2005 MazdaSpeed wheels/tires

I've got a 2005 MX5 Turbo that came loaded up with fancy, still like,
new Toyo tires and Racing Hart wheels. Total mileage 7000 miles as of
07/2010. I'm considering making this car my daily driver. In which
case I'd opt for lesser wheels and a good set of Michelin all weather
tires. Any idea how to sell the unnecessary wheel/tire set and for how
much? And what practical set would I replace them with. I really have
no need for anything but basic transportation quality components. I've
babied that car long enough. Time to use it for other than nice
weather weekend jaunts.

bowman wrote:
> I've got a 2005 MX5 Turbo that came loaded up with fancy, still like,
> new Toyo tires and Racing Hart wheels. Total mileage 7000 miles as of
> 07/2010. I'm considering making this car my daily driver. In which
> case I'd opt for lesser wheels and a good set of Michelin all weather
> tires. Any idea how to sell the unnecessary wheel/tire set and for how
> much? And what practical set would I replace them with. I really have
> no need for anything but basic transportation quality components. I've
> babied that car long enough. Time to use it for other than nice
> weather weekend jaunts.

Please explain why you would purchase a performance vehicle and want to put
all weather tires on it. You could probably get a set of 14" steel miata
wheels pretty cheap. Sorry to be snotty, but I couldn't resist. I could
understand putting all weather tires on a regular Miata and even an
automatic transmission, but on a Mazdaspeed?

On 7/14/2010 10:57 AM, Frank Berger wrote:
> bowman wrote:
>> I've got a 2005 MX5 Turbo that came loaded up with fancy, still like,
>> new Toyo tires and Racing Hart wheels. Total mileage 7000 miles as of
>> 07/2010. I'm considering making this car my daily driver. In which
>> case I'd opt for lesser wheels and a good set of Michelin all weather
>> tires. Any idea how to sell the unnecessary wheel/tire set and for how
>> much? And what practical set would I replace them with. I really have
>> no need for anything but basic transportation quality components. I've
>> babied that car long enough. Time to use it for other than nice
>> weather weekend jaunts.
>
> Please explain why you would purchase a performance vehicle and want to put
> all weather tires on it. You could probably get a set of 14" steel miata
> wheels pretty cheap. Sorry to be snotty, but I couldn't resist. I could
> understand putting all weather tires on a regular Miata and even an
> automatic transmission, but on a Mazdaspeed?


Frank,

I don't think that the 14" wheels will clear the Mazdaspeed brakes,
but........those can be swapped out for smaller rotors and pads. ;-)

Bowman, you will need to find out how small a wheel will still clear
your brakes, and I would at least go for a "higher-performance"
all-season tire set.

As far as which wheels, a set of factory alloys from a Miata owner who
has upgraded is probably your best bet. I see them on Craigslist all the
time.

I have found the Pirelli P5 to be a decently-performing all-season tire,
but it will always be a matter of compromises, and one that is lost on
an all-season tire is performance.

To me, the wheels/tires, and brakes, are the two (equally) most
important parts of the car, and it would go against everything in my
nature to take these down to less than factory standards. My goal has
always been the opposite of that.

Pat

bowman wrote:
> I've got a 2005 MX5 Turbo that came loaded up with fancy, still like,
> new Toyo tires and Racing Hart wheels. Total mileage 7000 miles as of
> 07/2010. I'm considering making this car my daily driver. In which
> case I'd opt for lesser wheels and a good set of Michelin all weather
> tires. Any idea how to sell the unnecessary wheel/tire set and for how
> much? And what practical set would I replace them with. I really have
> no need for anything but basic transportation quality components. I've
> babied that car long enough. Time to use it for other than nice
> weather weekend jaunts.

if you plan on making it your primary daily driver, and use the car to
commute to work, my first question would be to ask where you are
located... an all season will not cut it in the north east in snow. it
could get you home in some conditions but if you expect to reliably use
the car in the winter then you owe it to yourself to get a set of winter
tires mounted something basic, even steelies (and if that is the case
then keep using the racing hart wheels as your summer set).

"Christopher Muto" > wrote in message

if you expect to reliably use
> the car in the winter then you owe it to yourself to get a set of winter
> tires mounted something basic, even steelies (and if that is the case then
> keep using the racing hart wheels as your summer set).



There's a fine idea (Chris's seem sooo smart ;-) but, if after all this you
do still want to sell the OEM (and allot of people do, to go to a more
durable / comfortable set up with equal performance) set up they go for
about $750 in really fine shape with decent tires mounted. Actually, you
probably can get about the same w/o tires as there's some savings on
shipping and most people tend to want something other than the OEM tires
which, iirc, aren't the best or the longest lasting.Personally, I think 16"
wheels suit the NB perfectly, striking a balance between form and function,
if you know what I mean.

Good luck,
Chris
99BBB

On 7/14/2010 10:09 PM, Chris D'Agnolo wrote:
>
> "Christopher Muto" > wrote in message
>
> if you expect to reliably use
>> the car in the winter then you owe it to yourself to get a set of
>> winter tires mounted something basic, even steelies (and if that is
>> the case then keep using the racing hart wheels as your summer set).
>
>
>
> There's a fine idea (Chris's seem sooo smart ;-) but, if after all this
> you do still want to sell the OEM (and allot of people do, to go to a
> more durable / comfortable set up with equal performance) set up they go
> for about $750 in really fine shape with decent tires mounted. Actually,
> you probably can get about the same w/o tires as there's some savings on
> shipping and most people tend to want something other than the OEM tires
> which, iirc, aren't the best or the longest lasting.Personally, I think
> 16" wheels suit the NB perfectly, striking a balance between form and
> function, if you know what I mean.
>
> Good luck,
> Chris
> 99BBB


Does anyone know what years or year/model combos that Mazda started
using brakes too large to clear 14" Miata wheels?

Also, I think that there is at least one factory setup that actually
requires 16" wheels or larger? (please correct me if this is false)

A lot of auto-crossers use 13X8 wheels, so those obviously clear at
least the smaller brakes.
I guess that some, if not all of the M2 owners who have run this
wheel/tire combination have had to down-size the brake size to make the
13" wheels fit.

It seems like I remember one specific year as being larger than anything
else that they offered for the first two generations of Miata.

It makes sense that the largest rotors would be on the MSM, but it seems
like it was on a 2001-2003 release, if my memory if holding at all.

Pat

Christopher Muto wrote:
> bowman wrote:
>> I've got a 2005 MX5 Turbo that came loaded up with fancy, still like,
>> new Toyo tires and Racing Hart wheels. Total mileage 7000 miles as of
>> 07/2010. I'm considering making this car my daily driver. In which
>> case I'd opt for lesser wheels and a good set of Michelin all weather
>> tires. Any idea how to sell the unnecessary wheel/tire set and for how
>> much? And what practical set would I replace them with. I really have
>> no need for anything but basic transportation quality components. I've
>> babied that car long enough. Time to use it for other than nice
>> weather weekend jaunts.
>
> if you plan on making it your primary daily driver, and use the car to
> commute to work, my first question would be to ask where you are
> located... an all season will not cut it in the north east in snow. it
> could get you home in some conditions but if you expect to reliably use
> the car in the winter then you owe it to yourself to get a set of winter
> tires mounted something basic, even steelies (and if that is the case
> then keep using the racing hart wheels as your summer set).

i should be more specific... all seasons on a maita will not cut it in
the north east in the snow... the car is just too light, tires too wide,
and the rear wheel drive means there is now weight on top of the
driving wheels... honda and other front wheel drives are ok in the snow
with just all seasons in all but the very worst weather... but that is
not the case with the miata.

"pws" > wrote in message
...
>
>
> Does anyone know what years or year/model combos that Mazda started using
> brakes too large to clear 14" Miata wheels?
>
> Pat


Pat, My 99 probably came with 14" wheels from the factory. It was (is) a
base model car and that was still the standard in 99. I have a set of 14"
steelies that fit and work fine with my brakes. I think 99 was the last year
but I may stand to be corrected.

Chris
99BBB

In article >,
pws > wrote:

> Does anyone know what years or year/model combos that Mazda started
> using brakes too large to clear 14" Miata wheels?

IIRC, the Sport Package came with larger brakes, Hard-S suspension,
Torsen, and 16" wheels. It was an option for the first few years of the
NB. Later (~2002?) the larger brakes and wheels became standard.

I could be totally wrong. I never paid much attention to the NB, since I
had no interest in owning one.

> Also, I think that there is at least one factory setup that actually
> requires 16" wheels or larger? (please correct me if this is false)

See above. However, quite a few aftermarket 15" wheels will fit over the
larger brakes. That would be the way to go, with light weight and good
tire choices at reasonable cost.

> A lot of auto-crossers use 13X8 wheels, so those obviously clear at
> least the smaller brakes.

I don't know if 13" wheels fit any brakes after 1993. It's hard to
imagine anyone swapping in smaller rotors, though autocrossing certainly
doesn't demand much in the way of stopping prowess.

--
Lanny Chambers
St. Louis, MO
'94C

On 7/15/2010 7:30 PM, Lanny Chambers wrote:

> IIRC, the Sport Package came with larger brakes, Hard-S suspension,
> Torsen, and 16" wheels. It was an option for the first few years of the
> NB. Later (~2002?) the larger brakes and wheels became standard.
>
> I could be totally wrong. I never paid much attention to the NB, since I
> had no interest in owning one.

My 1991 Miata has a '99 head, (on a '94 block), a '99 torsen rear end,
and a few other odds and ends from the NB.

Even before I started to like how the NB looks, I was interested in the
multitude of parts that can be swapped between the NA and NB, like
brakes, wheels and the top.
I REALLY wanted that Nardi steering wheel to replace that blocky thing
that the NA has. (I have a Momo Champion steering wheel in mine, it
looks even better than the NB Nardi, imo, but no air bag, for better or
worse, and hopefully never to matter)

For the record, the original Miata is still my favorite one as far as
looks go, but I actually like how all of the OEM miata/MX-5 variations
look now.

> See above. However, quite a few aftermarket 15" wheels will fit over the
> larger brakes. That would be the way to go, with light weight and good
> tire choices at reasonable cost.

I always forget, did you go with 15's or 16's?

> I don't know if 13" wheels fit any brakes after 1993. It's hard to
> imagine anyone swapping in smaller rotors, though autocrossing certainly
> doesn't demand much in the way of stopping prowess.

I have seen at least two NB's with the 13X8 wheel setup. The 14"
steelies clear the brakes on Chris D.'s 1999 model, maybe one inch down
from that fits as long as it is not on the largest sizes of factory rotors.

I am guessing that the wheel design has a lot to do with it since the
largest factory rotor is well under 13"? Can a wheel be designed that is
barely larger than the rotor? Not my area.

I have never seen anyone looking for a smaller brake setup, only the
reverse, like my 1996 brackets, pads and rotors that are installed on my
1991 model.

Pat