Tire & Wheel Recommendation

A quick guess might be 195/50/15

There are probably infinite combinations of tires and wheels. 195/50/15 is the equivalent tire size when moving from the stock 14" to the 15" in order to keep a similar diameter and not screw up your speedometer reading. A good wheel will be a lightweight alloy in roughly a 15" x 6.5" variety. There's alot of debate about changing the unsprung wheel weight and its effect on handling.

Depending on what kind of look you want (retro, spoke, BBS, etc.) you can find wheels from online distributors like Tire Rack or Goodwin Racing (good-win-racing.com) or you can find them at retailers like Discount Tire. You could probably even find used wheels without road rash if you look hard enough. I personally went with the Konig "Hurry" style wheel because it is very light (13.6 lbs.) and looks like the SSR Competition wheel without the SSR price. You can see it on my website at

Tires are a combination of budget, driving use, and personal preference. There are great tires that will fit by Toyo, Bridgestone, Kumho, Falken, and Goodyear. I can't tell you about any of them except the Goodyear F1 GS-D3 tire. The Goodyear's are pretty expensive and wear out really fast, but they give you awesome grip and they look great. Probably not a good bet for commuter driving and they are probably too expensive to beat up on the track. They work well for weekend spirited driving which is what I use them for. Whatever tire you go with, make sure you get a shop that knows how to balance well.

Post a link to pictures when you get the new wheels! Good luck.

David

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something to consider... do you want all-seasons or are you are going the route of separate summer/winter sets. your old rims would be great candidates to become your winter set. the combination of the wider tires (wider than 185 stock) and this light car make it undriveable in the winter with some all-season tires with even the lightest snow. with the 205 width all-seasons that came with my car i would even skid when braking hard in the rain in the summertime...

this calculator shows that the stock 185/60/14 translate to 195/50/15.

also, i also think that tirerack.com is pretty amazing, but discounttiredirect.com offers some alternative tire and rim choices for about the same price. the tirerack price includes the necessary mounting hardware (lug nuts, wrench, etc) but not shipping in their price. discounttiredirect includes free shipping in their price but not some of the necessary mounting hardware like but not lug nuts and wrench or valves for that matter which are offered to be added to your order... for performance stuff good-win-racing has really good values. for some reason discounttiredirect.com suggests a 205 width for 15" rims on the miata, but if you call them you can order whatever you want.

David offered good advice. I would add that Rota makes a wide selection of 15x6.5 wheels that are pretty light at 12 pounds. There's no debate: unsprung weight is important to both handling and ride, and lighter is always better. If you're shopping online, look at tire/wheel packages that include shipping, mounting, balancing, lugnuts, center caps, valvestems, and hubcentric rings--when comparing prices, don't forget to add the cost of anything not included in the package.

We can't advise you about tires until we know what you plan to do with them, and in what kinds of weather.

BTW, if those are your original shocks, they've been dead for over 10 years and should be replaced.

we run 15x7 with 205's on the spec miata's, seems like the best way to go.

Thanks to all who gave me their advice... I think I'll go with the

195/50/15s as Chuck and David suggested. I like what I see looking at the specs of the Goodyear F1 GS D3s. Two of the wheels I have narrowed it down to are the (13.2 lbs.) Kazera KZ-Ms painted white to match the car or the (13.5 lb.) Kasei K-1 Racing wheels which are painted silver. Both are available thru the Tire Rack which has a great website. I just need a high performace tire year around here in Florida for some fun street driving and the F1s look strong. Thanks Christopher for the link to the Tire Size Calculator and your helpful advice. Lanny, I am sure the shocks are not OE as she rides really nice. I might do a shock/spring/bar swap in the near future. I'll try to get the most complete package as possible online. Again, appreciate all of your help.

Wileyman

I believe the kosei K1 are only available in 15x7. so if you do that you should get the 205's