Need wheel/tire thoughts please

[redshoes]

Hi guys. A friend has a 2001 NB8B that she bought a year ago with 17" chrome wheels (don't know what kind of tires). In this one year she has had 5 or 6 flat tires, 2 of them just this past week. The guy at the tire place told her the problem is that the chrome on the wheels is peeling (or something like that ) and that's letting the air leak out...

I may have that slightly wrong but have any of you guys ever heard of such a thing?

The second thing is that she tells me she has no fun driving her 5 (she's even thinkig of getting rid of it ). The car doesn't handle easily and cornering is difficult too (unlike my NB8B with stock wheels).

Is there more to her problem than just 17" wheels? I mean is there some kind of wheel alignment/balance or something like that which she should be aiming for?

I am so a novice at the wheel/tire thing but I've read a bit that you guys have written that makes me think there may be some adjustments needed. If anyone can point me in a direction to point her that'd be greatly appreciated.

Or if any of you SA guys can suggest someone locally (she's in Hove but will travel!) who really knows 5s and the best wheels/tires to have a fun and excellent handling 5, it'd be appreciated.

Thanks!

[SuperMazdaKart]

wheels are too big & too heavy for the car simply. being chrome it's probably a flashy design but bought cheap. something that might of been influenced from the movies Fast & the Furious. has she dríven your car for a comparison? she ought to get rid of them for some nice standard MX-5 wheels or a new set of aftermarket wheels in 15" size. she could probably get a decent price if she sells the 17"s.

the MX5 SE has 17" wheels but they'd be made reasonably lightweight for the size & the SE also has a turbo to push them along.

chances are Adam has a few sets of wheels he might be able to sell lol.

[Fatty]

wot he said

[bigdog]

Get her back on original NB 16 inch rims with some decent tires (Michelin Pilot Preceda II, Toyo T1R, Bridgestone Adrenalins, in 205/45x16 profile) and a good wheel alignment and she should be sweet. If the car has lots of miles on it (160K +) it might need new shock absorbers and or springs. Your local forum crew can no doubt suggest the best places to get all this done. I wouldn't mind betting she has been driving on cheap tyres (Nankangs etc) and that will be a lot of the problem. The wheels must be really crappy to be porous enough to let the tyres down There are plenty of good after market wheels too, but OEM would be the simplest way of solving this problem. Give her a drive of your car Gail so she can see what she's missing out on

[cranky_smurf]

I just got Bridgestone Adrenalins, in 205/45x16 and they are awesome!
really grip hard in the wet and the dry, no more tail stepping in the wet!

Dont know if they are a resonable price but i didnt care!
$200/trye

[16bit]

yeah i love my adrenalins. they have awesome grip. as per my post in ot lounge i kept up with a gallardo spider through mt nebo on the weekend with them. he was no slouch either - brakes were smoking when we pulled over. go the adrenalins if you can get a good price. the pursuit cop also had them on his aurion so the cops are onto the secret too.

[bruce]

I agree. 'Most' chrome wheels are cheap and nasty and I agree with the puncture repair guys. Stick those wheels on ebay and sell em to a ricer. Go back to the stock wheel fitment with good brand name tyres and I'm sure the car will handle a lot better.

[redshoes]

Thanks guys, your comments and suggestions have all been passed on to Linda. She came to the office today and took Bluey for a run ( )

She walked back in with my keys and a look of pain on her face. Not only does Bluey handle way better than her car but my gearbox is way better too (told her it's probably my voodoo knob ). She is definitely not a happy camper. She's started the process of looking for new wheels/tyres but now needs a mechanic to do a complete overhaul on her poor baby.

She's thinking of taking him to City Mazda but I'm going to post another question to the SA guys to get a suggestion of an independent Adelaide MX5 specialist mechanic on her side of town. One good thing that's come of all this is that it's put to bed my ideas of buying bigger wheels for Bluey. I think I'll just stay with the stock standard NB8B wheels and continue to drive with a smile!

Thanks again!

[SuperMazdaKart]

what? you didn't tell her the deluxe vibrator joke?

[Fatty]

gail, i'd suggest that she replaces the gearbox oil before she spends big dollars on a gearbox overhaul. it could be as simple as that, hopefully.

if your friend has trouble finding some stock wheels (the 16's can be expensive) i'm sure some of the crew here could recommend some decent lightweight aftermarket rims. or she could get some 15's for it? altho i think you have to be careful with 15's as some fit over the bigger nb8b brakes, and some don't. but again people here can offer guidance with that.

[spitty]

Hey Gail . Dodgy day g,box oil change . I,m happy to help. Wheel alignment, i recommend and use Southern Steering and Suspension, now a Beaurepaires tyre centre . Ask for Brett. Catch up soon. Cheers John

[Hellmun]

Might want to point her to the 15" star-corps. They seem pretty common and are light. Plus you can get a few different finishes she might like.

The redline lightweight shockproof gearbox oil I used really smoothed out my gearbox.... It was notchy and had resistance into 3rd gear especially. I thought the syncho's were damaged and I might be up for a rebuild but just the oil made the difference. It is expensive oil but it does last 80,000km's.

[Benny]

I had a set of chrome wheels on my previous 5 and had similar problems, although my tyres went down very slowly.
Before you all point the finger, these were quite low weight and 16 X 7's.

I was continually having to pump up 2 tyres and couldn't work out why.
I went to my tyre dealer and tried to find out where they were leaking, even put them into a tub of water to check for bubbles, but all to no avail.
So he took off one of the tyres, and we discovered that the chrome plating was starting to bubble on the INSIDE bead of the rim, and this was causing a very, very slow leak.
The chrome on the outside was perfect, so I wire brushed the inside of the rim to get off all the flaky bits, then painted it with some mastic-like gunk, and the problem went away.

I sold the car not long after, so I can't tell you if the fix worked forever or not, but I reckon he would have gotten a shock when the new owner went to put new tyres on, and the tyres were virtually stuck onto the rim!

Chrome plating is great as it is a tough finish and looks good, but if the metal underneath is not prepared 100%, then problems can occur later on.
I have some experience with plating metals and I know how important the preparation is.
Even if the metal is well prepared, just leaving it out in the air for a day or 2 before the 3 stages of plating are done, can ruin the plating.
To chrome plate something first requires you plate the object in copper, then nickel, then the chrome is plated on after that.
Any little bit of dust or water that comes into contact with the item before or inbetween the 3 platings can ruin it, so it is a very fussy operation if you want it done properly.

[redshoes]

Thanks so much you guys, you are all so generous with your thoughts and comments and so very helpful. I had a short email from Linda today and she has new wheels and tires and said it's like a totally different car . I have no details about what she got as a replacement but hopefully she found someone who knows the 5 and steered her (excuse the pun ) in the right direction.

Hopefully she'll take your advice about getting the gearbox oil changed before doing anything more drastic!
Thanks again!

[sliq]

don't forget the wheel alignment..!

some good set of wheels will also reduce the vibration you get through the actual steering wheel.. you'll know one of your wheels are buckled if u feel there is a tendency for the steering wheel to vibrate when travelling at more than 80-100km/h.. don't ask me how i know