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Aftermarket wheels on the old girl


Steve-O
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Hi All - its been a while ! Recently changed jobs and working harder than ever, and keeping my not so little baby daughter entertained has been dominating my life. Sadly the MX5 and my car hobby/social life has taken a back seat for a bit. A couple of days ago sadly she took a bit of damage from a neighbour and has lost a bit of paint. This has brought forwards me plans slightly to give her some bodywork TLC (preventative work on rear arches etc) and also look at make her look just a bit more to my tastes. I am seriously contemplating a turbo/supercharger upgrade later this year to take the 1.8 up to circa 200-220BHP also so this might be worth knowing for the below questions :crying_anim:

 

Contemplating a new set of wheels for the '5, and seen some really nice looking cars that have what appears quite agressive offsets so they can have deep dished wheels with chrome lips on.

 

I have at present what i think to be +38/40 offset wheels which i believe is optimal, however they look pants and don't do the rest of the car justice.

 

My question is (and this may or may not be one for the master) : What would be the effect on the handling if wheels with an agressive offset was fitted?

 

Also - just to cloud the waters further : What if the wheels had staggered widths i.e wider at the rear than the front?

 

Very interested in how much these guys have to sacrifice to get a nice looking wheel on, and whether there is a compromise i can find so i get the best of both worlds.

 

For reference i am talking about 15" wheels between 7/8J, offsets between 0-30 on 195/55/15 rubber or thereabouts.

 

Cheers

 

Steve

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The lower the offset the further the wheels will stick out. From previous experience of having the wrong offset the handling was crap so I try to stick with the oem spec now.

 

Supercharging the 5 sounds good, that's gonna be awesome :crying_anim:

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The lower the offset the further the wheels will stick out. From previous experience of having the wrong offset the handling was crap so I try to stick with the oem spec now.

 

Supercharging the 5 sounds good, that's gonna be awesome :crying_anim:

Hello mate :D

 

I am aware that Offsets can affect handling but if I a honest,all the OEM spec wheels I have seen just don't look that good IMO. Would like some nice wheels with a bit of a lip, that fill the arches tastefully :D

 

Supercharging is more in keeping with the cars character, but I do like a turbo (and I can get more power) :D

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  • 1 month later...

Did you find out if you can use those offsets Steve? From what I've read the standard offset is 40-45 so 0-30 might be too low?

 

I was also thinking about fitting wider tyres to the rear. Would that be a good thing with it being RWD but the engine in the front as I would've thought there wouldn't be enough weight over the wheels to keep the traction down? I could be talking rubbish!

 

How are the turbo plans coming on? :)

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Hi guys :)

 

General concensus is that 15" 8j 4x100 et20 is the most you'd want. They say that these will fit on a lowered car without ridiculous camber and not foul the arch lips. I got some of the wim springs on so I think that's approx 30mm lower which is not crazy but optimal for geometry.

 

I don't want any stretch either so on an 8j wheel a 205/50/15 should work ok also.

 

Unsure if I will go that far, I might find a middle ground to retain handling. Staggered widths I think are generally going to do nothing but upset the balance further do they are out also.

 

ER she's definitely gonna get it... Just getting the car in order first :D

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Maybe try and drive a car that has those size wheels and offset to see how it handles as I think the big difference in offset will upset it.

 

Won't 205 wide tyres look stretched on an 8j rim? 215 on a 7j looks perfect so I would've thought 215 or 225 would be better if you have the clearance?

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So what that's saying is 34.5 offset is the lowest you should be going full stop. So going back to a compromise perhaps a Et30 7.5j wheel might be the best compromise? I'll be honest i have not seen many wheels in 34.5 offsets!

 

Question is - what ultimately would be introduced into the cars characteristics with a 30 or even 20et offset? Tramlining and dulling direction change ? Not sure to be honest!

 

in terms of rubber - on a 7.5j wheel i am guessing a 215 or above is needed to make it look nicely rubbered as opposed stretched? Was looking at getting some of those federal/hancook tyres that seem to be highly rated.

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If it's ok to ask a technical question here, what is the key factor affected? Is it overall track width? And how is that measured, distance between the centres of the wheels on either side?

 

If so, to keep handling fairly constant, do you want to set wheel widths and offsets such to keep the track width as close to the original?

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Off-sets on the rear have no real bearing other than will it fit, but the front does have some issues if the change from OEM is vast or spacers are fitted.

 

The problem is moving the contact patch out/ inside the steering pivotal point or as it's known Scrub Radius. Moving the contact patch is like pushing a Tesco's trolley and watching the front wheel flail around without order.

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Moving the contact patch is like pushing a Tesco's trolley and watching the front wheel flail around without order.

 

You've just described how my Escort was behaving when I put Peugeot alloys on it. Ford offset should be ET35, these were ET15 and the handling was terrible, very nervous and wasn't too sure where it was going.

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Even when the wheels are sticking out past the arches, that's how bad it was on mine but it wasn't lowered. I bought them from a guy who had them on an Escort with a wide bodykit so I thought they were Ford offset but found out they weren't when I fitted them. I've got photos at home of how it looked I'll have to post them up.

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Interesting - in ER's case with excessive offset - would some toe adjustments at the front help with the vagueness?

 

I cant claim to understand this totally.. but if for example a staggered setup was fitted to my car, say 7j et20 at the front and 8j Et15 at the rear - the rear is simply about arch scrub and camber would be our friend here. Whereas the front since the offset is outside of OEM spec - would this would introduce some vagueness in steering feel and direction unless it was dialled out with some camber and toe ? Caster wouldn't be a factor here no?

 

Outside of steering feel, the staggered set would introduce some strange grip behavior? Over-tyred/ at the rear would would cause understeer?

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Rear off-set isn't an issue. Front toe and castor change won't help, only a move in camber or SAI ( Steering Axis Inclination ) which is indirectly adjustable providing the adjuster is in the unsprung chassis. Staggering the wheels/ tyres is fine other than to much rubber spreads the cars weight compromising wet grip.

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  • 2 months later...

OK just thought i would post back with the outcome... :P

 

with%20lorbers.JPG

 

lorbers.JPG

 

Quite sought after Lorber "JDM Yo" 15" x 7" ET33 on 195/50/15 Yoko parada2's :D

 

So far i've noted slight better grip but this must be down to the tyre. But i have noticed a tiny tiny amount of the sharpness lost on the turn in - once its there it feels very much the same - if not a bit more positive but again i put this down to the rubber.

 

The WiM springs have served me well but i think the shocks may be close to the end so time for a complete change... Was looking at eibachs and KYB AGX possibly. Just wondering if with the eibachs i can get her perhaps a smidgeon lower than she is but retain a half decent ride.

 

Cheers

 

Steve

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Thanks mate :)

 

I like the black also - at first i didnt know if it works but i think it ties in with the black along the bottom and the polished lips makes them a bit special. They were actually refurbed by the previous owner and not quite as tidy as the photo suggests but they are still in very good condition. I am going to get them refurbed professionally in the same colour etc later on.

 

I've always wanted a set of Lorbers ever since i saw one of my neighbours Mk1 with a set on. I know wheels are a personal thing but these are one of the few that i really like to see on a mk1 and really make the car IMO.

 

Better start looking at the eibachs then - i know when i was looking for my 200sx i know they had two types, one of which had a lower ride height. I wonder how that will compare against these springs....

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