4lbs)
- see http://www.jason-parker.net/images/wheels.htm for MX5 rims, including weights and offsets.

I am a non-believer of the Racing harts are heavy argument.
For their 17x7 size they around about right.
Proof is in the Table of NC rims.
Oddly that table doesn't have the Forged 17 Inch NC BBS Rim listed. I can't quickly find any info for this rim on the internet either.

And in my case, I found that once you mount tyres there is stuff all difference as the 17's run on light weight liquorice strips.
If I recall, all 3 of my rims(15, 16 and 17inch) are within 0.5kg of each other once they have tyres on them all around 16-17KG's.


As for ND rims on the NB. Looks OK, but would look better if they had a +40 offset. Look to far in.

Luke wrote::
I am a non-believer of the Racing harts are heavy argument.
For their 17x7 size they around about right.
:

You've missed the point.

The reason the Racing Harts are despised is because their rotational mass is far heavier than it needs to be and rotational mass is much greater than stationary mass.

From http://www.gearheadtalk.com/forums/showthread.php?1342-Rotating-Mass-vs-Weight-Reduction (since indyphil puts it in layman's terms):
"1lb of rotating mass is worth more than 1lb of non-rotating mass, but thats about all you can tell without doing a much more thorough analysis.
:
The whole science rests on the fact that it takes power to accelerate a mass.
Anything that spins represents a flywheel, simply increasing its RPMs also requires power. But its possible to build a flywheel in different ways.
Imagine 2 flywheels that weigh the same just constructed differently:
1) put all the mass at the rim of the flywheel
2) put all the mass near the hub
wheel number 2 will acclerate much more easily - wheel #1 will require greater amounts of energy to accelerate it."

ie. 17" rims put more weight further from the centre of the rim than 16s or 15s so the flywheel will be harder to accelerate and decelerate (which requires harder braking).

The wankers in Mazda marketing put 17" rims on the MSM/SE when it SHOULD have had the standard 16" rims - they added a turbo to give the car slightly more power but negated it with heavy rims.

Looking forward to seeing companies releasing some lower offset 17s for the ND that should fit an NB nicely.

I reckon these are a great looking wheel. That shade would look nice on my VR SE. Shame they're not a 35 offset instead of 45 ....

Wow that looks great! I think it could use a small spacer to get it a bit closer to the guards though.

Dan wrote:Wow that looks great! I think it could use a small spacer to get it a bit closer to the guards though.

I have thought about a set of 5mm spacers, but to be honest the photo is making it more obvious than it is in real life. Its only a 7" rim after all so even with the spacers its not going to fill the guards like my 8" track wheels did. There is a lot of hate for 17's out there, ultimately sure physics isn't in their favour but that's what track wheels are for.... street tyres are already the biggest compromise on the car, as if the rotating mass makes a difference running around the suburbs !

Daz wrote:

Dan wrote:Wow that looks great! I think it could use a small spacer to get it a bit closer to the guards though.

I have thought about a set of 5mm spacers, but to be honest the photo is making it more obvious than it is in real life. Its only a 7" rim after all so even with the spacers its not going to fill the guards like my 8" track wheels did. There is a lot of hate for 17's out there, ultimately sure physics isn't in their favour but that's what track wheels are for.... street tyres are already the biggest compromise on the car, as if the rotating mass makes a difference running around the suburbs !

No, but running around in the suburbs with 17" rims makes for an uncomfortable ride and every pothole makes you think you've just damaged your rim.

If you argue that you think 17" rims look great on an NA/NB and that's all you care about I have no problems with that (you'll come around eventually).

If try and argue that 17" rims are good on an NA/NB then you're simply ignoring the facts.