The Mazda Miata Wheel Mystery

"RightFootDown" (rightfootdown) 08/11/2016 at 13:32 • Filed to: None

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Who’s going to be the one who can help solve the mystery of the unknown NA Miata wheels? I bought a 1994 Mazda Miata last week from an older lady in Southern New Jersey. She had owned the car for 20 years, and kept it in relatively good condition. When I went to look at the car two weeks ago, I had noticed that the wheels on it were different than anything I’d ever seen on a Mazda Miata before. The owner said those wheels had been on the car for the entire time she had owned the car. After making an offer on the car the same day, and working out the buying arrangements, I took to the internet to find out where these wheels came from.

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Calling All NA Miata Nerds, Can You Identify These Wheels?

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There are two threads on !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! (the place for all things Miata) about these wheels. One is my thread ( !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ), and another was started by a fellow Miata enthusiast a couple months back ( !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ). The second thread has more detailed pictures of the wheels off the car. Nobody on Miata.net could pin point these wheels to any specific Miata or Mazda car. But at this point, we know that there are two documented Miatas with these wheels on them. The center caps seems to be the 1991 Mazda logo.

There’s a !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! ever put on the 1990-1997 Miata, and the wheels that are on my car are not listed on that page. Who can solve this mystery?

It seems odd to me that no one on the largest Miata forum in the world can pinpoint where these wheels came from. That scares me a little, because maybe these are knock-off wheels that were put on after an accident. OR are they some super rare wheels that were put on a couple Miatas. I’m comforted by the fact that there is one other guy trying to figure out where the wheels came from, and has them on his car. I’m not comforted by the fact that the worlds largest Miata forum cannot pinpoint these wheels to any specific Mazda.

Who can help me solve this Miata wheel mystery?

These are my lingering questions:

Can someone contact Mazda? Does Mazda have the answer?

Anybody know someone with these wheels?

Are they are super rare or super worthless?

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > RightFootDown 08/11/2016 at 13:34

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That’s no Mazda logo, and the wheels aren’t familiar, but then I’m no expert...

Echo51 > RightFootDown 08/11/2016 at 13:42

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Pull them off and look for a manufacturer stamp on the inside somewhere. Alternative look up all cars that share the PCD and check those stock rims out. I dunno why, but my first thought was “bland nissan”

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer 08/11/2016 at 13:43

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Its the 1991 logo according to this site.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > TheTurbochargedSquirrel 08/11/2016 at 13:45

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Seriously? I thought that logo had a round center, not a dimond. Huh.

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer 08/11/2016 at 13:49

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It was a 1 year thing before being updated to the more familiar logo in 1992.

Galileo Humpkins (aka MC Clap Yo Handz) > RightFootDown 08/11/2016 at 13:54

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They remind me of the wheels of a MX-6 or 323 from around that time but they aren’t quite right.

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > RightFootDown 08/11/2016 at 13:57

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Lol at all the people on the Miata forum thinking that it has a Renault logo just because it is diamond shaped. Renault logo is symmetrical and doesn’t have a circle around it.

Boxer_4 > RightFootDown 08/11/2016 at 13:59

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Are the cars with these wheels from the same region, or even same dealer? I’m not sure how Mazda sales worked back then, but Toyota (for example) was still using regional distributors at the time. Some times, a regional distributor would come out with a special package or options not offered from the factory. A dealer could have done this, too, but that’s less likely.

Here’s an example of what I’m talking about:

http://oppositelock.kinja.com/foreign-car-di…

Also, Mazda center caps don’t necessarily mean Mazda wheels. Center cap sizes and mounting methods are often standardized, or the caps could have been custom made.

OPPOsaurus WRX > Boxer_4 08/11/2016 at 14:13

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thats what I ws thinking about the center cap, i’ve done tons of searches for different manufacturers and years and add 7 spoke wheel to the end and no combination of the above has lead to anything close

Mr. Thompson > TheTurbochargedSquirrel 08/11/2016 at 14:13

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Yea that’s definitely the same Mazda logo. My car is a 1994 though.

OPPOsaurus WRX > RightFootDown 08/11/2016 at 14:13

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i’ve done tons of searches for different manufacturers and years and add 7 spoke wheel to the end and no combination of the above has lead to anything close. I bet they are aftermarket with a standard size center cap so the mazda cap could be put back on

Mr. Thompson > Boxer_4 08/11/2016 at 14:14

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Another Mazda guy on Miata.net has these same wheels so that might have been the case. The car came from a dealership in Rochester NY.

Mr. Thompson > Echo51 08/11/2016 at 14:15

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If you look here ( http://forum.miata.net/vb/showthread.… ), this guy already did that on Miata.net and found nothing.

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > Mr. Thompson 08/11/2016 at 14:21

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Which is what makes it odd. I am almost thinking it is something that was considered as an option and then sat in a warehouse until 1994 when they decided to throw them onto a few cars just to get rid of them. That’s my line of thought based on the Mazda part number but lack of any knowledge of them being used on any cars.

Boxer_4 > Mr. Thompson 08/11/2016 at 14:27

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RFD did say the previous owner had it for 20 years. As it is a 1994, I take it to mean she bought it 2 years old. I wonder what dealer originally sold it? NJ isn't too far from Rochester, NY, so that is very possible...

Boxer_4 > OPPOsaurus WRX 08/11/2016 at 14:37

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I’d love to see the back of the wheel. Most Japanese manufacturers (and most manufacturers in general) don’t make their own wheels (at least from what I’ve seen).

Subaru (for example), until recently, has almost exclusively used Enkei made wheels (other than the occasional BBS wheel). I wouldn’t be surprised if Mazda was the same way (perhaps with a different wheel brand).

If the wheel producer isn’t the same as what Mazda generally used at the time, that could be another clue.

Arrivederci > RightFootDown 08/11/2016 at 15:06

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What size are the wheels? 14"? Hard to tell in the pic, but the tires are 185/60's?

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > OPPOsaurus WRX 08/11/2016 at 15:06

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The older thread on the miata site determined that it does have a mazda part number on it however they cannot find any record of the part it corresponds to, just that multiple sites include the number in lists of mazda parts.

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > Boxer_4 08/11/2016 at 15:07

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The older of the 2 threads found that the wheel does feature a mazda part number.

TheTurbochargedSquirrel > OPPOsaurus WRX 08/11/2016 at 15:10

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Based on older thread it has a mazda part number.

Mr. Thompson > Arrivederci 08/11/2016 at 15:13

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They are 14" wheels

Mr. Thompson > OPPOsaurus WRX 08/11/2016 at 15:15

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Yea they are definitely Mazda wheels, that why we need to see if we can contact someone at Mazda for an answer. Maybe the legendary Bob Hall has the answer. :)

daender > RightFootDown 08/11/2016 at 19:37

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Worthless to collectors because it’s not a BBS or SE/M-Edition wheel or a hollow-spoke. That said, it’s 100% likely that you and that other NA owner both have non-USDM wheels. A while ago another Miata member was asking about a particular 5-spoke 15" wheel and we figured out it came from a Canadian MX-3 V6 GS model (although those wheels were a lot more common in Australia)!

If I was you, then I’d search for some Aussie or JDM Mazdas from ‘91!

daender > TheTurbochargedSquirrel 08/11/2016 at 19:55

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I ran the part number through Mazdaspeed’s parts store. Sadly, it doesn’t identify what car it might’ve come on. Right now I’m digging through 1990-1994 Mazda wheels on Miatas, 323s, Proteges, and MX-6s.

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > RightFootDown 08/11/2016 at 20:12

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I think those are OEM wheels from a Mazda MX-3. Same bolt pattern.

Mr. Thompson > RightFootDown 08/11/2016 at 20:30

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It was originally sold at a Mazda dealer in upper New York, so could be canandian spec.

Here are some pics of the inside of the wheel.