Lucky's Series 3

[Steve-A]

Groovy. Thats gonna be a nice combo!

Are you going to keep the Wats all black, or go for a polished lip so they kinda match colours with the Sharaks?

[Lucky]

Lol, shouldn't really tease so shamelessly, but I find a wee bit of frisson adds much to the mix Anyway, the reality might prove slightly disappointing. Like finally bedding that glamour puss only to find that without seriously thick beergoggles and several hours in Photoshop she's actually got a face like a plasterer's radio and you have more fingers than she's got teeth

Anyway *ahem*. These is what we have, free from pretentious camera angles and that;


Bit of an unknown, except that they're genuine Watanabes I dunno much about them. They're 14" diameter, but no idea as to offset, width, etc. I guess from looking how they fit between the stock wheels and the Sharaks they're about offset +20-ish. The tyres on there are 185 profile and I'm not sure that anything much wider will fit without bulging out. Maybe a 195 might go so I guess they're like 5 1/2" rim or so. De nada, what mattters is they fit, flsuh to the arch and look awesomes. Or will do with a refurb...

From this angle...

....they look like a gorgeous beautiful spider made from pure alloy sex jizoom. Well, in my world anyway

Can't resist a cheeky Generations pic


and this is what they fit like. I'd pretty much decided that trying to fit the Sharaks manly +10 offset under the front arches would take too much butchery, so they are staying on the back. Which is good, cos the Watanabes fit the front perfectly...


....or will do once I get a less high-rise spring strategy sorted out


....and the money shot. This is what it's all about


This raises a few issues. One is that having driven and let the springs settle a bit, the ride height isn't too ludicrous to bear. But it'll definitely be better for lower. The second is that polishing up the Sharaks and re-refurbing the Watanabes isn't an option. I think they both have to be the same or it'll look a bit funny. Since I can't face the prospect of stripping back the Watanabes and polishing them all four will have to visit the powdercoaters, I think. Going to go for an anthracite colour like that on the Volks on the FD, which looks like this for anyone who's not seen my other rotorslag;


The third issue is that the car drives sooooooo much better on these than on the stock wheels. Dunno whether that's down to the wider track, the slightly smaller rolling radius, the slightly narrower tyres, the fact the wheels are a LOT lighter than the stockers, or the dreadful state of the 15+year-old Bridgestone NCTs, but the steering is lighter at slow speeds, more responsive at higher speed, more direct, and it's even lost a bit of the "driving-through-an-American-movie" vagueness on-centre. Awesomes The tyres on the Watanabes especially are utterly FUBAR, and they're none too clever on the Sharaks so I'm feeling cautiously optimistic that when I splurge on some decent brand newers it'll be happy days indeed.

Blimey, that went on a bit long, didn't it? Thanks for reading, love in your face till next time

[Steve-A]

All sounds / looks good Nik

As for the sizing they look very similar to a set I had in 14 x 6.5 et 25 , same join of spokes to lip depth etc. Ignore how they sit on the mx5 as they've got spacers behind them.

[Lucky]

Right, question time. What should I go with as a colour scheme?

I've been giving the matter a fair bit of thought, and come up with either the sorta bronzey colour that things like Volk TEs and Works come in or anthracite like on my FD. Alright, gunmetal. Alright, grey then . Anyhoo, can't decide which is best, or whether to go for a polished rim too. Thought I'd throw it open to the vote, place your bets, which is best?

(please ignore my sketchy Photoshop skillz, anyone who can do better please feel free lol. Yes, the bronze looks more like dog diarrhoea brown but just stretch your imagination a bit, yeah?)

[MelloYello]

Definitely polished lip, makes the wheels stand out.

[Marc S]

I like the polished lip...

If you want to try Bronze, I have 2 cans of "Rays Racing Bronze" that are new and unopened - I will be doing mine gloss black now, so they are no longer required

[RX7SA]

Definately polished lip and bronzy (or gold) centres would work I reckon

[ian65]

polished lip with gunmetal

[Casey]

Yep, polished lip with gunmetal vote from me too

[Lucky]

Right, seems to be an overwhelming choice of gunmetal/polished lip. Good, that's my first choice too. Must be right, then lol.

Not much to report, just one minor alteration. I finally (with moral support from Ada) manned up enough to bin the front plate and get my sticky one on instead. It's amazing how much of the lines of the front end that hideous, massive plate held on with four pounds of pig iron used to hide. Every time I looked at the car it enraged me, and the improvement is massive (IMHO ). I guess it may divide opinion a bit, but hopefully it'll at least keep Plod away

Before...


After...





Right, I'll leave you to argue over the aesthetics of that one whilst we move on to other matters lol; anyone ever de-fried-eggified the front indicators? A quick glance looks like they're a clear lens with an orange insert inside, just like FD ones. Can anyone confirm or deny? If so, it should be an easy job to split them and remove the orange bit, makes such a visual difference. It's just one of my pet hates, horrid ornage bits that match nothing else on the car. On the subject, anyone know which (if any) cars share the same side repeaters? On a mission to lose them for clear ones, too