Nc newbie calling... Who knows their wheels?

[redrabbit]

Evening all, I've ust got an NC 2 litre.. An impulse purchase from a neighbour, although I've hankered after one for a while. The issue of course it that it looks like it's on stilts, and needs to look like this...

Anyone got an idea what those wheels are? I can't find anything similar. Alternatively, if you have anything tasty on yours, I'm ready to be educated. Or feel free to point me at a wheel thread.. Thanks!

[tim-b]

They look like Enkei RPF1's to me

Lovely wheels, very light but not cheap!

[Venom]

I'd start with getting the suspension sorted, before wheels.

Depending upon age, the pre-face lift NC's standard suspension made it look like a 4x4. You can get hold of a set of Eibach springs that will lower the ride height by either 30mm or 45mm and work with the stock shocks for not much money. The later cars had the Eibachs (or an equivalent at least) anyway.

Those wheels in your pics do look nice though. I've always thought Rotas look good on the NCs too.

There are lots of finishing mods you can do to these too. I use mx5parts for a good chunk of my purchases (no affiliation). Warning though, tinkering/modding these becomes very addictive! I think I need counselling for the amount of chrome I'm seriously considering bolting on to mine!

Edited by Venom on Wednesday 19th June 16:36

[redrabbit]

tim-b said:

They look like Enkei RPF1's to me

Lovely wheels, very light but not cheap!

You're right.. Good knowledge! And no, not cheap...

[redrabbit]

Venom said:

I'd start with getting the suspension sorted, before wheels.

Depending upon age, the pre-face lift NC's standard suspension made it look like a 4x4. You can get hold of a set of Eibach springs that will lower the ride height by either 30mm or 45mm and work with the stock shocks for not much money. The later cars had the Eibachs (or an equivalent at least) anyway.

Those wheels in your pics do look nice though. I've always thought Rotas look good on the NCs too.

There are lots of finishing mods you can do to these too. I use mx5parts for a good chunk of my purchases (no affiliation). Warning though, tinkering/modding these becomes very addictive! I think I need counselling for the amount of chrome I'm seriously considering bolting on to mine!

Edited by Venom on Wednesday 19th June 16:36

Exactly my thoughts. I was going to go straight to Meister Rs but a more wallet friendly option would be a better place to start maybe. Happy to do my own spannering, so plenty of research to be done..

[redrabbit]

Bushes and brakes also ahead of the wheels, it felt a bit spongey..

[Venom]

Although, if you want the look of those wheels, ebay may be your friend: https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/264368864441?ul_noapp=tru...

[redrabbit]

Venom said:

Although, if you want the look of those wheels, ebay may be your friend: https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/264368864441?ul_noapp=tru...

Thanks for the link; I've never been happy with the idea of second hand wheels of any provenance though (except when already attached to the car I'm buying!) Nor tyre brands I've never heard of... Rims will be Enkeis or Volk Te37s when the time comes...

The immediate question then is: which springs? Eibach 45mm's look favourite, the question is how low is too low for Bedfordshire speed bumps? Will be needing to get the tape measure out...

[Venom]

I've gone 30mm Eibach's personally, and the ride height is fine for speed bumps. Lots of reviews I've read say the 45mm drop leaves real world driving as a tortuous mission of navigating speed bumps, potholes, country lanes with extreme care. They do look ace slammed that low though!

[NitrousRuss]

I'm running 18 inch rota looking wheel's with 225/40 michelin Cup 2 tyre's on mine, lowered all round on coilovers which you can adjust to your own height

[Liamjrhodes]

The wheels are enkie RP-F1

if you would like a cheaper alternative Japan Racing do a 'replica' wheel called the JR7

[redrabbit]

Thanks gents, I'd concluded maybe 30mm is a better answer too. Or maybe the 34mm on the mazdaspeed springs on mx5parts.co.uk. I n think I need to replace rear shocks too though, and a pair of Bilsteins and springs is the thick end of £600, so now I'm considering going straight to adjustable coilovers instead.

mx5parts have steered me towards the vmaxx set-up and when I spoke to BBR they seemed to think they were fine too. Similar price to the above, so maybe that's the route. Is there already a thread running on the options? I can't find one if there is..

[NitrousRuss]

I've been running the fully adjustable gaz shock if there good enough for the mx5 super series as there go to suspension I think there great and like a say fully adjustable and good value for the money 👍

[Venom]

redrabbit said:

Thanks gents, I'd concluded maybe 30mm is a better answer too. Or maybe the 34mm on the mazdaspeed springs on mx5parts.co.uk. I n think I need to replace rear shocks too though, and a pair of Bilsteins and springs is the thick end of £600, so now I'm considering going straight to adjustable coilovers instead.

mx5parts have steered me towards the vmaxx set-up and when I spoke to BBR they seemed to think they were fine too. Similar price to the above, so maybe that's the route. Is there already a thread running on the options? I can't find one if there is..

Not sure there's a thread running on here, by the MX5 owners club forum is free to use and a goldmine of info: https://www.mx5oc.co.uk/Forum/

[JoeyD]

My old one:

I had Tein coilovers, similar to Meisters. Also highly recommend RX8 anti-roll bars, and a proper alignment - great handling cars!
Exterior parts I'd check out CarbonMiata - not exactly cheap but decent quality!
I'd personally stick to 17" wheels also!

[drgoatboy]

not sure where you are in the world OP but worth a visit to wheels in motion in Chesham (Bucks).

They were offering a good deal on supplying and fitting lowering springs plus doing a full alignment afterwards. (think it was £350 ish which considering a proper Geo is £150 seems like a bargain to me)

NC are particularly sensitive to alignments and can make a huge difference so factor that in if you are changing springs/coilovers.

Lots of threads out there on wheels for the NC so have a google. THE RPF1 are very popular (particularly in the USA) so lots of pics readily available.

IF you have not come across BBR they are a great option for tuning items and do wheels too, but beware they are not the cheapest
https://bbrgti.com/collections/mazda-mx-5-nc?const...

Also make sure you check fitments, you may have issues with really low offsets unless you want to do arch work. Again google for details but I seem to remember a lot of recommendations for sticking to about ET40 (standard wheels are more like ET55 but I can't recall exactly)

[redrabbit]

drgoatboy said:

not sure where you are in the world OP but worth a visit to wheels in motion in Chesham (Bucks).

They were offering a good deal on supplying and fitting lowering springs plus doing a full alignment afterwards. (think it was £350 ish which considering a proper Geo is £150 seems like a bargain to me)

NC are particularly sensitive to alignments and can make a huge difference so factor that in if you are changing springs/coilovers.

Lots of threads out there on wheels for the NC so have a google. THE RPF1 are very popular (particularly in the USA) so lots of pics readily available.

IF you have not come across BBR they are a great option for tuning items and do wheels too, but beware they are not the cheapest
https://bbrgti.com/collections/mazda-mx-5-nc?const...

Also make sure you check fitments, you may have issues with really low offsets unless you want to do arch work. Again google for details but I seem to remember a lot of recommendations for sticking to about ET40 (standard wheels are more like ET55 but I can't recall exactly)

I'm in Luton, so Wheels in Motion and BBR are both accessible. Thanks for the tip of the former; I'm already talking to BBR about their tailored NC suspension package and the best wheel fitment to go with that, but you're right, they're not cheap so I will be shopping around. Same with the Enkei's, they look awesome but wallet emptying: I would find it hard to lay out the same money on wheels and suspension as I paid for the car

[drgoatboy]

redrabbit said:

I'm in Luton, so Wheels in Motion and BBR are both accessible. Thanks for the tip of the former; I'm already talking to BBR about their tailored NC suspension package and the best wheel fitment to go with that, but you're right, they're not cheap so I will be shopping around. Same with the Enkei's, they look awesome but wallet emptying: I would find it hard to lay out the same money on wheels and suspension as I paid for the car

I'm only down the road in hemel so if you want to have a ride in a car with Meisters just shout. I previously had the BBR koni on my car (in fact they are sat in my garage) but with standard springs on. Previous owner had the full package and found it too low so swapped to standard springs. It rode really nicely but I wanted a bit more adjustability hence the switch to Meister R.

[redrabbit]

I'm only down the road in hemel so if you want to have a ride in a car with Meisters just shout. I previously had the BBR koni on my car (in fact they are sat in my garage) but with standard springs on. Previous owner had the full package and found it too low so swapped to standard springs. It rode really nicely but I wanted a bit more adjustability hence the switch to Meister R.
[/quote]

Thanks for the offer, I might well take you up on that. Given you're in the neighbourhood, do you have any experience of MX5 Works in Leighton Buzzard? That would be more convenient for me once I've decided which option to take (having also decided to leave the spanner in to someone more competent than myself)

[drgoatboy]

[quote]

Thanks for the offer, I might well take you up on that. Given you're in the neighbourhood, do you have any experience of MX5 Works in Leighton Buzzard? That would be more convenient for me once I've decided which option to take (having also decided to leave the spanner in to someone more competent than myself)
[/quote]

I have never used them. I did a little research on them and couldn't find many positive reviews when I looked. But all the reviews i did find were pretty old.
WIM will fit any shocks for you although they are not the cheapest but obviously convenient if you are going for a geo anyway. Can also recommend Japex in kings Langley who have looked after all my mx5s.