Miata: New wheels

Picked these up from a guy in Bradford who had them listed on Kijiji.  Turns out he's a long-time Mazda mechanic who for many years did runs down to the southern states to get Miata parts rust-free.  However, since the economy went bad and people driving Miatas up here tended to be cheapskates (his opinions), he's sold off all his parts - these were the last set of wheels he had.  They're in pretty nice shape, just slight curb rash on one or two, easily remedied.

I initially thought they were the hollow-spoke wheels, but turns out they are 'semi-hollow'.  These came on the 94-97 automatic Miatas.  BTW, the weights for hollow/semi-hollow/solid spoke wheels are 10.8/11.2/11.5lbs each.  Still a heck of a lot lighter than the 16" NB wheels Mia is currently rockin', at 15.3lbs each.

The unsprung weight reduction should lead to a number of benefits:

  1. Better mileage (less weight for the drivetrain to spin)
  2. Better ride quality (less work for the suspension to travel up/down, so easier to traverse bumps)
  3. Better handling (same reason above)
  4. Narrower than the 16", so better in the winter
Now, it'll be a little less fancy-lookin', but I believe I can help that cause.  (I do really like the look of the NB wheels, kinda like the Porsche Turbo-twist wheels)  Enter the 7-spoke wheels, some abrasive pads, sandpaper, paint, and clearcoat.  That's the theory, anyway.  I've always had a soft spot for bronze wheels (from my days at WheelsDirect, and the early Rota selections), and bronze w. polished lip = nom.

Something to do once all the maintenance is up to spec.

Bling.


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