mx5cartalk.com

Hello all, I've just joined the forum and live in Melbourne, Vic. and would like to introduce my (us!) to you. My wife desparately wanted a convertable sports car of her own so we have recently purchased a 2012 model NC black MX5 auto retractable hardtop - we have since done 2500km of top down motoring - BRILLIANT!
Now she wants to customise it to make it really her own. The issue really comes down to how much black is too much, and black exterior with black interior is too much, so she has modified the interior via Blackmans leather with some red, changed to red personalised no. plates and now we need some decent looking wheels - the standard wheels are actually very good but not with a black car - they are toooooooo bright silver, she is thinking something with "shadow chrome" finish (not black!).....
What we would like to hear from all you experts on the car please is what wheels and tyre SIZES we can use without (a) running into RWC/insurance issues and (b) without running into any rubbing/touching conditions anywhere and (c) any experiences with buying from o/seas direct (d) any other good advice we should consider (leaving myself wide open here , I know .
Ideally I think I'd like to retain the standard size (17x7) with 55mm offset, but perhaps with a 215/45 tyre ilo 205/45, to give a bit of kerbing protection, but having just researched aftermarket wheels, they seem VERY few and far between - most are 7.5" with offsets of 40/ 45 mm.......
REALLY appreciate your thoughts on this please (car is standard suspension and she doesn't want to change it ) cheers

Welcome & congrats. Re legalities in Victoria:
See p3:
http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/NR/rdonl ... 12_WEB.pdf

See p6:
http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/NR/rdonl ... hicles.pdf

Wouldn't go any bigger than 17", but you could go to a 16", as some like the Mazda 3 wheel fit the NC.

If you are happy with the style of the stock wheel why not just paint them?
Greg.

^^ What Greg said. I am running 215/45 tyres on the standard wheels - works well and is quite legal.

Welcome Jules!

If you're not planning to get your current wheels painted as suggested by Taminga, Alexpav has a set of NC LE Gunmetal wheels (similar colour to a Shadow Chrome) for sale. They will look good on a Black car IMO.

He is also located in Melb.

Visit his for sale thread here: http://mx5cartalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=58078

Thanks for the feedback everybody, much obliged. I read the Vicroads stuff, not sure about allowable track changes, presumably MX5 has diagonal split brakes hence no track change allowed - is that so?
If so, doesn't that mean that a change in offset breaks that rule or can it balance out somehow? thoughts?
I've been looking at alternate wheels/tyres and concluded that 17x7.5 with a 40 or 45mm offset with 215/45 tyres appears to be reasonably available so that she can choose something different ilo a very limitted choice - not so keen on repainting the wheels, wants something different so that she can actually see the wheel on the car before doing it (cant do that with painting....might look at Alex's if she thinks they look alright too, tbd).
Appreciate feedback from anybody who is actually running 17x7.5" with 215/45 tyres and 40/45 offset, whether they have had any issues with rubbing etc also any thoughts on the legalities per above... thanks a lot

PS sorry guys, another question that relates to wheel changes - how significant is a weight increase of say 3kgs/wheel? the car is really only for cruising so I cant see an issue but would appreciate your thoughts.....
same with tyre manufacturers, any that we should NOT use?? cheers

For just cruising around the extra weight of the wheels won't worry you.

As for tyres, I generally go by a Japanese tyre for a Japanese car and Euro for Euro car. There are a few on here with NC's that will be able to give you a better idea of what works and what is a good price.

For a 17" tyre I would look at Khumo's, Hankooks, Yoki's, depending on the tyre and Bridgestone.

What ever you do DONT go up 3kg in wheel weight.
You really will notice the difference. You can feel the extra weight in the wheels when driving.

I'm running 215 x 45 tyres. They work fine and are cheaper than 205 x 45 because it's a more common size. If you want the best get Michelin Pilot Sport. Cost has dropped recently and will set you back around $185 a corner. These are the tyres that Mazda originally designed the cars suspension around.

As for wheel color. Personal choice. I hate black, shadow chrome. For me a black car needs a lift out of blandness. If you don't like silver, get the original wheels painted burgundy and match it up to the interior.