58 Mk3 Sport: winter tyres?

[911hillclimber]

I want to fit real winter tyres to the car. Are there any cheap wheels available from the Mazda range from eBay etc bearing in mind this for a sport model?
Thanks
Graham

[sbird]

Cheapest wheels for a Mk3 seem to be a set of 16" OEM wheels that have been replaced by 17s. They come up on ebay from time to time.

Mazda's wheels are an obscure size, so it's not that easy to find something that fits. It's 5x114.3 PCD, but the centre bore is 67.1 - that makes it hard to find wheels that fit. Very little on offer on dedicated wheel websites.

I've been thinking about winter tyres too, so I've been scouring ebay for cheap wheels too. Best value I've seen so far are these steelies: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/151131100371 .

My Mk3 was almost undriveable last year. Fortunately I had the use of another car with winter tyres.

[911hillclimber]

Thank you for this.
I found the same but with tyres fro that cost each, then came on here.
It is my daughters car and a sport so the larger brakes etc (correct?) and evn more awkward.

She has just moved to a housing estate in a hilly area of Birmingham....

Maybe the easiest thing is to have a set of winter tyres fitted to the existing standard rims and have the current tyres saved for next spring.

[Shaw Tarse]

I think that the 16" wheels would fit, but worth checking before buying a set.

[NRS]

I can say it's worth the effort - especially if it's hilly. I've just put my studded ones, and wouldn't be making it home (or to work) without them. Was down to -7C this morning when I left!

[sbird]

911hillclimber said:

It is my daughters car and a sport so the larger brakes etc (correct?) and evn more awkward.

She has just moved to a housing estate in a hilly area of Birmingham....

Maybe the easiest thing is to have a set of winter tyres fitted to the existing standard rims and have the current tyres saved for next spring.

The sport has the same brakes as the rest of the Mk3s. The main differences between sport and my car is that the sports came with 6-speed gearbox and stiffer suspension. The lower spec cars had 16" wheels, so these will fit.

Take a look at the price of 16" tyres. Should be 205/50R16, but 205/55R16 ought to fit.

Edited by sbird on Thursday 17th October 22:50

[dblack1]

I used to have a mk2.5 and the winter tyres made a world of difference, I used 15 inch aftermarket rims (I believe the smallest size that fits a mk3 is 16) because the price of tyres + rims wasn't much more than just winter tyres. I would suggest looking at aftermarket rims as well, 5x114.3 is a really common size, and the offset isn't rare either. The pattern is used by toyota, honda, nissan, ford, jeep, and many other companies. It is pretty much the most common bolt pattern. If you try to fit a wheel from another vehicle manufacturer, don't expect it to fit (because of center bore issues, but aftermarket rims usually have a larger center bore. I would also buy some aftermarket lug nuts when you buy aftermarket rims though (mazda lug nuts are compatible with some aftermarket rims, but spline drive lug nuts are just easier).

[sbird]

The OEM wheels are 55 offset, which if fairly hard to find in aftermarket wheels. As you mention, the centrebore is the real issue. Most Mazdas use 67.1, which is larger than most other manufacturers (64.1 seems to be the limit for most other manufacturers) apart from things like Land Rovers.