Miata Choices...

"Roadster Man" (roadsterman)
05/20/2014 at 17:00 • Filed to: None

A while ago I posted about buying a winter beater, and I ended up making the decision to replace my miata and get a WRX as a year-round daily driver. I bought my WRX in November, and on Easter morning I woke up and it was gone. Luckily I was waiting until the springtime to sell my miata, so I put insurance back on the miata and I've been driving it since my WRX was stolen. The WRX still hasn't turned up, so I imagine it's in a thousand pieces and the chassis is sitting in a warehouse somewhere.

I have been thinking about what to do with my car situation, and I've come to realize that I can't get rid of my miata. It's just too much fun. An AW11 MR2 is the only thing that can compete, but they are tough to find in decent shape and I'm not sure it would be as much fun (easy to control in oversteer). I want to save up and find a really fresh MR2 with low miles, so the MR2 is filed away for the future.

So I'm going to have to find a winter beater, but I have all summer and autumn to find a good car for the winter. I'm going to save that choice for later. But to get ready for the summer I have a few miata choices to make. The tires on my stock wheels are bald and need replacing, and I've been wanting to buy new wheels for a while now. I think now is the time to finally get a new set of wheels.

What should I do? I made an impulse buy on some flares, but I think I want to flip them for some spare cash. I'm on a budget, so I'm going to stick with Rota wheels since they are one of the more reputable replica companies. It's also likely that I'll hit a curb and mangle these wheels at some point in the future, so I want to keep it cheap.

I'm on the stock 14x6 with 195 tires at this point. Here are my options:

1. Get 15x7 +20 Rota grid V's and 195-50 tires (Yoko S-drive). No fender rolling or pulling needed. Sell the flares I have.

2. Get 15x8 wheels, either Rota Grid V's or Rota Shakotans, and 205-50 tires (Yoko S-drive). Will need to roll fenders. Sell the flares.

3. Install the flares that I already have sitting in my garage and get some 15x9 or 15x10 wheels. Diamond racing steelies would be an option, but I'd probably go with 15x9 Rota Grids/shakotans. Get some fat ass 235 tires or something.

4. Have the 13x8 wheels in my garage stripped and refinished and have the barrels re-worked. Probably big $$ to fix them up. Then have a terrible time finding a decent 205-60 13" tire and wonder why I made this choice. Sell the flares.

Any suggestions? I was committed to putting on the flares until I did a mock-up and the fitment was shitty. They will need some working to get them to fit, and I'm not sure I'm up for the work and cutting up my baby. I also won't have a chance of getting the rear end to step out, so it might take away a bit of the fun. That's why I'm leaning toward #1... I'll have the same tire footprint and I'll have to expend the least effort. It's also pretty cheap, but I really don't know how much #4 would cost, it might be the cheapest option in the end. I'm not opposed to rolling my fenders, but I don't have access to a roller so it'll be just another avoidable expense. But rolled fenders and 15x8 wheels would be cool...

DISCUSSION (4)

Twingo Tamer - About to descend into project car hell. > Roadster Man
05/20/2014 at 17:05

I'd definitely stick with #1

Will with a W8 races an E30 > Roadster Man
05/20/2014 at 17:07

Track Miata route: 205/50R15 Direzza ZIIs or BFG Rivals, with TRM C1 or D-Force Spec Miata wheels

http://www.philsracetires.com/pricesheets/D%…

http://www.tirerack.com/wheels/WheelCl…

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tires.js…

Will with a W8 races an E30 > Will with a W8 races an E30
05/20/2014 at 17:07

Also very good as a daily driver/trackday/autocross setup

Squid > Roadster Man
05/20/2014 at 17:43

Unless you are going to track the car heavily, putting wider than a 7 inch tire will give you more tire than you'll end up needing. I would avoid going up to the 9 or 10 inch wheels as there is very little benefit to going that wide if you plan on just having a DD. Stick with the 15x7 and be happy in knowing that you have options for tires.