two things to consider: 6UL's look better and have more bling factor than volks, and do you want to pay $160 or $300 per wheel to replace them when they're stolen or bent?

The 6UL's were a no-brainer for me.

 

How wet is it in AL? It's your DD car so that's some consideration. I know you don't deal with cold much but what about rain?

I was really happy with my 205 kumho SPT's in the wet. They gripped much better wet than the 225 RS2's I'm running now. If wet isn't a huge consideration forget my mention of SPT's!

What were you running on the CRX? Have you tried them on the Miata yet? What'd you think?

 

Good point about the theft, especially since I live in a college town... Or what if another idiot sorority girl pulls out in front of me (like what happened to my 'rex).

It's not all that wet (unless you count 80-something % humidity all the time hehe) but it does come in pretty heavy spurts... I'm running shitty nothings on the crx with stock alloys. Decided to save the cash and put it on a miata after the afore-mentioned crash.

 

I take that back about the rain. The state-wide avg is in the mid 50s (in/yr) (Auburn averaged 52.6"/yr) which is quite high on the list I looked at, compared to the rest of the states. Never lived anywhere else, so I never thought about it.

Also, the last few years it's been really hot. Summer temps in the mid-high 90s. Highs in the 80s the rest of the year except for parts of Dec and Jan.

 

If its not garage kept then i would leave stockers on it.

 

Hmm... you're making me paranoid, hustler, and I'm wondering if it's not a good thing... Maybe the cash would be better spent on just tires and a turbo since I don't plan to see the track that often.

 

Horsepower is a big factor when debating over 7 to 8 inch wheels. I've run nothing bigger than a 7.5" with 205/50/15 Hoosiers and have sustained 1.2 G's very easily. So much so that my control arm bushings are shot and I am snapping, cracking, and popping at every corner. This a NA motored Miata.
I have experienced wheel spin, but that was too much throttle too early in a turn, which had nothing to do with the tire. More like an open diff.
On the streets I run Azenis which I acquired very cheap still in a bundle.
I have also installed a Torsen and will decided on tire and wheel choices as Horsepower gains are achieved.
Also, one thing to consider is the stiffness of the car to begin with. Butterfly brace and 6-point cage with proper suspension tuning goes a long way before needing to add more meat.

 

get the 6ul's and rs-2s, you won't be disappointed.

I've been running that set up for quite some time and have multiple track days on them. Even with a crappy suspension set up I'm still passing Mustangs on 275 r-compounds.

I have the 15x8 6ul's but if I were you I would get the 15x9's, go big or go home.

 

If you don't plan to turbo, or run track days anytime soon, you don't really need anything bigger than stock with good tires.

 

Thanks for all the advice, guys. How does this setup sound (for now):

MSPnP (wanna do it correctly from the get-go)
BEGi SSM w/ gt2560
195 R-S2s on stockers
butterfy brace and poly bushings (put them on my crx and really like it)
roll bar

Then when I can get a stable cash flow (ie. graduate) I'll finish the upgrade to the S4 system and get a 3" enthuza, flex setup, clutch/flywheel and some 9" 6ULs. Then I can go from there.

 

I vote with what I did with my setup grip > power.

If you can't drive with 100whp then you can't drive with 200whp for sure.

The miata isn't the platform to go cruise around in and beat up on ricers/600cc bikes/supercars/whatever, it requires a stupid amount of money to move up and do those things in the order I posted.

The miata is however the cheapest platform to track, and it makes a fun street car with boost.

Build a proper setup, and beat the **** out of it (and THEN boost it), jackstand racing is no fun.

You can go way faster in a 5.slow/dsm/shitvic for less money. They just can't catch you on the track for the same amount of money.

Edit: Just saw the college bit, unless you have a stable income, jackstand racing is what you will be doing for sure, with a boosted miata.

 

If my car were still NA I would have stayed with a 15x7 wheel with 205/50's. I bumped up to handle the extra 140hp I added to the car. Spec Miata's handle crazy good on 7's with 205's. Of course they are lighter than most street cars too.

If you want to go big go 6UL. They're really the best bang for the buck in new wheels. If you want to go cheaper find some used light weight 15x7's and go 205/50/15 rs2's. Easy to find used wheels and it will free up the cash to do the bushings. You also have a lot more to choose from in the 205/50/15 size! After you bump up to turbo, you can always use the 15x7's as trade bait or dedicated track wheels with rcomps if you don't think they are wide enough anymore.

 

Big thanks to everyone for the advice!

I'll post in a build thread (with pics!) when I get started. My budget isn't finalized yet, so I'll be able to make some decisions a little later.

@reddroptop: When you say "jackstand racing", do you mean "trying to race while constantly having half-assed ghetto-broken ****"?