Put the original wheels back on the Miata. The 16″ wheels did look better, but turns out the 4.4 pounds more of unsprung weight at each corner was noticeably detrimental to the ride quality. I think I could eventually learn to like the look of this combination, while Donna feels just the opposite. Right now we are going to try a relatively inexpensive fix of chrome lug nuts instead of the black and paint the center caps silver and add some of RevLimiter‘s retro Mazda logo center cap inserts.
The velcro on the roll bar was a resounding success n the passenger side, so another trip to Walmart was made to pick up another package of the 2″ x 4″ pieces. The red mats were not so loved, they looked good peeking at them from outside the car, but they didn’t really lighten up the atmosphere of the car once you sat in the seats.
So on our visit to Walmart for the velcro we also revisited the “cheap accent rug” aisle scouting some lighter colored options. We found a set that we had dismissed the first time and decided to try something different with them and see how it looked. The mats in the car are 18″ wide at the widest and 27″ at their longest. These second attempt rugs were 21″ x 37″, so they were big enough and there predominate surface was a nice light gray/dark gray mix, but there was a 3″band of the dark gray all around the perimeter. This meant that it was impossible to have a single solid 18″ wide block color(s), so I had to incorporate the 3″ band of solid color along one side of the new “mat.” To make things sort of even I also left the 3″ band at the bottom and made sure to put the side band towards the outside of the vehicle. Not bad looking, but the problem with these and the red before is what they are made of, very thin with a slight rubber backing, so they slip and slide during ingress and egress. Not the perfect solution for sure. Stayed tuned…
