Miata is complete! Complete refurb including interior and paint.

I finally got the Miata out for a photo, just before I stuffed it into my storage facility. The most significant change of note here is the new set of 15x7 Enkei RPF-1 wheels with Continental Extremecontact Sport tires in 205/50-15 size. I considered 8-inch wide wheels but that pretty much limited me to 225 width tires and I couldn't get the ones I wanted. Plus I think the 15x8 and wider wheels look a little funny on a Miata. It looks a bit clumsy to me. Just my personal impression, of course, and if I were autocrossing or tracking the car I'd want as much width as I could get. Also of note: you don't get center caps with RPF-1's so I had to order some separately. I found a company called Flatout Graphics that sells them with nice Enkei logos which you can choose in any color. I chose red.

I've yet to drive more than a few miles on these new ties, but they're the same tires I use on my Cayman S, and I like them.

So, for all intents and purposes, this project of restoring this Miata is complete. There's really not much else that it needs, and I've certainly spent far too much money relative to the car's actual worth. My goal now is to actually drive it, and of course I want to drive the Cayman, too! It's tough when you don't have to go anywhere for work, to put miles on cars.

Coming soon to Miata-land... new wheels and tires.

Just a teaser for now. Coming in at 9.9lbs per wheel, and accompanied by new Continental Extremecontact Sport tires, these should be a quantum improvement for the Miata. Did I use the word quantum correctly here? Probably not but it sounded good in my head.

Wheel spacers for the Cayman S

The Cayman looked a little narrow-wheeled to me. Maybe because it's lowered, but the wheels just seemed to sit a little too far inboard from the fender lips. A common mod for Caymans is wheel spacers. 7mm front and 15mm rear is a common fitment and what I chose. Some go more extreme but my car is lowered and not running a ton of camber so I played it safe. I ordered mine from GMP Performance and got them in about a week.

This shows the car after the spacers were installed. The rear wheel sits pretty flush with the fender but there doesn't appear to be any rubbing or interference.

Here's another shot from the front. You can see the new black wheel bolts a little bit. I really like the look. The original zinc plated bolts were looking a bit ratty. It's little things like that which make a car feel special. Also note I've added the Cayman R style side stripe. As side stripes are a long tradition with Porsches, I think these are perfect and appropriate.

The spacers came with longer wheel bolts, in black, and I needed new ones anyway. The spacer just slips over the hub flange and is held on by the small screws that secure the rotor to the hub. Don't do this without fitting longer bolts.

I've already put about 1200 miles on the car and there's been no rubbing or interference. The wider track makes the car feel a little more planted at speed. I think this is a good mod.

New Wheels Day

After my recent move to Tennessee I'm finally getting back around to doing stuff with my cars. Since I never had to worry about winter weather in Tampa it occurred to me that I might not be able to drive on summer tires year-round anymore. If we get some nasty winter weather (I'm told it can happen here) I need to be able to get around reliably. So, I ordered up a set of Kumho PA31 all-season tires mounted on 15x7 Advanti Storm wheels from The Tire Rack.

I have to say I'm digging the black wheels on this car. They work well with the black hardtop. I'm thinking a small ducktail spoiler on the back might work well now. These wheels weigh only 10.4 pounds so the car feels great. I don't know how much grip to expect from these tires, so I'll be taking it a little easy until I get a feel for them.

Bremmers for the Bimmer

So it was time for some new tires for the M3. The Nitto Invo tires it came with were almost down to the wear bars and getting really hard and noisy. I had put almost 20,000 miles on them and they weren't close to new when I got them. I took the opportunity to update the looks of the car as well by adding a set of Bremmer BR05's to my order from The Tire Rack. The BR05 is basically a reproduction of the wheels BMW put on the CSL version of the M3. Well, not really a reproduction but I guess a reasonable facsimile without the associated cost. These are only about $660 a set in 18" size. They are 18x8 in the front and 18x9 in the back, exactly like the factory wheels my car came with. I think the offset in the front is a little bit less than stock because it looks like the wheel sticks out just a bit more. I'll have to look up the exact numbers and see for sure.

Click for full size photo

The black finish is something different for me and I really like the slim machined lip around the outside of the wheel face. The tires are Sumitomo HTR ZIII in 225/45ZR-18 in the front and 255/40ZR-18 in the back. They came perfectly balanced from Tire Rack and ready to mount. The Sumitomos are an underrated tire in my opinion. The Boxster I had came with them and I thought they were great, and the price is very reasonable at around $600 for the set in M3 sizes. They aren't for autocrossing or track days, but for street driving they are a great value.