Just bought my MX5, any advice?

[madmover]

Hey all today I put a deposit down on an MX5, although it's nothing special (mk2 1.8s) really looking forward to it! Managed to generate alot of enthusiasm for it, more excited for this than I was to pick up my Audi! Any tips for when I collect it tomorrow? I'll post up some pictures after I've spent a couple of hours giving it a valet! It was only a cheap example but Im really pleased with it, 95k on the clock, chrome roll bars, wind deflector, new roof, hard top along with all the usual bits and pieces. It's British racing green (what ever the official Mazda colour is called?!) also has some wolf race alloys which I want rid of and intend on putting some smaller lighter ones on, maybe even standard ones! Overall im really happy! Anyone got any advice for ownership? I'll be using it as a daily! Any little mods I should do or anything I need to be aware of?

Cheers,

Andy

[Conor D]

I can't offer you much advice on the Mk2 as I own a Mk1 but I've heard a good wheel alignment can really set the car up.

If you're looking for OEM alloys, have a look for the Mk 2.5 Sport Alloys, they're some of the finest wheels out there IMO.

[madmover]

Thanks Connor, im going to get a couple of sets of oem wheels (1 for normal and 1 with winter tyres on) Wheels on there at the moment are horrific imo so they are a must go! But for the price i paid i can't moan!! How do you find your MK1? Thats what i originally set out to get was a tidy Mk1 but this one came along for the right price!!

[Simbu]

Congrats

I'm using a mk2 1.8s as a daily too. A fews things i did soon after acquiring the car:

- Decent service (oil, all filters, sparks, brake fluid, etc)

- Mine had the original stereo + 6cd changer. Removed this in favour of a cheapish iPod compatable head unit from Halfrauds. Big improvement in sound and usability, and reclaimed some boot space.

- Give it a damned good clean! You'll feel better about using it after, and you'll find any little things that need doing to the interior / body.

- Find a quiet place with lots of space to provoke the car at low speeds to work out where the limits are and how the LSD feels.

- Find a safe means of storing your hard top. Mine is in a hard top bag from MX5 Parts. It wasn't cheap but worth the investment IMO.

Above all, enjoy! It's a cracking drive

[MX-5 Lazza]

Good choice!

As mentioned above, get a good alignment done (i.e. not "tracking", it'll need a full geo. The handling will be much better afterwards). Before that though check the tyres: pressure should only be around 26/27psi. Also make sure the best tyres (i.e. those with the best wet grip) are on the rear

Other than that just enjoy it. Don't be scared to thrash it. The red-line is just there to tell you when to change gear! The limiter will make sure you can't hurt it

[mattius]

I disagree with the last point, i would make sure the best tyres are on the front, mine came with cheap tyres on the front and the car was dangerous its understear was horrific braking distances doubled etc. Switched them round, as long as you know where the limit is and dont floor it round roundabouts in the wet your fine. plus you burn out the stty tyres quick and get decent ones alround.

Definately a good service, i never trust previous owners. A damn good clean, appart from anything else it lets you know take a long close look at anything to work on. Make sure you clean the drain holes. Grill is another good investment. Then enjoy!

I use my mx5 as a daily driver doing long commutes every week and back, only thing i change for the long commutes is a higher preasure on the tyres front and back for the motorways which improves fuel economy a bit (not that its bad)!

[MX-5 Lazza]

By all means put the good tyres on the front and the crap tyres on the rear. That is if you really do want to be going into the scenery/wall/tree sideways/backwards rather than forwards. You'll find any tyre dealer that is any good will refuse to fit new tyres to the front only - if they fit a pair of tyres they will move the old ones to the front and fit the new ones on the rear. That goes for all cars, not just FWD.

http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/safety/car-ty...

http://www.bfgoodrich.co.uk/bfgoodrichuk/en/our-ty...

http://www.tyreplus.co.uk/tyre-tips.asp

etc.

[skinny]

yeah generally recommended is to put your best tyres on the rear as for 99% of drivers it's much safer and easier to deal with understeer than it is oversteer.

[mattius]

don't get me wrong, definatly from a safety point of view put new tyres on the back.

from a drivers point of view, put them on the front! you aren't going to end up backwards into a hedge because of bad tyres, you are going to do that from bad driving or some other scenario! and believe me i speak from experience.
the mx5 when it lets go does it very predictably and is very controlable when it does it, you will never learn in an easier car how proper power delivery will give you traction no matter what the conditions or situation.

if you want to relax and drive about by all means put them on the front no shame in that, if you want to drive it put them on the rear.

that is if they are a st brand if they are decent put them whereever.

and if you go to a proper tyre garage they will put the new tyres on the front if they are a crap brand and the same if the rears were a crap brand.

Edited by mattius on Tuesday 20th September 22:13

[skinny]

the advice is generally around worn tyres rather than quality / grip - you want those with the most tread at the rear as if you get caught out in the rain you'll be going sideways when you don't want to.

[gd49]

Definately agree with getting geo done soon, tho if you're getting new wheels may be best to wait until those are fitted.

Might be worth considering 15" wheels over 16", 15" tyres are much cheaper to buy!

mattius said:

the mx5 when it lets go does it very predictably and is very controlable when it does it, you will never learn in an easier car how proper power delivery will give you traction no matter what the conditions or situation.

Edited by mattius on Tuesday 20th September 22:13

If it's got reasonable tyres on the back, it will let go in a predictable way. If it's got cheap (or even worse mismatched) tyres then it can snap with no warning, especially in greasy conditions.

Until you're used to the car I'd be going for best grip on the back.

[mattius]

skinny said:

the advice is generally around worn tyres rather than quality / grip - you want those with the most tread at the rear as if you get caught out in the rain you'll be going sideways when you don't want to.

where are you getting your advice? i can agree with putting decent tyres on the rear for safety, but the quality of the tyre matters a lot! the grip you will get from a branded tyre to that of a so called unbranded tyre is significantly more whether it has more tread or not. Sure the depth of the tread and the pattern disperse water, but also the compound of the rubber needs to be of such that it will generate heat in the wet and hence become slightly sticky. The cheaper tyres copy the patterns from the premium tyres but cannot afford to use the same compound.

anyway sorry this has gone off on a tangent from the ops post.

Edited by mattius on Tuesday 20th September 22:38

[skinny]

mattius said:

skinny said:

the advice is generally around worn tyres rather than quality / grip - you want those with the most tread at the rear as if you get caught out in the rain you'll be going sideways when you don't want to.

where are you getting your advice? i can agree with putting decent tyres on the rear for safety, but the quality of the tyre matters a lot! the grip you will get from a branded tyre to that of a so called unbranded tyre is significantly more whether it has more tread or not. Sure the depth of the tread and the pattern disperse water, but also the compound of the rubber needs to be of such that it will generate heat in the wet and hence become slightly sticky. The cheaper tyres copy the patterns from the premium tyres but cannot afford to use the same compound.

anyway sorry this has gone off on a tangent from the ops post.

Edited by mattius on Tuesday 20th September 22:38

well i don't ever mix tyres so i'm not going to give advice on putting st tyres on either axle, all i meant was that in terms of putting 'better' tyres on the rear, this normally refers to tread depth - i wasn't talking about a trade off between tread depth vs tyre quality.

[madmover]

Thanks for all the advice guys, the car unfortunately comes with some wolfrace alloys which are 17inch imo too big for the car so im looking for a standard set with decent tyres!! The tyres on there at the moment are atrocious, in the wet yesterday pulling off my drive they were spinning at no revs at all, they just have no grip! had oversteer a couple of times which was unexpected, once when the throttle was 1/4 depressed in 3rd gear about 2400rpm and the other with no throttle at all! Defiantly time to change the wheels, 4mm left on them but they are just s**t!! Thanks for all the advice!

Andy

[RenesisEvo]

It's possible that the tyres might be just plain old, even if they've not been on the car long - rubber degrades over time, especially when exposed to UV (sunlight). Reading the date code of the tyre is easy enough - a quick Google should explain all. Generally, tyres older than 5 years from date of manufacturer (not fitment!) tend to be a bit poorer. In the case of an old car I had, the tyres were between 9 and 12 years old, and despite the 4-5mm tread, were utterly lethal. Rear-end would break away with no warning at even 20 mph.

Edit - see here for example http://www.puretyre.co.uk/tyre-information/tyre-de...

[Digby]

madmover said:

Thanks for all the advice guys, the car unfortunately comes with some wolfrace alloys which are 17inch imo too big for the car so im looking for a standard set with decent tyres!! The tyres on there at the moment are atrocious, in the wet yesterday pulling off my drive they were spinning at no revs at all, they just have no grip! had oversteer a couple of times which was unexpected, once when the throttle was 1/4 depressed in 3rd gear about 2400rpm and the other with no throttle at all! Defiantly time to change the wheels, 4mm left on them but they are just s**t!! Thanks for all the advice!

Andy

I have two Mk1 MX5's now and as a temp measure I have some original spoked Eunos alloys with cheap tyres on my red one and Toyos on my black Eunos model.The red one is only the 90 bhp model (although it's still a massive laugh) but it is absolutely lethal when it rains.I never really appreciated the difference tyres would make on a car like this in the wet, purely because I rarely use them in the wet!.

The Toyo tyres are not expensive, but it's quite hard to break traction unless you really want to.The budgets on the red one will slip and slide even when you are driving at the same low speeds as everyone else in traffic.They are fine in the dry mind you and have plenty of tread, but it was quite an eye opener for me just how bad they were.You can forget anything above 20 mph on wet roundabouts unless you want to look like a rally driver.The geo is also currently better on the red one!

[spookggb]

Hi, tyres and 4 wheel alignment. My car (1999 mk2) came with good tread budget tyres and handling was terrible, tail happy and unpredictable. Fitted Uniroyal Rainmasters and handling was transformed. Running 28psi. Been advised to get 4 wheel alignment done to cap off the handling issues. Good luck and enjoy it.

[Jibberingloon]

I would say alingnment

And Tyres Toyo T1Rs or similar

This is what we recommend for Fast Road & Track for all our cars.

Front
Caster: 5.0 degrees
Camber: 1.0 degrees negative
Toe-in: 1/16" or 9 minutes total (1/32" or 4.5 minutes per side)

Rear
Camber: 1.5 degrees negative
Toe-in: 1/16" or 9 minutes total (1/32" or 4.5 minutes per side)

[doclip]

So please can you tell me if these settings should be used on a mk1
Im thinking of getting my geo done

Cheers ,


And Tyres Toyo T1Rs or similar

This is what we recommend for Fast Road & Track for all our cars.

Front
Caster: 5.0 degrees
Camber: 1.0 degrees negative
Toe-in: 1/16" or 9 minutes total (1/32" or 4.5 minutes per side)

Rear
Camber: 1.5 degrees negative
Toe-in: 1/16" or 9 minutes total (1/32" or 4.5 minutes per side)



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Edited by doclip on Tuesday 11th October 21:35

Edited by doclip on Tuesday 11th October 21:37