To Change Or Not to Change, That Is The Question

fxpthl

Member
My 97 Miata was purchased on Ebay and it had some aftermarket 17 inch "Zeon" rims. Alas one rim is out of round and causing me fits to balance!!! The rubber is in excellent condition and one tire is brand new.The questions is for the Forum: Should I buy 4 new 17 inch rims and put the good rubber on them? Get rid of the rubber and rims and opt for a smaller rim and new rubber? Or try to rotate the rims to a position on the car where the "rumble" is livable? I do value all of the good minds on this site and will seriously consider what your opinions are. I await your input and thanks for your aniticipated replies.
 
my opinion- NA miata's shouldn't have any wheels bigger than 16", and thats probably pushing it. get some light-weight 15-16's, and enjoy the increased handling and smoother ride.
 
Thanks NJ, I have decided to just live with the situation for awhile longer. I am, however, going to put the out-of-round wheel onto the rear axle because that position seemed to be the best for vibration! My tire guy says that the 15 inch wheels X 6.5 or 7.0 wide is the best setup for my car. I will wear out my good rubber and THEN go for the complete tire/rim replacement. Thanks for you comments. It would seem that the subject matter wasn't very interesting to the other forum members!
 
The Miata section is pretty dead on this forum.

But option 2 would be look for local OEM miata wheels. Can be had for dirt cheap
 
OK mx-p5, I agree whole heartedly on this forum being too quiet. Wouldn't you think that with as many Miatas out there we would see more activity here? Oh well. Thanks for your input on my topic. I have decided to put the out-of-round wheel/tire back onto the drivers side back position and just live with the vibrations. The tires have way too many miles left on them to just "give" them away on Craigslist. I did find some OEM rims on their so you are so right about their availability. When the time comes that is where I will go! Thanks again for your interest.
 
WEll sderrickson might be right about clubroadster! I just crossed over to check it out and it is a way cool site! Just going to have to add that to my bookmarks for future reference.
 
Wow. . . . . a forum name that isn't all *******'d out!?

but yeah, clubroadster is more of the younger slammed/stretched/flush crowd

miata.net is the older folk who prefer chrome and style bars lol


but both are much more active miata communities.
 
The wheel offset on a '97 is supposed to be 45mm. Your wheels may have a quite different offset, which would add to the reasons to replace them. I personally would go with something closer to stock, and try to get as close to 45mm as possible.

The 3 good rims should be worth a fair amount for resale if they're in good shape.

There's probably a lot more discussion on this at dedicated Miata forums, such as miata.net.
 
Back