Wishing Wheels III

Rspeed has produced some new “vintage” wheels called Chaparral 15s that looked like a winner, until they weighed them, 15.5 pounds. Hard to want to add 2 more pounds of unsprung weight back onto each corner. To top it off they also don’t directly clear the larger brakes on the 2001+ Miatas. It can be done, but you have to add a 3 mm spacer behind the wheels. Too bad as they would look killer on the car. For comparison, first the OEM wheels:

Now the Chaparrals in black with a polished lip:

We made it to work this morning with the top down, but put it up because there was an 80% chance of rain. They were 100% right, it started around 10 and rained most of the day. At 4 o’clock when we left it had stopped. We got in the car and dropped the top for the drive home. Halfway out of the parking lot the rained started back up, so as we crept towards the exit I put it back up. It was a nice try…