So, aftermarket alloys...

[otolith]

We've bust an alloy and a new 15 inch Mazda OEM wheel is 140 quid. The other three wheels on the car are a bit tatty, and SWMBO is not averse to the idea of getting some new wheels. We'd want to stick to the same size, and there's a huge choice of fairly inexpensive wheels on the market, starting from about 200 quid a set. My only concern is that they may be excessively heavy - I'm not looking for the ultimate in minimal unsprung weight, but nor do I want to ruin the car. How much is it necessary to spend to get something acceptable?

[Howard-]

Don't bother with cheap wheels. Get a new one from Mazda, get the council to pay for it. Refurb the rest.

[Raffles]

Howard- said:

Don't bother with cheap wheels. Get a new one from Mazda, get the council to pay for it. Refurb the rest.

From advice I have seen and read it is wise to stick to Mazda wheels.

[MX-5 Lazza]

If the council will pay anything at all it will only be costs for like for like replacement and/or repair. Even if they are wiling to pay, you will have to pay up front before submitting the repair bill along with the full account of the incident. Only then will you find out if you have any chance of them paying out.

[maz8062]

Breakers will be a futile effort as the wheels are quite rare. Best to ebay the 3 you have and buy something else, like...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/lightweight-enkei-mazda-mx5-...

Edited by maz8062 on Wednesday 28th January 08:06

[Howard-]

maz8062 said:

Breakers will be a futile effort as the wheels are quite rare. Best to ebay the 3 you have and buy something else, like...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/lightweight-enkei-mazda-mx5-...

Edited by maz8062 on Wednesday 28th January 08:06

[maz8062]

Los Angeles said:

Good hunting, you guys. Trouble is - He only wants one!

If buying a complete new set he may as well look afresh at light, proprietary brands, such as the Panasport.

Panasport are not light my friend. Finding 1 Enkei RP02 will be like trying to find the proverbial needle in a haystack.

Lots of choice, but 2nd hand offers the best value IMHO

[OnlyMX5ives]

Whilst no one can G tee a wheel is safe (Although you can get them X rayed)

That dink wouldn't particularly worry me.

Remove the tyre and look inside, if there's no cracks I'd be happy to drive on it - I'd suggest loads of cars are driving on worse than that.

I'd put it on the back, obviously if there is vibration etc its no good.

However if you do want to change them, then to aviod insurance issues I'd stick with 15" genuine Mazda wheels.

Ebay / breakers / forums

[otolith]

I can get one matching wheel from the Mazda dealer (or from MX-5 parts, they've just got back to me) for 140 quid. I can get four 15 inch OEM alloys of either of two different designs from MX-5 Parts for 300-320 quid. Or I can get four non-OEM wheels for anything from 200 quid upwards.

Replacing one for £140 and spending £120-£180 on refurbing the other three doesn't seem like very good value, to be honest, particularly given that there is a good chance the council can wriggle out of paying - I think we have to proceed on the assumption that we're going to pay for this ourselves and treat any recompense as a bonus. It's also the wife's daily driver, so this needs sorting ASAP.

These are the alternative OEM ones - are they going to be substantially inferior to the ones we've got? Are they going to be substantially superior to aftermarket ones for similar money?

http://www.mx5parts.co.uk/product_info.php/product...

http://www.mx5parts.co.uk/product_info.php/product...

[OnlyMX5ives]

Problem is that if you go to an aftermarket alloy most insurers will raise their premium, also cheap ones tend to be heavy.

Personally I'd get used.

I like the 1.8iS 5 spokes they are the lightest 15" Mazda wheel available (except for the old V exp. BBS)

I could sell you a good used set £200.

I've just had a set powdercoated in black chrome £350.

I buy them all the time as they are very popular.

http://www.miata.net/faq/wheel_weights.html

Edited by OnlyMX5ives on Wednesday 28th January 11:26

[otolith]

The insurance isn't an issue - I've just checked, and it would add a tenner a year to the policy. It's really an issue of whether they would be excessively heavy.

[maz8062]

otolith said:

The insurance isn't an issue - I've just checked, and it would add a tenner a year to the policy. It's really an issue of whether they would be excessively heavy.

I'm not really sure what advice you are looking for. If you are looking to buy brand new, only, please say so that advice can be limited to new alloys only.

Best to be specific so that the thread doesn't end up going round in circles.

[otolith]

maz8062 said:

otolith said:

The insurance isn't an issue - I've just checked, and it would add a tenner a year to the policy. It's really an issue of whether they would be excessively heavy.

I'm not really sure what advice you are looking for. If you are looking to buy brand new, only, please say so that advice can be limited to new alloys only.

I'd consider used - I just want to look at all my options and weigh up the pros and cons.

So, I've got -

• Directly replace the broken one with a brand new wheel - £140 (and then perhaps refurb the other three at 40-80 quid a shot)
• Directly replace the broken one with a used wheel - unlikely to find one
• Replace all of them with used OEM wheels of a different pattern - £200
• Replace all of them with new OEM wheels of a different pattern - £300
• Replace all of them with new aftermarket wheels - ???
• Replace all of them with used aftermarket wheels - ???

So what I would like to determine is:

• The necessary value of ??? in order to have something at least as good as the wheels that came with the car (or near enough that I won't notice)

• Whether the OEM wheels I linked to on the MX5 parts site are as good as what the car has as standard.

The car is an Arizona, the part number for the original wheel is 9965l-06050, and it looks like this:

[maz8062]

The way I see it, you really have 2 options;

- Buy a replacement wheel and either refurb the rest or defer refurbishment till another date.
- Mark's offer for the 1.8is wheels, at 13lbs a corner, is the best 15" OEM wheel you can buy outside of the BBS wheels. Your Enkei's and the white ones I linked are comparable in weight
- I personally wouldn't bother with the 2 mx5parts wheels that you linked above.

Over to you

[otolith]

Ah, thanks - so the Enkeis are particularly light. OK.

[maz8062]

otolith said:

Ah, thanks - so the Enkeis are particularly light. OK.

My mistake, I should have checked -

The Enkei's weigh about 15lbs
The 1.8is weigh 13lbs

[matt uk]

Nice set of Rota RBs should do the job

http://www.mx5mad.com/product_info.php?cPath=24_89...

[Red Firecracker]

OnlyMX5ives said:

Problem is that if you go to an aftermarket alloy most insurers will raise their premium, also cheap ones tend to be heavy.

Personally I'd get used.

I like the 1.8iS 5 spokes they are the lightest 15" Mazda wheel available (except for the old V exp. BBS)

I could sell you a good used set £200.

I've just had a set powdercoated in black chrome £350.

I buy them all the time as they are very popular.

http://www.miata.net/faq/wheel_weights.html

Edited by OnlyMX5ives on Wednesday 28th January 11:26

What he said

I like mine so much I got a spare set to put some winterish tyres on (which I spectacularly failed to do so they're still sitting in the garden!)

Nice and light and a very nice design as well.

[MX-5 Lazza]

OnlyMX5ives said:

I've just had a set powdercoated in black chrome £350.

I really like the sound of that option. Those alloys suit mk1 best but black chrome would modernize them and I think they would look great! I'd buy them myself if I had the spare cash and a use for them

[otolith]

Just to finish this off, and thank everyone for their help. After much discussion, we decided on these:



They're lighter than the old OEM wheels, they were only £215 and (probably most importantly) the wife really likes them.