First: I'm going to respectfully differ on the point of smaller wheels (mostly because it's such a flippant dismissal of a subset of valid wheel and tire options). Personally, those kinds of unequivocal disqualifications rub me the wrong way.
There are a number of reasons that someone might prefer them, as I do, for this car. While I'm not overly concerned about what they look like (who doesn't want their car to look reasonably good?), there are some cars with 15-inch wheels that look, to me, frankly dominant. They are far from "silly."
Here my two favorite examples:
RAAMaudio's car on his (now apparently gone) 15x9 track wheels
Rodmoe's monster on 15x8 inch wheels (slammed for humor effects)
I look at each of those cars and just know that underneath the sheet metal is a FWD, fire-breathing, track-day E46 M3 slayer. Both those cars are on BC coilovers (at least at the time of the photos). Now, I don't think Rod drives his car with that setting, but it can be done and looks dialed in for that look.
I also have 15-inch wheels (15x7) and BC Racing coilovers. I chose my wheels for the following reasons (largely related to tire options):
- Light weight -- My application is as an alternative grocery getter and occasional weekend recreational lapper. The TD PR 1.2 15x7s (while not the absolute lightest) are awesome compromise wheels (low cost, stout construction/design, light weight, and custom fit). Having less unsprung weight is a good thing on lapping day.
- Tire options -- Ah 205/50-15. There is no single tire size suitable to this car that has more viable options for my purposes. Thank you Spec Miata. Lord knows 205/40-17 is woeful (although you can get RA1s and NT01s in this size which is a plus). BF-Goodrich, Bridgestone, Dunlop, Toyo, Nitto, and Yokohama all make top-rated Extreme Performance or entry-level R-compound tires at really affordable prices for that size. It's not the biggest meat you can put on there, but the key descriptor for me in thinking about my car is "recreational" before the word "lapping."
- Balanced driving characteristics -- It can be argued that a lower profile tire will handle better at the limit. I'll accept that and would love there to be more 215/45-16 options or perhaps 225/40-15s -- but there few if any down there. Furthermore, I did not want to go all out like RAAMaudio or even as far as rodmoe. I wanted to keep the car as close to stock as possible, while adding a some credible capability for track day. A side benefit is that the taller tires make driving around town, even with a pretty stout stiffness setting for the BC coilovers, completely livable. I don't even notice it and will leave it like this between events (20 clicks toward full stiff; that's 2 clicks softer than factory default). I might add back the 2 clicks and see how the cars does for the next event (and how it changes its street demeanor).
Now, I'll admit my car is not as sexy on its 15x7s as some other cars on bigger wheels, but so far the car has provided great recreational-style performance at the track after its first shakedown event. And that is what I care about most. More suspension and alignment tuning is to come, but it's pretty close now.
It took a while to get here, but my feedback on the BC Racing coilovers: Very, very happy I went this route. Looking forward to seeing how they hold up over the years compared to my prior car's KW V3s.
This reads like a "defense" of 15-inch wheels, but it's really just a comment for people kicking around options to mate with the BC coilovers. 17-inch wheels look great on this car. I kept my stockers for winter use with all-weathers. But smaller wheels can look awesome too and there are other real benefits as well.
No disrespect intended toward XuperXero.
YMMV.
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