17" Rims and tyres

go with the spacers first depending how much or how bad its rubbing. um, the car is also 20+ years old, so the bushings are in need of replacing. you can do all the alignments and camber adjusting you want, but with a faulty bushing its not gonna be straight on. and dont hit your strut with a hammer. that is some seriously stupid advice coming from a professional company. that got me pretty mad just reading it. well, good luck

 

the proper 17 inch tires are 205/40/17. google "miata tire calculator", it's the best of its kind for tire sizes. as kev was saying, DONT HIT THE STRUTS!

 

I'd say its the offset on the wheels rather than the tyre size that's the issue. I reckon they've sold you wheels to suit a Subaru - same PCD, higher offset. What sort of clearance have you got between the tyre and the mudguard?

 

I can't believe these guys!
1st they f#$k up and
2nd they didn't check their work which could have got you killed,
3rd they aren't prepared to fix their F**k up?
4th they give stupid and dangerous advice

What's goin on?? Don't they belong to a trade body you can lay a complaint with because right now your car is dangerous

If the ET is greater than 39 you're in trouble and will either need spacers or coilovers
Even coilovers can be tricky - often the rim/tyre sits up against the adjusters

I think this pic demonstrates just how much your tyres can move under cornering and many guys mistakenly think that a small gap is enough to prevent disaster

The tyre will heat up against the shock and burst

What are the numbers on your rims?
Got any pics?
IMO, Those tyres are also too high, to equal the original size they should have been 215/30/17

 

i run 205 tires just fine with or without spacers.....i run 40's in the front and 45's in the back with 25mm spacers in rear only....i rub on the fender but just have yet to roll the fronts...back requires no rolling at all.

 

front fenders are already rolled stock.

hey mrcool, what does it say for the offset on the back of the rim? should be ETxx like how the stock rims say ET39

 

which kevin? lol jk. the control arm bushings. but might as well save up and get them ALL. its a really good investment and will restore a lot of lost power. more the feel of the lost power because with worn bushings, it absorbs all that power and doesnt transfer straight to the road.

 

Actually their not rolled from stock marc....i had to roll my fronts to fit my 205 to keep them from rubbing.

 

they are bent inwards though already..? you did them more?

 

The stock size is 205/60/14 for a GT-S

i don't know where you're getting your "correct tyre size" but 215/30/17 is 6.8% TOO SMALL in height and wider by 10mm.
205/40/17 is only 1.1% bigger in height.

by using 205/40, you only have to deal with 1mm offset closer to the hub than stock wheel (ET39) and 1.1% increase in height.

Math homework: http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html

 

if your et is 40 and stig said anyting more than 38 is bad. then the spacers should do the job

 

Not neccesarily Kev, sounds like the tyres are rubbing under the cups. Need to see pics before we can solve this

I see what you mean, calculator is here - http://www.1010tires.com/TireSizeCalculator.asp

 

I think part of the problem is that the stock JDM size is 195/60/14 and the speedo's were calibrated to that size.
Non-JDM came with 205/60/14 which is bigger than the JDM height, combined with longer final drive gearboxes, milder ECU and EGR, extra cats, it's no wonder the performance is lackluster
Your correct is my incorrect and vica versa, our cars may look similar but....

Coilovers aren't always a solution either, sometimes the spring and nuts are low enough to actually be worse than OEM shocks