NB's Show Off Your Rims!

A.Chen89 · Postby **A.Chen89** » Sun Aug 14, 2011 2:38 am

like! much better than what you had on before.

Black_Penguin · Postby **Black_Penguin** » Thu Sep 08, 2011 4:41 pm

Nickel 15x7 949 Racing 6UL's

IMG_0550 by Black Penguin, on Flickr

mhj · Postby **mhj** » Fri Sep 30, 2011 10:00 am

simmons three piece.....god bless the origional purchaser

Hjt · Postby **Hjt** » Tue Oct 11, 2011 3:45 pm

Really nice looking rims petey the colour sets it off against the silver. Nice width and tyre choice those rims would be perfect in a 15inch format with same offset and width!

devski · Postby **devski** » Tue Oct 11, 2011 4:09 pm

Agree with Hjt, An awesome choice there petey

devski · Postby **devski** » Tue Oct 11, 2011 4:30 pm

When I got mine done I was worried about having to run low profile tyres. The mx5 isn't the most comfortable ride as it is!

markshan · Postby **markshan** » Tue Oct 11, 2011 4:48 pm

Weight?

Apu · Postby **Apu** » Wed Oct 12, 2011 1:24 pm

Petey,

Saw your car yesterday...those are BIG wheels! I've got a silver NB as well, with 15"...and the look was just sooo different. Yours are right out to the guards, and they look bigger in real life than in the pic.

Bryan

Hjt · Postby **Hjt** » Wed Oct 12, 2011 2:42 pm

Your welcome to drive my car to test the difference between a 15inch and 17inch wheel, but i won't insist on persuading you further as i love the look of your wheels!

lightyear · Postby **lightyear** » Wed Oct 12, 2011 2:56 pm

Petey wrote:Hey thanks guys

I don't know why more people haven't gone for 17s in 8 and 9 inches. The fill the arches better than the 15's (no offence) and they aren't ahasstle to fit at all

I reckon I could get away with 8.5's on the front and 9.5's on the rear...

Either that or some 5mm spacers on the front and maybe 10mm on the back but I'd have to roll the guards.

Any more than that and I'd need some aftermarket camber arms.

Hey petey, it looks good, BUT...... Did you know that if you have different height tyres front to rear your abs will kick in too early and you won't be getting as much braking force.

Apu · Postby **Apu** » Wed Oct 12, 2011 3:16 pm

Petey wrote:PS: Did some one want my race pads? I forgot who asked...

viewtopic.php?f=44&t=49305

viewtopic.php?f=44&t=49304

That was me. I'm trying to figure out if the SE brakes are the same as the ones on my car...because if that's the case, the pads won't work for me

Lokiel · Postby **Lokiel** » Wed Oct 12, 2011 4:26 pm

Petey wrote:Hey thanks guys
I don't know why more people haven't gone for 17s in 8 and 9 inches. The fill the arches better than the 15's (no offence) and they aren't ahasstle to fit at all
:

- because 17" rims are heavy, expensive, the ride becomes bone-jarringly unbearable and every time you hit a pothole you think you've bent the sh*t out of your rims - handling suffers too.

- as for 8" or 9" tyres, why would you get them unless you've got enough power to need them? 8" tyrse on a normally aspirated NA/NB are overkill and just add unnecessary weight.

But if you don't give a rats about that stuff and just want to look cool then 17" rims with 9" tyres might impress a few young guys who don't know any better.

JMHO - coming from a guy who upgraded his stock 17" 8kg Racing Hart SE rims to 6UL 15x8 rims and would like to kick the guy in the nuts who approved fitting 17" heavy rims to the SE because "that's what the customer wants".

slimx · Postby **slimx** » Thu Oct 13, 2011 4:57 am

my 2 cents
weight in rims in my opinion isnt really important, honestly the weight will make little difference does im sure help though.

17" looks great, very big, easy to find low profile tyres at a decent price, cheap tyres etc...
However yes pot holes are worse (for some reason). Rims do cover the arch gap however a nice looking car isnt just a car that has no gap between the arches and the wheels, it also looks better when it sits low, a 15" rim can also cover that gap easily and it'll make the car look slammed!

I love 15's personally however all the rims i put my eye on seem to be 16, which im happy with atm (my stockies are 16 and seem fine).
17 is a bit big in my opinion i had it on my integra and i bought Comfort CONTinental tyres that was the only way the pot holes didnt hurt my ass. $220 a tyre not worth it.

Lokiel · Postby **Lokiel** » Thu Oct 13, 2011 12:51 pm

Petey wrote:
Lokiel wrote:- as for 8" or 9" tyres, why would you get them unless you've got enough power to need them? 8" tyrse on a normally aspirated NA/NB are overkill and just add unnecessary weight.

Seeing as I have a turbo MX5 with 170 rwkw I think I qualify in the power department. Yes if you have an N/A it's overkill.

Your original quote didn't mention additional power so I assumed you wondered why more NAs/NBs aren't using 8/9" rims which is why I made this comment (ie. if you don't NEED the extra grip required by additional power, wider rims+tyres wont do anything other than add weight and "wank factor").

Petey wrote:
Lokiel wrote:JMHO - coming from a guy who upgraded his stock 17" 8kg Racing Hart SE rims to 6UL 15x8 rims and would like to kick the guy in the nuts who approved fitting 17" heavy rims to the SE because "that's what the customer wants".

You opinion is respected, as is everyone else's here, so no worries. Everyone has different tastes. I do not mean to say 17 look the best and force that on everyone. BUT they are not the worst for handling or comfort, not by a long shot. If this was a track only car, it goes without saying that I'd have forged 15's or 16's on it. .

Agreed about the fact that everyone has different tastes (just checkout CR to see what some guys think looks good). I actually like seeing all modz people make to their cars; I've certainly taken inspiration from others and rejected some of my plans when I see they've FAILED on other people's attempts.

I still stick to my opinion regarding 17" rims and provided my comments for the benefit of those considering changing to larger rims and/or wider tyres - these are expensive updates and it may save someone $$$ knowing up front if they're worthwhile or not.

Petey wrote:
slimx wrote:Rims do cover the arch gap however a nice looking car isnt just a car that has no gap between the arches and the wheels, it also looks better when it sits low, a 15" rim can also cover that gap easily and it'll make the car look slammed!

I can see what you mean but I was not referring to the gap between the top of the tyre and the wheel arch (how low the car is), rather the width of the wheel arch compared to the width of the rim.

IMO, 16" rims look best on an NB but tyre options are limited so 15" rims are a better option. When I switched from 17" rims to 15" rims, I installed BC Racing BR Series coilovers to lower the car to reduce that arch gap and eliminate the "4WD look".

Here's my before and after photos:

It took me a while to get used to the look of the 15" rims but now I think that the 17" rims look ridiculously like wagon wheels and way too big for the car. There are a LOT of SE/MSM owners who have switched from 17" rims to 15/16" rims and would NEVER go back - I'm one of them and even sold my original 17" Racing Hart rims, that's how sure I am that I'll never want to use them again.

bootz · Postby **bootz** » Thu Oct 13, 2011 3:45 pm

There is so much bullflop written about rims and tyres

The 5 is long and low, small and sexy. That is why small rims look better. If you want a car to look good on big rims buy a Golf GTI.

Finally all this lightweight rim crap. The unsprung weight totals wishbones, springs, shocks, hubs, brake disk, calipers, lines, wheel nuts, rubbers, tyres, air in the tyres and god knows what else, within this is also the weight of the rim. The diff between 17" Racing Harts 7+ kg vs a 5+ kg 15" is trivial.

I had the racing Harts and they were far better in all respects to the 16" stock. I would get 6uls because they are a well made, well priced rim which also looks classy. Nuff said.