Miata Mailing List: December 1998, Message #335

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Aaron, those Racing Harts are v.cool, but you may want to consider the
Borbet range as well. IIRC, Bill said somewhere that the Borbet 15x7's will
fit with the big brake kit.

FWIW.

Rodney


-----Original Message-----
From: LeanAngle1@aol.com <LeanAngle1@aol.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list <miata@list.miata.net>
Date: Wednesday, December 02, 1998 4:56 PM
Subject: FM Wildwood Big Brakes


>Hi All,
>
>Just got the Dealer Alternative Wildwood big brakes for my '94 "R"..My
Miata
>has FM Springs, FM Sways and GAB Super Stroke shocks, and Panasport 15" x
7"
>Wheels...Here's what I've found out...
>
>The big brakes are awesome looking. I chose the titanium colored calipers
and
>the Brembo cross drilled and slotted rotors..Wow..12" rotors are massive!!!
as
>is the 4 piston clipers!!! A nice touch (although you really can't see em'
>after installation) is the FM claliper bracket. Bill nicely paints these
candy
>apple red with a cool FM logo machined into the surface..really a nice
>touch!!! The brake kit also comes with steel braided brake lines.
>
>Installation is a breeze!!! If you can change your own brake pads, you can
put
>the big brake kit on. No special tools are required and they fit up to the
>stock locating points without any modifications.....Now for the difficult
>part...
>
>Like I said earlier, I have Panasport wheels, 38mm off-set and are 15" x
7". I
>want to maintain these wheels if at all possible for a couple of reasons.
One,
>because I like the way they look...nice old nostalgic look on the Miata,
Two,
>I want to be able to run Toyo RA-1 tires..and if I change to 16" or larger,
I
>won't be able to fit the RA-1's that come in those sizes on the
>car...Hmmm...after installing the big brake kit, I then put the wheel back
on
>to mount it..Guess what? The big brake kit will not fit the Panasports!!!
The
>caliper interferes witht the spokes of the Panasports by about 1/2" or
so..,
>and machining them would significantly weaken the structural rigidity of
the
>wheels. Spaces are out because it would place the wheel/tire combination
too
>far out towards the fender lip, and you'd definately have contact
>problems....Dang!!!!...
>
>The only solution is to get a different wheel. I've decide that I like the
>wheels that are on Seth Goodwin's Miata (Dealer Alternative East), they are
>three piece Racing Hart C's..Now I hope that they come in 15" sizes. Anyone
>out there have these wheels on their Miata? Please let me know..as I'd like
to
>see how they fit and all...
>
>Well so far I hope that answers all the big brake and if Panasport's fit
>questions that have recently been posted....Anyone want a set of Panasports
in
>15" x 7"? Will sell them very reasonably...Let me know!!!!!
>
>FWIW,
>
>Aaron
>aaron@miata.net
>