The Story
Not a lot of people like the Miata, and its understandable. The TikTokers don't do this car justice. I had got the car back in 2021 when the Miata was just getting to their high prices. I paid 6k for a clean 1990 NA6ce B package (the one with the Panasonic CD and Cassette player and AC) with the hardtop already on it. It was as stock as it came with all the previous paper work of the maintenance that was done on it. It was my daily driver for 3 years and it never skipped a beat. Slowly I started adding small things to it like wheels and suspension since I was driving it to and from work everyday. It had its small issues like going out of timing while I was coming back from work but it never left me stranded on the side of the road or in the middle of nowhere. I had Enkei Compes before having Watanabes since Wats were super expensive at the time (still kind of are not going to lie). Now most Miata owners with Watanabes have the B type or the A type and I personally had a lot of trouble trying to find people that had the spec I chose for my car and wheels. I had to ask the wheel forgers to spec them to fit the NB brakes I put on the car but keep the 4x100 lug pattern which cost more. Now I really love Miatas that have thick tires without modifying the body but since the spec I opted for with my Watanabes are 15x8 with an offset of 0 I wasn't sure what I would be encountering. I searched around forums and asked a lot of people on Instagram but people would either not respond or they would not post the exact spec of the tires they chose for the tires. So naturally I opted to run the 205/50R15s that I had with the Enkei Compes. And that was my first mistake. The rear wheels fit perfectly but the fronts would rub and pull on the inner lip of the front bumper. I thought it would fit if I cut that part out and had someone pull the fenders a bit. But it didn't work. So after consulting my close friend he told me to put 195/45R15s in the front and keep the rears the same. I thought to myself that it would result the same but nope when I asked my tire shop if they could test fit the 195/45s I didn't realize that such a small change to the tires would make a big difference! Now it does have a bit of a stretch in front but it's still very manageable when spirited driving. It also looks a bit funky in front because I chose not to lower it since there are pretty high speed bumps where I live. Anyways I don't want to gatekeep what I went through with my Miata and Watanabes R Type.
Current Setup
- Wheels: 15X8 Offset 0 Watanabe R Type
- Suspension: MiesterR ZetaCRD Coilovers
Gallery
