Four generations, and the middle one is the odd one out
Almost every Miata ever built is a four-lug car on 4x100 with a 54.1 mm hub bore. One generation is not.
| Generation | Years | Pattern | Bore | Studs |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NA | 1990-1997 | 4x100 | 54.1 mm | M12 x 1.5 |
| NB | 1999-2005 | 4x100 | 54.1 mm | M12 x 1.5 |
| NC | 2006-2015 | 5x114.3 | 67.1 mm | M12 x 1.5 |
| ND | 2016+ | 4x100 | 54.1 mm | M12 x 1.5 |
The NC is the only five-lug Miata ever built, and the ND went straight back to four lugs.
That reversion is the detail everybody gets wrong, us included at first. The obvious assumption - that Mazda moved to five lugs with the NC and stayed there - is wrong, and if you act on it you will send every current-Miata owner looking for wheels that do not fit their car.
The website that erases a whole generation
There is a fitment site whose Miata summary page states that all MX-5 Miata models from 1999 to 2022 share 4x100. That single range swallows the NC completely. Every 2006 through 2015 Miata - a ten-year production run, five-lug, 5x114.3 - is published there as a four-lug car.
The interesting part is what happens if you click through. That same site's 2010 year page correctly reports 5x114.3 with a 67.1 mm bore. The underlying year-by-year data is right. It is the generation summary table on top of it that is wrong.
So the same website gives you two different answers depending on which page you land on, and the wrong one is the one that ranks for the obvious search. This is the best illustration we have run into of a general rule: a summary table is never a substitute for the entry for your specific year. Summary tables get written once and rarely revisited. Year pages get corrected.
We are not naming the site here for a specific reason. There are two well-known fitment databases whose names differ by a single letter - one is plural, one is singular - and it would be very easy for this article to blame the wrong one. The site whose per-year pages we relied on throughout this research was reliable. If you want to be safe, do not use a summary page for a Miata at all.
One more thing to watch on the ND
There is a disagreement about the ND's hub bore that is worth knowing about, because it costs money in a small and irritating way.
- One source gives the ND as 54.1 mm, matching the NA and NB. This is the figure we would use.
- Another gives it as 67.1 mm - which is the NC's bore.
What looks to have happened is a half-updated row: the pattern was correctly reverted to 4x100 and the bore was left at the NC's figure. The source in question is otherwise careful and gets the four-lug versus five-lug story right, which is exactly why this one is worth flagging.
The practical consequence: a customer buys 67.1 mm hub-centric rings for a car with a 54.1 mm hub, and nothing centres. We would treat 54.1 as correct, and we would also measure it before ordering rings, because our 54.1 figure rests on one direct source too.
NA factory wheels, 1990-1997
| Variant | Wheel | Offset | Tire |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steel, 1990-1997 | 14x5.5 | +45 | 185/60R14 |
| NA6 alloy, 1990-1993 | 14x5.5 | +45 | 185/60R14 |
| 1992-1993 LE (BBS) | 14x6 | +45 | 185/60R14 |
| 1994 M-Edition | 14x6 | +45 | 185/60R14 |
| NA8 alloy, 1994-1997 | 14x6 | +45 | 185/60R14 |
| 1995-1997 M-Edition | 15x6 | +45 | 195/50R15 |
Square throughout, and +45 throughout. Single-source, but internally consistent in a way that inspires reasonable confidence.
NB factory wheels, 1999-2005
| Variant | Wheel | Offset | Tire |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999-2000 Base / LS | 14x6 | +45 | 185/60R14 |
| 1999-2000 Sport | 15x6 | +40 | 195/50R15 |
| 2001-2003 Base / LS | 15x6 | +40 | 195/50R15 |
| 2001-2003 Sport | 16x6.5 | +40 | 205/45R16 |
| 2004-2005, except MSM | 16x6.5 | +40 | 205/45R16 |
| 2004-2005 Mazdaspeed | 17x7 | +40 | 205/40R17 |
Square throughout. Note the drop from +45 to +40 early in the run - small, but real if you are matching a factory look.
NC factory wheels, 2006-2015
Factory sizes run 16x6.5 and 17x7 up to 19x8, in an offset band of +34 to +45, on 205/50R16 and 205/45R17. Square throughout.
Per-trim NC offsets we could not source. The specialist guides that cover the NA, NB and ND in detail do not have an NC equivalent, which is itself a comment on how the NC sits in the Miata world. Use the band, and let us measure the wheel if you need the exact figure.
ND factory wheels, 2016 onward
| Trim | Wheel | Offset | Tire |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sport (16 inch) | 16x6.5 | ET45 | 195/50R16 |
| Club / Grand Touring / RF (17 inch) | 17x7 | ET45 | 205/45R17 |
| 18 inch factory option | 18x7 | ET45 | 205/40R18 |
Here is a genuinely useful and slightly surprising fact: the ND runs ET45 on every trim and every wheel diameter. Sport, Club, Grand Touring, RF, 16 inch, 17 inch, 18 inch - all ET45. Offset is simply not a variable on this car from the factory.
That makes the ND unusually easy to shop for. Whatever your trim, you are working from the same starting point.
Aftermarket fitment, NA and NB
| Level | Fitment | What it needs |
|---|---|---|
| Bolt-on | 15x6 to 15x7.5, +30 to +40 | Nothing |
| Aggressive street | 15x8, +25 to +35 | Camber, possibly a fender roll |
| Track | 15x9, +25 to +35 | Coilovers, fender work, camber |
| Track, extreme | 15x10, +20 to +25 | Coilovers, fender pulling |
Two sources broadly agree on this and disagree at the low-offset end: one allows down to ET20 on an 8 inch wheel, the other stops at ET25. We have recorded both rather than picking one, because that gap is exactly where the car starts making demands.
What rubs on an NA or NB:
- The factory spring perches. A 15x9 or wider fouls them, which is why coilovers become mandatory rather than optional at that width. This is an inner-barrel problem, so going to a lower offset does not fix it - it just moves the tire out into the fender instead.
- Sport brakes. The 270 mm front rotor cars can contact deep-dish spoke designs. Spoke profile matters as much as offset here.
- Steering weight. Low offsets on a car this light produce noticeably heavy steering through increased scrub radius. On a 1,000 kg car with no power assistance worth speaking of, you feel it immediately.
Aftermarket fitment, ND
From a Miata specialist, and this is good, specific information:
- Maximum on stock fenders without rolling: 235/40R17 on a 17x8 or 17x9, with at least about 1.5 degrees of negative camber.
- 17 inch wheels work down to ET40 in factory fenders with a degree of negative camber or better. 16 inch goes down to roughly ET32.
- Best street grip setup: 235/40 on a 17x8 ET45.
- Track: 17x9 with a 225/45 or a 235/40.
- The rub point is the plastic fender liner, and it shows up at full steering lock and over big bumps mid-corner rather than in the driveway. That is the worst place to find out.
A word about weight, because it matters more here than anywhere
A Miata weighs about a tonne. Unsprung and rotating mass is a much larger fraction of the total than on almost anything else we work on, which means the wheel you choose changes how the car behaves more than it would on a heavier car.
A heavy 17 inch wheel on an ND undoes a meaningful part of what Mazda spent the development budget achieving. A light 16 or 17 flatters it. If you are choosing between two wheels at similar money on a Miata, weigh them - it is the single most consequential specification after the fitment itself.
This is also why so many serious NA and NB owners run 15 inch wheels rather than upsizing. It is not nostalgia. On this car the small wheel is often the fast one.
Torque
86 lb-ft is the figure for the NA and NB from our sources. We could not source an NC or ND figure from a Mazda document. Door jamb placard, owner's manual, and re-torque at 100 kilometres - free on anything we fit.
Wheels we can get
4x100 is a small-car pattern shared with a lot of Hondas and older Toyotas, so the good news is that the light, well-made end of the market is well represented. The bad news is that plenty of 4x100 wheels are designed for front-drive hatchbacks with very different offsets.
- Konig - the obvious answer for a Miata and deservedly so. Light flow-formed wheels in 15, 16 and 17 inch, in the offsets this car actually wants rather than the high offsets a front-drive economy car needs.
- Motegi Racing - motorsport-derived designs, light, and strong in the smaller diameters.
- RTX - practical and well priced, useful for a winter or second set.
- Fast Wheels - broad range if you want something outside the usual enthusiast catalogue.
For an NC, you are in 5x114.3 territory, which is a much larger catalogue - the same pattern as a Mustang or a 350Z - but with a 67.1 mm bore rather than their 70.5 or 66.1. Check the bore or the rings.
The short version
- NA, NB and ND: 4x100, 54.1 mm bore. NC: 5x114.3, 67.1 mm bore.
- The NC is the only five-lug Miata. The ND went back to four.
- A well-ranked summary page lists the Miata as 4x100 for 1999-2022 and erases the NC entirely. The same site's year pages are right.
- The ND runs ET45 on every trim and every diameter. Offset is not a factory variable.
- ND maximum on stock fenders is 235/40R17 with about 1.5 degrees of camber. The fender liner is what rubs.
- On a car this light, wheel weight is not a detail.
All specifications above are North American market only.
Confirm the fitment with us before you order. Give us the year, model and trim and tell us what you want the car to look like, and we will tell you what will actually fit it.
About SHC Auto
We have been fitting wheels and tires in Victoria since 1991, out of the same shop at 474 Bay Street. Alongside wheels and tires we do suspension and lift work, window tint, paint protection film, vinyl wraps, ceramic coating, paint correction and detailing, caliper painting, chrome delete, and vehicle graphics and signage. We also do the things most shops send out: curb rash repair and wheel refinishing, TPMS sensor supply and fitting, tint removal, and re-torque after install.
The catalogue on our website is a fraction of what we can actually order. We are an authorized dealer for more than three hundred aftermarket brands, and a good number of them never made it onto the site because there is no data feed for them. That includes most of the lift and levelling kit market. If you cannot find something, ask us rather than assuming we cannot get it.
SHC Autographx and Tires
474 Bay Street, Victoria, BC
Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 5:30. Closed weekends.
Free shipping anywhere on Vancouver Island.
Planning a set of wheels? Bring the car by 474 Bay Street. It is much faster to look at what you have and tell you what it will take than to work it out over email.