17" Wheel Showdown

Darius · Postby **Darius** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 6:24 pm

Alright it's that time of year when I get the itch to do up the old 98NB! I've just ordered a new soft top, so now it's onto some new wheels. I'm really after some bigger wheels, preferably 17" ones to fit the look of my red NB as the stock ones clearly don't ( see here for car ) and i've come down to 3 choices so far. My only concern is the weight, i'd preferably not go over 7.5kg per wheel so that the unsprung weight doesn't effect the handling at all and that limits things a fair bit.

Possibility 1: 17X7.0 Lenso Light S-2 Black - 7kgs - [ Pic 1 ]

I love the weight of these, but i'm not super keen on black on black with wheels and tyres as it can be hard to tell them apart on some occassions. The MX5 Mania car above is the only photo i've found of the black lensos on an MX5 so far.

Possibility 2: 17X7.0 Lenso DC5's - 7.4kgs or 7.9kgs (heard both) - [ Pic 1 ]

Looks similar to the Lenso Lights but with a nice machine polished lip. I love the look of these but they do appear to be quite heavy and i'm not sure how much these would effect the handling.

Possibility 3: 17x7.5 Rota SDX - 7.5kgs - [ Pic 1, Pic 2, Pic 3 ]

Now I know some people aren't rota fans because they imitate bigger brands, but that doesn't bother me, as long as it goes round and round, doesn't weigh heaps and looks good, i'm happy. I haven't found a pic of these wheels on any MX5's (there might be a reason for that :lol:

), but I think they look good and might fit the style of my NB well. Rota Australia sells them and the bolt pattern is compatible.

Thoughts anyone? I'm not the most decisive person, so i'll take any opinions on board

Hjt · Postby **Hjt** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 6:31 pm

Hey mate - I have a near perfect set of Lenso Project-D Drift Wheels 17x7 with 205/40 17R Achillies 123s semis.

The wheels have no gutter rash and come in at 6.9 kg's per corner.

This is an image of how they appear on a NA

The tyres are running out of tread as most Achillies do, but still can be dríven until replaced.

They are just sitting on my lounge room floor collecting cob webs!! Make me an offer, or just PM me if you wish to test fit etc.

Hjt · Postby **Hjt** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 6:34 pm

Not my car, images used for illustration purposes.

Lokiel · Postby **Lokiel** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 7:22 pm

Have you ever dríven an MX5 with 17" rims?

I suggest you do before splashing out on a set of them.

Like many SE owners (and MSM owners in the US) whose cars came with OEM 17" rims, I upgraded to 15x8 6ULs since I hated the OEM 17" rims so much. They're harsh and every time you hit a bump or pothole you'll want to get out to check if you've dented the rim. One of the best mods I've done to the car.

They don't handle as well as 15" or 16" rims either.

Hjt · Postby **Hjt** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 7:34 pm

Like many SE owners (and MSM owners in the US) whose cars came with OEM 17" rims, I upgraded to 15x8 6ULs since I hated the OEM 17" rims so much. They're harsh and every time you hit a bump or pothole you'll want to get out to check if you've dented the rim. One of the best mods I've done to the car.

You do feel a difference, but it's not fair to say you check the wheels after every bump ROFL. I personally just went down to 15 Inch wheels, the steering is indeed lighter i'm sure the ride is also I just noticed the steering more than the ride change.

and1 · Postby **and1** » Thu Jul 28, 2011 9:27 pm

I have my 05 SE Racing Harts for sale if you want them. They have tyres too..

Darius · Postby **Darius** » Fri Jul 29, 2011 12:06 pm

Thanks for the feedback so far guys and offers, definitely considering a few.

Lokiel wrote:Have you ever dríven an MX5 with 17" rims?
...
They don't handle as well as 15" or 16" rims either.

Unfortunately I don't have access to another MX5 with 17's on them, but handling is a concern for me which is one of the reasons i'm looking for a light weight wheel. I'm fully open to using 16's instead if that doesn't degrade the handling. I do need a bigger wheel however, if you look at my NB in my original post, you'll see that the stock wheels leave a bit of room in the arches and clearly don't fit the look of the garage vary bumper and side skirts. Lowering unfortunately isn't much of an option either as the front bumper already comes really close to scraping in many places

16" Rota Boosts in Gunmetal don't look too bad and only come in at 7kgs.

Lokiel · Postby **Lokiel** » Fri Jul 29, 2011 1:29 pm

16" looks great on an MX5, unfortunately the tyre choices are much more limited so you'll be paying more for them

Originally I wanted 16" rims for my SE but after seeing 15x8 6ULs on lowered MSMs in the US, I changed my mind on 15" rims. Unfortunately this meant upgrading my shocks to BC Racing BR Series coilovers to lower the car to avoid the "4WD look" (the gap between the tyre and guard becomes very noticeable with the extra tyre sidewall) so it turned out to be an expensive solution. The coilovers are much better than the OEM shocks so I can't really complain since they would have been upgraded later anyway.

It took me a while to get used to seeing the 15" rims on my car but now when I see NBs with 17" rims, they just look like wagon wheels (17" rims feel like wagon wheels too after driving on 15" rims - probably magnified because the OEM SE shocks are so stiff).

If you can't really lower your car then 16" rims are the way to go rather than 17" rims IMO. Davex3 has a set of 16" on his SE which look great (they'd look even better with a red lip since his car's Velocity Red and he chose black rims) - he may be on lower springs though.

Kobsy · Postby **Kobsy** » Fri Jul 29, 2011 1:45 pm

I feel like I'm in the same boat as you Darius! This thread is just so awesome

Red 99NB here and your right about the stock wheels even without modding the body lol. I found a pic of mine from my old noob thread. http://mx5cartalk.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=45440

I'm stragely attracted to those Lenso Project-D Drift Wheels Hjt has. What do you guys think?

I would love to get some new bigger just to cruise around in haha but I dont want it to have too much of an impact on handling too. Am I just being too anal about this?

Hjt · Postby **Hjt** » Fri Jul 29, 2011 3:26 pm

As I said previously anyone is welcome to test them on the car, if your free this Sunday a few of us are meeting in Sydney to do some work, your more than welcome to come along.

The wheels I used at the last club track day, I would say if your going to run 17s just make sure you get light ones.

pcmx5 · Postby **pcmx5** » Fri Jul 29, 2011 4:24 pm

Going to 17's just by itself will not really help reduce the gap and four wheel drive look.If you go to one of the tyre calculators that are available you will be surprised at the small difference between original equipment 14, 15, 16 and 17 inch wheels and tyres. If you went to a 17 with higher profile tyre you would be overgearing the car.

A nice ride height is around 310-333 cm from the centre of the wheeel hub to the bottom of the wheel arch and that is best achieved by lowering the car.15's on an NA at that ride height look great and a mate has 16's on an NB and it also looks nicely co-ordinated.

Good range of tyres in 15 and 16 too and wheel combo's that are not to heavy.

Peter

Darius · Postby **Darius** » Fri Jul 29, 2011 4:56 pm

Yeah starting to lean towards the 16" wheels now since there's a bit more variety without going to far over 7kg. Anyone here running any XXR 521 16x8 +20 @ 7.2kg? These caught my eye while browsing clubroadster - see example 1, example 2, example 3 and example 4.

Kobsy wrote:I feel like I'm in the same boat as you Darius! This thread is just so awesome

Hope it helps you out Kobsy!

pcmx5 wrote:Going to 17's just by itself will not really help reduce the gap and four wheel drive look.If you go to one of the tyre calculators that are available you will be surprised at the small difference between original equipment 14, 15, 16 and 17 inch wheels and tyres. If you went to a 17 with higher profile tyre you would be overgearing the car.

A nice ride height is around 310-333 cm from the centre of the wheeel hub to the bottom of the wheel arch and that is best achieved by lowering the car.15's on an NA at that ride height look great and a mate has 16's on an NB and it also looks nicely co-ordinated.

Good range of tyres in 15 and 16 too and wheel combo's that are not to heavy.

Peter

Thanks for that Peter. I'd love to get the car lowered a bit, but it's really pushing it with how close the front bumper comes to scraping already. Hopefully some 16's would at least look a lot better than stock even if they don't fill out the arches as much as i'd like.

pcmx5 · Postby **pcmx5** » Fri Jul 29, 2011 5:20 pm

Yeah, sorry just went back and had a look at the pictures, you certainly have an issue with that lip and lowering!!

Peter.

bootz · Postby **bootz** » Sat Jul 30, 2011 3:29 pm

Darius wrote:Yeah starting to lean towards the 16" wheels now since there's a bit more variety without going to far over 7kg. Anyone here running any XXR 521 16x8 +20 @ 7.2kg? These caught my eye while browsing clubroadster - see example 1, example 2, example 3 and example 4.

Nice choice of wheel, I think you need a more rad rear spoiler to balance the front end. When you want to sell your OEM 15s give me a call.

fastfreddygassit · Postby **fastfreddygassit** » Sun Jul 31, 2011 1:18 am

Darius wrote:Yeah starting to lean towards the 16" wheels now since there's a bit more variety without going to far over 7kg.

Nooooooooooooooooooo!
17's look so cool

I had 16's and I went UP to 17's.
Yes they are heavy but the actually feel better than the 16's. I guess the original 14's will sh!t all over these but I don't track the car
and because I am ignorant :mrgreen:

I don't know any different!!
I got the mono sports which aren't light but I think they look mad.... (mind you they are orange now....looong story)