What lowering springs to use with 17" wheels

[James Junior]

Hello ladies and gents,

After a long time away, I will be soon back in the IMOC fold as my lovely lady has made the wise choice (with no small amount of encouragement) to swap her MK1 MX5 for a MK3 MR2.

We are looking at one tomorrow that has the full Toyota factory fit kit. The car is a pre 2002 so has 15" wheels all round. They look ridiculous and even on those little deelies, the ride height is too high.

So if we buy, a nice set of 17s will be a priority, but I am expecting that a drop to the ride height will be mandatory too.

Can anyone give me some pointers?

What springs are recommended? What sort of drop are people using after fitting 17s? I want to try to keep the ride comfortable for daily driving.

Also are people generally having to fit wheel spacers?

Any input gratefully recieved.

P.S. It feels good to be home!

[Ekona]

If you lower the car and fit 17"s you'll have to alter (read: butcher with a heat gun or similar) the front wheelarch liner as it's a 99% certainly the wheels will rub on full lock. A far better option is to go to 16" wheels and drop, and as far as springs go then I'd either go with the TTE ones (if they're still available) or the Teins as they'll both stiffen the ride but without ruining it.

You definitely won't want or need wheel spacers, just make sure whatever wheels you buy are of the correct offset., which is as close to 45 as you can get it.