Wheels and Tyres

[Gemini]

Hello all,

Has anyone experimented with wheel and tyre fitments on their maestro?
It would helpfull if anyone knew of a fitment chart, my thoughts are 16" alloys with 205/45 rubber. Will 17's go on without hassle or am I wishing?

Gemini

[MaestroMatt]

Not experimented myself but you can see what difference it makes to your speedo's calibration here:

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

My speedo would read 7% too slow with a change to those tyres and wheels.

[peter charlesworth]

I have 205/45/16 mg alloys on my mg maestro turbo there great better handleing
peter

[Gemini]

Thanks for the feedback. Good link too. There must be more people out there running non stock set up's on their maestro's??

[E_T_V]

Yes I'd like to know what I can get away with fitting to the van as there is a much wider choice in this area (sensible PCD)

[onza100]

have been told 17"s will fit no probs so long as they are 7" wide not 7.5" im going to try and get 18"s on mine though arch mods here we come!

[MGTurbo]

I've tried 7j x16 MGF wheels on my Turbo and found handling to be less predictable on the limit, like i lost the back end around a roundabout 2 weeks after fitting them, yet never lost it in 2 years fitted with 195/50/15's.

Your speedo will also read incorrect. The back tyres will also scrub on the arches if lowered and laden up. Tyres also more expensive and outright grip is not improved. Tramlining is also much worse. Hence why i went back to 15's.

Gareth

[Gemini]

Thanks everyone for their feedback. Gareth - When you ran 7J's what tyres did you have on them? 205?

[Bertybassett]

Hi Gemini,


I have 16's on my car and soon 17's.

The Wheels you have really depend on the handling and look you want from your car.

There are two standard heights for front struts on the Maestro 264mm and 250mm. I have 250mm struts and 2" lowering springs, so with the 205/45/16 i have then it looks nice a low, but not low enough for me.However, They are at the lowest safe point where i don't hit things with my sump. Therefore I'm switching to 205/40/17 with the 2" lowering and 250mm struts. So the suspension travel will be minimal and i won't hit the sump :-)

250mm struts and 2" lowering springs are too low for 15" wheels and tyres.

Ever since i first lowered my car the handling has improved immensely. I give plenty of other car owners shocks. n.b. i have poly bushes too. Which are noisey and do make the ride harsher, but god damn you stick to them bends like white on rice.

Yes, tramlining is a problem, but i've got used to that and it doesn't happy so much if you fit a metal yoke to your steering rack and have good ball joints and tarck rod ends etc.

[E_T_V]

As you mention lowering your car where can I get some lower springs from? I've got a van which I want to lower slightly (so as not to hit the sump on every speedbump!) Lowering the back should be easy enough with some spaces and longer U bolts but the front I can't seem to find anything to help me. Any ideas?

[Bertybassett]

I think a firm called faulkner springs do them. I got mine from motobodge, but it appears they arn't doing them any more. i'll try and dig out the website...

[E_T_V]

Many thanks, I've found the site and I'll ask that someone adds it to the links bit of the site as I've been looking for a while.

for reference it is here http://www.dfaulknersprings.com/

[Triple M]

av got sum 17*7.5 compomotive wheels on my turbo,handles perfect,looks the dog boll@#ks;)