mx5cartalk.com

do the size of the NB series wheels change in width between 8A 8B 8C SE and SP??

i ask because the boys in blue enforce one inch over standard width.. but if the running gear is the same from 8A to latest 8C but they have different wheel sizes...

NB8A had 15x6 with a 16x? as an optional upgrade.
NB8B/C/SP were 16x6.5
SE is 17x7

so if the SE is 7\" wide on the same axles/hub/stub shaft what ever and one inch over factory is legal.. one could get away with 8\" wide rims.. or atleast engineer them easy

Bet the RTA doesn't see it that way but! Find out what the optional NB8A 16's were and go from there, 100% legal then!

The \"standard\" rim for you car is the one that's described on the tyre placard. So legaly you have to use that as the starting point. You could of course accidentally replace the NB8A tyre placard with one from an SE which would allow you to run 18*8's. But I never said that. *cough*

The most important things is wheel track. Regardless of your wheels, you must not increase your wheel track by more than 1 inch. In these days of plus 1,2 and 3 fitments, I doubt plod is going to worry about an MX5 with a 1 inch diameter larger rim - unless of course it's chrome and the bling police lock you up.

CT wrote:The most important things is wheel track. Regardless of your wheels, you must not increase your wheel track by more than 1 inch. In these days of plus 1,2 and 3 fitments, I doubt plod is going to worry about an MX5 with a 1 inch diameter larger rim - unless of course it's chrome and the bling police lock you up.

diameter?? pfft

im talking about width

i'm not sure what tyres would be available 8" wide that stayed within the 3% running diameter of the originals.. for speedo reasons...

So does wheel \"track\" mean width or diameter?? Also, what's legal in Vic?? 1 inch wider and 2 inch bigger in diameter? Or less??

I'm running 16X7 in my NA6....do the maths

wheel track is the witdth of the track & is measured from centre of tyre to of one side to the centre of tyre of the other side. It gets affected by offset.
standard offset is 45mm
a 35mm offset rimm would make the track 20mm wider.

hence most of those dishy dorifto spec JDM market rimms which have15mm offet or even less, are illega,l as they widen the track a bit more than mr plod wants to allow us to. Of course if you can prove & get an engineer to sign a piece of paper to say they are safer & carry that piec of paper in you glove box mr plod can't do a thing.

thats the basics......hope that helps

Trouble with widening the track is that you can introduce bump steer.
You might not pick it up on the road but you will on the track.

Anyone thought that possibly the best handling car around – the Lotus Elise - runs relatively skinny wheels? Must be a lesson there somewhere? Weight maybe?

The NC can hold more Gs than the Lotus Elise - Wheels Magazine.