Our favorite Miata street tire currently is the Continental ECS (ExtremeContactSport), for it's excellent mix of good grip, ride, and low noise, and solid performance wet or dry. And that tire we like on 15x6.5 to 15x7.5 wheels (the wider wheel choice for that tire gives more performance from that tire, the narrower choices give best ride). To the left is our turbo MSM on our Advanti Racing Storm 15x8 wheels with 200 treadwear 205/50/15 tires, which is the max sizes we suggest for street driving, even when you have 200+ hp like we do in this Miata! Note we only suggest 205/50-15 tires on 15x8 when using the fast 200 or less treadwear choices that tend to be oversized and thus still square up reasonably well on 15x8. Any 205/50-15 will ride very firm on 15x8, which is great for racing and not great for ride quality, another reason we only do that combo when the car is going racing at autocross or track.
Racing weekends we are often on 15x9 to 15x10 with the popular 200 treadwear 225/45/15 and 245/40/15 tires (Rival, RE71R, A052), though we don't like those sizes and tires for daily drivers, we take the big 15x9/15x10 wheel and 200 treadwear or softer tire combos OFF THE CAR at the end of the race weekend and seal them in big garbage bags in the garage to keep them fresh and fast for next event. We consistently recommend folks do suspension mods BEFORE the bigger wheel and tire package because bigger wheels and tires need additional roll resistance, and lowering springs and/or coilovers provide access to more negative camber that tips the top of the tires inward under the fender lips for easier fit. Note 15x9 and wider with 225/45 requires coilovers, fenders roll, and will rub sway bars at full steering lock. Also note that our 15x9 come in strong load ratings of 500kg and even 550kg, those putting extra power and stress on the wheel via big aerodynamics and/or lots of extra power are best served for track days with the stronger 550kg load rating wheels such as Countergram and Hexaform.
When shopping for new Miata wheels click the tabs below for additional couple critical issues to consider including: Weight, Offset and Size, Mounting Tires, Wheel Care. All our Konig and Advanti wheels include center caps, but not valve stems or lugs or hubcentric rings. Most our Enkei wheels include center caps AND valve stems unless otherwise noted.
Weight: Add Lightness!
The Mazda Miata is incredibly sensitive to what is called 'unsprung weight' (which can best be understood as what hangs off the Miata suspension rather than what sits on it). I was surprised when I bought my first Miata in the early 90s when I ended up not enjoying the very first set of very nice wheels I picked because the ride quality became poor. Most Miata owners can feel a deterioration of ride quality from a gain of as little as 2 to 3 pounds per corner in unsprung weight. We therefore strongly recommend that you use only light weight wheels for your Miata like those we sell here. Unlike other vendors who rely on overly optimistic wheel weights as listed by the wheel manufacturers, we weigh each wheel that we sell to verify the lightness. For that reason, many of our listed weights here are slightly higher than the marketing weight listed on the wheel manufacturers' websites.
Offset and Size
Miata wheel offset causes a lot of confusion. Here is a simple explanation. 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 tire bead surface, that rim has a 0 offset. To the extent that a rim's mounting plane is offset from that zero position, that offset is measured in millimeters. For the 1990-2005 Mazda Miata the factory offsets are 45mm for 14 inch wheels and 40mm for factory 15s, 16s, and 17s. Lowering the offset number from 45 to 40 to 35 is moving the wheel further outboard. Stick to the range of 38-45mm for stock height to avoid concerns with fender lip rub. Those with lowered suspensions and 1.5 negative camber or better can pick a more aggressive offsets like 35-38mm and still clear factory fender lips easily with 195/50/15 or 205/50/15 tires. Offsets lower than 35mm will often require fender lip roll, particularly on the NA generation Miata (1990-1997). Those looking to have the wheels flush with the rolled fender lips will often pick even more aggressive 20mm to 30mm choices. Spec Miata racers are usually using 25mm offsets. We have numerous 15x9 choices for those racing with 225/45/15 and these wheels require changing stock suspension for more narrow coilovers (like our TEIN and Ohlins coilovers), in addition to fender lip rolling. Please contact us if you have any questions on appropriate offset for your intended use.
Mounting Tires
Note the Miata is VERY sensitive to wheel balance issues and many shops do not have equipment that can balance the combination precise enough. Therefore, we suggest finding a shop near you with a Hunter Road Force Balancer (Just google Hunter GSP9700 and enter your zip code in their locator). Torque lugs to 85 ft/lbs and check that torque again every week for first month of owning new wheels or lugs. We ended tire service, the Miata is just uniquely too sensitive to wheel balance issues and we came to realize Customers are best served by getting tires local with a lifetime mount and balance deal that most shops either include or have as an option these days. We can send perfectly balanced sets, 'road force balanced' which is what the Miata needs, but over time with wear you need another re-balance often with the Miata and sometimes just a little rock bouncing up from the road knocks off the balance weight and you need that re-balance yet again to avoid the dreaded Miata 'shimmy' at 60mph. If the Miata was not a convertible it would be a lot stiffer, a lot less prone to this issue, but we all love it because it's a convertible so consider getting tires local and re-balanced as needed yearly as worth it for the fun factor. Note our site will let you ship wheels direct to your top local tire dealer if you like.
Wheel Care
Most modern wheels are clear coated just like the paint on your car. Therefore, do NOT use anything on your wheels that you would not use on your Miata's paint. Only clear coat safe products should be used on wheels. We like to put a coat of fresh car wax on new wheels before we put them on our Miatas here, helps keep them clean.
BRAKE DUST: Brake dust can be corrosive. Some brands and compounds in particular are known for eating up the finish on wheels, especially if the dust gets sprayed on the wheels when hot at the track and then left there for 24 hours or more, particularly with some overnight dew/moisture or lots of UV gets added to the mix. Some brands' compounds are less corrosive than others, but as a rule of thumb it is always best to keep your wheels clean. Nothing more than normal soap and water is needed. Before leaving the track we'll seek out a garden hose in the pits to fully rinse the dust off before the drive home.
Do you need hubcentric rings?
Hubcentric rings ensure that the wheel is centered on the hub, even before the lug nuts are tightened down. It's a nice bit of low-cost piece of mind knowing that you can't end up with a wheel off-center due to incorrect lug nut tightening. However, hubcentric rings are NOT mandatory. The lug nuts seats are conical for a reason; as long as you tighten the lugs correctly (done by hand and in a criss-cross pattern) then the wheels self-center as the lugs are tightened. However, some shops don't take the time to correctly tighten lugs, they just zap them on with an impact gun and the Miata is too sensitive to imbalances for that to be good enough. So, you don't have to use them, but they won't hurt and they're cheap insurance. As a rule of thumb, the racers know they don't want hubcentric rings because they know what they're doing and the rings just become an extra thing to worry about... but if you're asking if you should get hubcentric rings, then the answer is probably "yes" for you. Note that all our hubcentric rings are sold as sets of four, so order just quantity one for a set of wheels.
LUG TORQUE
Torque lugs to 85 ft/lbs and check that torque again every week for first month of owning new wheels or lugs.
