![]() Video below with more on Hubcentric rings. Street users usually don’t want to worry about it and pay the $18 for a set of rings. Racers will typically squat and use their knees to hold the wheel roughly centered while they spin the lugs on. Racers will often skip the hubcentric rings because they do not want to take the chance of them dislodging and getting stuck on a hot hub during a fast trackside tire change on race day. Their job is to roughly center the wheel while the user tightens the lugs. They are NOT a load bearing item which is why they are typically made from nylon reinforced plastic. We sell hubcentric rings for those that want them. Please consult with us if you have any questions on appropriate offset for your intended use. Moreover, you will notice offsets in our wheel section of 35mm, 30mm, etc., and those are generally for race application though many street users also use the more aggressive choices. Note that there is a popular book on the Mazda Miata still sold that indicates the factory offset is 45mm only…that book is a decade out of date and should be discarded. For the 1990-2005 Mazda Miata the factory offsets are 45mm for 14 inch wheels and 40mm for factory 15s, 16s, and 17s. To the extent that a rim’s mounting plane is offset from that zero position, that offset is measured in millimeters for Japanese cars. If the rim is 6 inches wide, and the mounting surface of that rim (backside of the bolt holes), is 3 inches from either outside edge, that rim has a 0 offset. Feel free to consult with us on tire choices. Spreading that same 205/50/15 onto wider 15×7.5 or 15×8 wheels will give even MORE performance for the same tire size (more crisp turn-in response, more stable contact patch, more tire on the ground, etc), with a downside of more ride harshness from the more vertical sidewalls. For the user planning track racing or autocross work we recommend a 15×7 and 205/50/15 as the minimum setup. For the pure street user the 15 inch size helps keep unsprung weight low and the user can select from a wide selection of 195/50/15 and 205/50/15 sizes. Our preference for 1990-2005 Mazda Miatas is 15 inch rims for both street, autocross, and race track use. We use 17 inch rims for both street and race track duty to keep the unsprung weight as light as possible (though for various reasons of tire availability we use as large as 18×10 for autocross. The brakes on the 2006 are too large to accommodate 15 inch rims which means that 16 inch rims are the minimum (and most 16 inch wheels will NOT clear the rear suspension links). The 2006 and newer Mazda MX5 has a more sophisticated suspension but the user seeking to improve performance should nonetheless remember that weight is still the enemy. Here, we weigh every rim we sell and report the actual weights in the product listing for each wheel. It is VERY COMMON to find other vendors selling 15 pound rims yet telling their customers those rims are 12 pounds and lower. Because we actually weigh the wheels we sell, our weights will often be higher than what the wheel manufacturers list on their own websites. Note that there is a lot marketing hype out there and few distributors bother to actually check the advertised weights of the wheels they sell, relying instead on exaggerated or atypical claims in the marketing materials produced by the wheel manufacturers. Don’t accept the representation from the average tire shop that the rim they are trying to sell you is “light.” Know exactly what the true weight is before you buy! We have had too many customers call us only AFTER their purchase of 15-20+ pound wheels elsewhere asking how their Miata can be fixed now that it rides rough, crashes over potholes, and is no longer fun to drive! Asking your Mazda Miata suspension to lift 15 to 20 pound rims with each bump and still feel fun to drive is like asking your own body to run with ankle weights and still be fast–heavy rims will hurt your Mazda Miata’s performance just like the ankle weights would hurt yours. The lighter the better! We sell 15 inch rims that are under 10 pounds and most users can feel a change as small as 3 pounds of unsprung weight per corner.īuying wheels over 15 pounds will seriously degrade the ride and performance of your Mazda Miata. The factory designed and sold it with factory rims that were as light as 10 pounds each! Our STRONG advice for owners of 1990-2005 Mazda Miatas is to only buy similarly light wheels and avoid any rims that are over 15 pounds each. The 1990 through 2005 Mazda Miata is VERY sensitive to unsprung weight. Enkei 15×8 PFO1 on MazdaSpeed Miata Rim Weight
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