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Old 11-12-2019, 03:50 PM
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Default Square wheels, different tires

Would this be weird?

15x8 et0 on all 4

225/45 R15 in the back
205/50 R15 in the front

Currently a driftcar (1996 1.8) with suspension and angle mods. Stock power. Stock wheels!! My stock wheels are 14x6.25 with 185/60 R14. Call me an idiot but I have 30mm spacers in the front so the tires won't hit the stabilizer or control arm on full lock. Time for a change heh?

Now I don't know anyone that has 4x100 wheels with low offset for me to try on so I would have no idea if they will clear or not. But just asking to debate whether it would be weird or even do anything useful if I would just swap to a little skinnier tire if they end up not clearing by a hair. I'm getting new wheels so no more spacers.

Experiences? lmk
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Old 11-12-2019, 04:13 PM
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Why promote understeer on a drift car? Why not 205/50/15 all around?
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Old 11-12-2019, 04:48 PM
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Originally Posted by acedeuce802
Why promote understeer on a drift car? Why not 205/50/15 all around?
I might have to add that it will be street driven with above setup and will be using a little smaller and harder compound tires in the rear for drifting.. I kinda want to use the front ones for both situations.

If all fits I would just go same size all around tho. Might try and find a place where I can test fit a set before purchasing
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Old 11-12-2019, 05:17 PM
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I have a set of MR-2 ZZW30 rims with AD08R tyres. Those are staggered, so 6J rims on the front with 195/50/15 and 6,5J on the rear with 205/50/15.
The AD08R are awesome and the wheels look nice on the MX-5, but driving them sucks. It makes the car understeer a lot and it spoils the handling balance of the car.
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Old 11-12-2019, 05:36 PM
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Originally Posted by DaWaN
I have a set of MR-2 ZZW30 rims with AD08R tyres. Those are staggered, so 6J rims on the front with 195/50/15 and 6,5J on the rear with 205/50/15.
The AD08R are awesome and the wheels look nice on the MX-5, but driving them sucks. It makes the car understeer a lot and it spoils the handling balance of the car.
Thanks! Sounds like the bottom line is that miatas are made to ride on a set of 4.

Makes me wonder if any1 running 300 whp or beyond has a different setup.
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Old 11-12-2019, 05:46 PM
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Originally Posted by Ramonn
Thanks! Sounds like the bottom line is that miatas are made to ride on a set of 4.

Makes me wonder if any1 running 300 whp or beyond has a different setup.
You would only stagger tires when you make enough power to require large enough rear tires that you can't fit the fronts. 300whp is still likely manageable with 225/45/15, so run 225's in the front too. If you bump the rear up to 245, bump the front up to 245, it's worth the fender work to get them to fit. If you make enough power to require 275's? Then either make them fit in the front too, or you'll be stuck with understeer. You can tune out the understeer but it won't be ideal. A roughly 50/50 car will desire 50/50 tires.
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Old 11-12-2019, 05:57 PM
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Originally Posted by acedeuce802
You would only stagger tires when you make enough power to require large enough rear tires that you can't fit the fronts. 300whp is still likely manageable with 225/45/15, so run 225's in the front too. If you bump the rear up to 245, bump the front up to 245, it's worth the fender work to get them to fit. If you make enough power to require 275's? Then either make them fit in the front too, or you'll be stuck with understeer. You can tune out the understeer but it won't be ideal. A roughly 50/50 car will desire 50/50 tires.
Sound. And thankyou! It will probably be 225/45 R15 all around then. Fender clearance is not the problem.. those bend easy enough

My only debate left is the front inner sidewall clearing the control arm with my stupid angle. I suppose I will have to find stupid offset wheels for this. Again I don't care about the fender
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Old 11-14-2019, 10:12 AM
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FWIW, on my turbo drift car, I stagger tire compounds not tire size. I run 205/50/15 on 15x8 all around, zero offset in the front (using spacers) to prevent machining my wheels on the lower control arms. I run a sticky tire up front, currently ZIIIs, and then burner tires in the rear.

I'd be a little weary of drifting with stock power on 225/45/15, you might have trouble spinning them up. Also, most tires in that size are sticky and not cheap, and as you know, tires get expensive when drifting....
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Old 11-14-2019, 06:03 PM
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Originally Posted by wrengel
FWIW, on my turbo drift car, I stagger tire compounds not tire size. I run 205/50/15 on 15x8 all around, zero offset in the front (using spacers) to prevent machining my wheels on the lower control arms. I run a sticky tire up front, currently ZIIIs, and then burner tires in the rear.

I'd be a little weary of drifting with stock power on 225/45/15, you might have trouble spinning them up. Also, most tires in that size are sticky and not cheap, and as you know, tires get expensive when drifting....
Haha ty, I know I usually don't drift my nice street tires. And the stock wheels are already very grippy for drifting stock power. This setup will be used when my engine is done should easily be able to get over 300 whp if you were wondering what the power goals are. Will have to see where I'm gonna take it with tuning. Gonna try and keep the 6 speed.

But very interesting to read what you're using. You see, I'm on 30mm spacers in the front right now and I want to completely get rid of them. You are on 15x8 et0 and front doesn't clear the control arm. Can I ask what mods u did to the steering and/or alignment and what spacers you needed to clear the control arms? Im on destroyordie knuckles/rods and rod spacers lol.
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Old 11-14-2019, 06:25 PM
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Originally Posted by Ramonn
But very interesting to read what you're using. You see, I'm on 30mm spacers in the front right now and I want to completely get rid of them. You are on 15x8 et0 and front doesn't clear the control arm. Can I ask what mods u did to the steering and/or alignment and what spacers you needed to clear the control arms? Im on destroyordie knuckles/rods and rod spacers lol.
Why not measure the clearance and do the maths to work out what you need from there?

Put current wheel setup on full lock, measure clearance to control arm.

you know you have 30mm spacers, and you know your current wheel specs, so just do current wheel offset less 30 and you've got the offset that fits without spacers.

If you want to change width, just do the usual calcs to work out inner clearances.
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Old 11-14-2019, 06:30 PM
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For reference, offset formulas for clearance FROM HUB FACE


Rim width = W
Offset = O

Inner clearance = ((W*25.4)/2)+O
Outer clearance = ((W*25.4)/2)-O


So a 15x8+25 would be:

((8*25.4)/2)+25 = Inner clearance 126.6mm
((8*25.4)/2)-25 = Outer clearance 76.6mm

Then just add about 10mm to each side to take the lip into account, since width etc is measure from the bead set, not the extreme edge of the wheel.
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Old 11-14-2019, 08:42 PM
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We are running 205/245 track and 205/225 drift setups but still trying combinations to balance cost-benefit of the burners and wheels. 195’s on the back was definitely not enough traction for us, even with the boost turned down to about 16 psi.
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Old 11-15-2019, 09:41 AM
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Ramon, my wheels are 15x8 +20. When I'm prepping my car for a drift event, I put on the 20mm spacer on the front bringing my offset to et 0. With the spacer, I DO NOT hit the lower control arm at full lock. I have Toolbagfab front angle knuckles, extended LBJ, and tie rod spacers. Front camber set to 3.5 and max out the caster once camber is met, zero toe. Rear alignment is zero toe, zero camber with paco upper control arms.

I prefer not to run the spacer all the time due to the increased scrub radius cause I drive the car quite a bit and like to run nice tires in the front, 205 DZIIIs. I have been running 205s out back, last set were DZ102s. I liked them a lot, good traction and quite controllable. My drift car is a turbo'd 94, 99-00 stock block/5 speed, E85, 12 psi. Power is adequate, I decided to keep the drift car as a stock block car, as after 250 hp things start to get expensive!
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Old 11-15-2019, 09:52 AM
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Originally Posted by wrengel
Ramon, my wheels are 15x8 +20. When I'm prepping my car for a drift event, I put on the 20mm spacer on the front bringing my offset to et 0. With the spacer, I DO NOT hit the lower control arm at full lock. I have Toolbagfab front angle knuckles, extended LBJ, and tie rod spacers. Front camber set to 3.5 and max out the caster once camber is met, zero toe. Rear alignment is zero toe, zero camber with paco upper control arms.

I prefer not to run the spacer all the time due to the increased scrub radius cause I drive the car quite a bit and like to run nice tires in the front, 205 DZIIIs. I have been running 205s out back, last set were DZ102s. I liked them a lot, good traction and quite controllable. My drift car is a turbo'd 94, 99-00 stock block/5 speed, E85, 12 psi. Power is adequate, I decided to keep the drift car as a stock block car, as after 250 hp things start to get expensive!
Yes, expensive.

But you're saying u will hit control arms way before full lock with your street setup? I understand u want less scrub radius but I kinda wanna be able to hit full lock with the street setup. Maybe run a lil less camber if it's very bad.

What are extended lbj? Lower ball joints? What it do?

Thnx for your reply!
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Old 11-15-2019, 10:22 AM
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Originally Posted by Ramonn
Yes, expensive.

But you're saying u will hit control arms way before full lock with your street setup? I understand u want less scrub radius but I kinda wanna be able to hit full lock with the street setup. Maybe run a lil less camber if it's very bad.

What are extended lbj? Lower ball joints? What it do?

Thnx for your reply!
Yes, I hit the lower control arms, LCA, when in street mode, but i wouldn't say that I hit "way before for full lock", it still more angle than stock and plenty of angle for anything you should be doing on the street . You are correct, lbj=lower ball joint. Extended lower ball joints help you get more camber in the front, more camber helps avoid hitting the LCA as it brings the bottom of the wheel further outboard and increased front grip. In my experience, camber doesn't wear tires nearly as fast as toe and scrub.

Why not get Destroy or Die control arms and be done with it! Those are sick and fix all issues and have extended lbjs "built in". I'm debating selling all my stuff and getting a full destroy or die kit, looks like quality stuff. Shipping to the US just hurts though...
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Old 12-03-2019, 04:53 PM
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Originally Posted by wrengel
Yes, I hit the lower control arms, LCA, when in street mode, but i wouldn't say that I hit "way before for full lock", it still more angle than stock and plenty of angle for anything you should be doing on the street . You are correct, lbj=lower ball joint. Extended lower ball joints help you get more camber in the front, more camber helps avoid hitting the LCA as it brings the bottom of the wheel further outboard and increased front grip. In my experience, camber doesn't wear tires nearly as fast as toe and scrub.

Why not get Destroy or Die control arms and be done with it! Those are sick and fix all issues and have extended lbjs "built in". I'm debating selling all my stuff and getting a full destroy or die kit, looks like quality stuff. Shipping to the US just hurts though...
Little late reply from my side. Thnx everyone for so much useful information! I've been thinking I really want to get those control arms. But! There is still this front stabilizer or sway bar you may call it that is just as close to the wheel as the stock control arm. So when I get the destroyordie controll arms now the stabilizer is the next issue. I have read about removing the sway bar and just increasing spring pressure. I have no idea if I should do this or not. How it affects our miatas or anything like that. Do all na miatas even come with this sway bar?

Ty
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Old 12-03-2019, 07:33 PM
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Yes, they do come with sway bars.
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Old 12-04-2019, 09:38 AM
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Originally Posted by Ramonn
Little late reply from my side. Thnx everyone for so much useful information! I've been thinking I really want to get those control arms. But! There is still this front stabilizer or sway bar you may call it that is just as close to the wheel as the stock control arm. So when I get the destroyordie controll arms now the stabilizer is the next issue. I have read about removing the sway bar and just increasing spring pressure. I have no idea if I should do this or not. How it affects our miatas or anything like that. Do all na miatas even come with this sway bar?

Ty
As Turbomack stated, yes you have a front sway bar. And yes, I still rub the sway bar with the tire but clear the stock control arm at full lock with 15x8 et 0 wheels. A local miata drifter removed his front sway to make room for more lock and he does really well in competition. I prefer the feel of the car with mine in. I suggest you take the car out drifting, then pull the front sway bar and repeat. Then make a decision if you like the feel of the car with a bit more lock and no front sway or if you prefer it with the sway bar in. This type of trial and error is free and saves you from buying parts you may not need or end up even liking.

I have no experience with the Destroy or Die control arms, but I do know they do have a mount for the front sway bar. I would reach out to them and see what they run in terms of sway bars and front wheel offsets.
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Old 12-04-2019, 12:22 PM
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Originally Posted by wrengel
As Turbomack stated, yes you have a front sway bar. And yes, I still rub the sway bar with the tire but clear the stock control arm at full lock with 15x8 et 0 wheels. A local miata drifter removed his front sway to make room for more lock and he does really well in competition. I prefer the feel of the car with mine in. I suggest you take the car out drifting, then pull the front sway bar and repeat. Then make a decision if you like the feel of the car with a bit more lock and no front sway or if you prefer it with the sway bar in. This type of trial and error is free and saves you from buying parts you may not need or end up even liking.

I have no experience with the Destroy or Die control arms, but I do know they do have a mount for the front sway bar. I would reach out to them and see what they run in terms of sway bars and front wheel offsets.
I get what you're saying, but I have not bought my wheels yet. So I can still decide to get crazy offset instead of sacrificing any of the things mentioned above. I have messaged Dan with a question on the control arms a while back, but haven't got a reply yet. Will ask him about what they do with the front sway bar issue Good info to know at least someone drifts without the front sway bar. Thnx for the info again mate.
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Old 12-08-2019, 10:12 PM
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We shredded 2 sets of these Kumho Ecsta 225’s today. Much better than the 185 Aspen snow tires before but still pretty slick the first few runs on this 72 degree day. Boost was turned down to about 325-340 HP and maybe should have been turned down some more.




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