MRM331

I've been looking at one of these kits as the next step in my V8's "evolution" for the last few months. Since the original paint on the Laguna looks great still I was going to wait a few years until the dreaded "rocker rust" showed it's ugly head...low and behold, this winter's wrath has already led to the sprouting of a bit of rust on what was a rust free car. While this sucks, it also means I can accelerate this project and get some more rubber under the car (which is why this thread is in this part of this area of the forum).

Anyhow, after noticing the rust I visited AWR's site and noticed that they LOWERED their prices for the two kits. In this day and age to see a price GO DOWN makes me do a double take. I actually reloaded the page to make sure it was true. Here's the drop:

Bonded flair kit (you bond the front and rears to the body):
Was $999.99, is now $825.00!

Full Front Fender Kit (you still have to bond the rears but the front fenders are fiberglass one piece units):
Was $1200.00-something, is now only $999.00!

This rocks because now I can get the full front fender version for the same price as the bonded kit used to be. The cool thing about this is that I will be able to remove my existing front fenders and sell them, which should make up another $100 or so bringing the cost down to $900 or so.

Now all I need to figure out is the whole wheel spacer/offset thing. The kit adds 5 inches to the track of the car.

Here's some pics. I'm going to run it with the stock nose, the R-speed knock-off air dam I have now, and a set of side skirts from Autokonexion to balance it out.









BTW, I checked FM's site and it does not look like the prices are lower there (they've been carrying these flairs for a few years). It looks like you have to order directly through AWR here to get the new price (although maybe Keith would be willing to work with you if asked...):

Bonded: http://store.awrracing.com/products/...ed-Flares.html

Non Bonded: http://store.awrracing.com/products/...ll-Fender.html

No affiliation or anything on my part or on the part of this forum, I'm just happy to have found this and thought some of you (especially you 400 hp LSx guys) may need a way to facilitate getting a little more rubber under you cars!

-Jason

jwmezzanotte

I bought my car with fender flares on the rear and I really like them! Its one of the things that drew me to the car, it really improves the looks. There are a couple of other miata's in my area, since i dont see them very often the flares (lack of) really stands out to me.
Also dont have any mazda or miata badges on my car, so i get a lot of "what kinda car is that??"

I'd definately consider the front flares as well someday!
John

MRM331

What kind of wheel are you running on the back to fill the flares?
-Jason

jwmezzanotte

Bought the car with 15x9 6uls
225 45 15 hankook RS2's front
225 50 15 hankook RS2's rear

Currently has same wheels with 225 45 15 Toyo Proxes R888 all around.
It doesnt appear that my rear flares are the same as the pictures above, but they are similar. The conversion was done on my car some time in the early-mid 90's and a few owners since, so who knows at this point
The wheels and tires i have are well within the flares, there is some room to spare. Ive been meaning to put up some pictures of the car. Would that be helpful?

Pretty happy with the R888's so far, they stick way better than the RS2's did. Im sure I'll pay for that with treadwear, but with the minimal amount i drive the car I dont think its going to be an issue for me.

MRM331

Pics would be awesome. Are you running any kind of spacers on the rear to more the wheels out? Are they the first gen 6UL's (machined lip) or the Gen II's (all one color)? I think the offset of the first gens is differnt than the latest ones.

-Jason

jwmezzanotte

I'll get some pictures up by the weekend.
I'm not sure about the wheels, I could dig through the receipts and find out but I bet you'll be able to tell by the pictures?

MRM331

Most likely. I keep thining that you'd need to run some rather large spacers (like 40mm or so) to make a -36 or -40 offset 6UL stand out enough to fill a flare. From what I hear, you actually need a +12 offset wheel to fill the ARW flairs. Obviously no one makes a +12 wheel in a 4X100 bolt patern and even those that come close (a "0" offest) look very "rice" and bulky. If a 15X9 6UL fills it with say even a small 5 mm or so spacer I'd be thrilled.
-Jason

chpmnsws6

I have 20mm spacers to make the 6UL's look okay with the RHarris fender flares.

MRM331

I worked it out mathematically (I think):

I'm assuming that the 15X8 first gen 6UL's I have now have an offset of 63mm for the following...

The AWR widebody kit adds a full 5 inches of width to the car, that translates to 2.5 inches per side or 61mm. Therefore, if I want the tires/wheels to be just as close as they are now to the fenders I need to move the outer rim of each wheel out 61mm. Step one in doing this would be to go from a 8 inch rim to a 9 inch rim. This moves the lip out 1/2 inch or 12mm leaving me with 49mm more to go. The next step is to add what looks like the biggest spacer available, a 25mm one with separate studs (bolts to original studs). This gets me within 24mm from my goal. The next step is to go to a 15X9 rim with less offset. It looks like Emilio is working on an inexpensive 15X9 with a 20mm offset. Using this rim will get me another 16mm out leaving only 8mm to go. I think I could live with the 8mm overhang. If I went with a 15X10 wheel with a 20mm offset and a 20mm spacer I'd be spot on. Tires for 15X10 wheels are not easy to find though.

My only concern with all this is the use of spacers. I know they are used on track cars all the time but do they hold up? I've always sort of seen spacers as "rice" not performance...

-Jason

chpmnsws6

The problem with 15x10's is the lack of street tire availability currently.

If that were introduced, I, like many, would be putting our 15x9's on the market.

jwmezzanotte

Winter sucks.
Dark on the way to work, dark (pretty much) when i get home. Pictures will have to be on the weekend.

My wheels and tires dont fill the flares on my car, they are set inward a bit. I dont mind the look, but id say it would look better if they were flush or close to it.

rmcelwee

I got the wide body fever for a few days until I tried to place my order and found that they do not ship to South Carolina. Oh well...

MRM331

Was that the AWR kit or one of the athers...

-Jason

rmcelwee

AWR

I put a kit in my shopping cart, selected my state and zip code and it told me to pound sand <G>...

MRM331

That blows, why the hell would they not be able to ship to South Carolina? Did you try calling?

-Jason

chpmnsws6

Someone on MT.net said 949's site wouldn't let them ship to FL.

More then likely glitches in the system.

MRM331

It's got to be. I've shipped to almost every state at this point and it's not like some have issues others don't (except maybe Alaska and Hawaii).

-Jason

jwmezzanotte

Wheels are 15x8 not 15x9. I didnt realize that the width was measured inside the wheel where the tire is seated, i had just measured across the spare wheel i have in the basement and read 9". Tire rack had some info on wheels, learning as i go.

May not look like it in the picture, but i set that straight edge parallel with the wheel as it sits parked in my driveway. There is roughly 1.5" from the edge of the wheel to the inside of the fender.
Measuring straight upward from the tire i have about 3" of clearance between rubber and the wheel well.
If i moved the wheel outward 1" i would have about 2" of clearance.

I'm not going to pretend to know anything about suspensions and how they work. All i know is that the tires have never rubbed since ive owned the car, and I'm pretty sure ive bottomed out the suspension a few times.

Hope thats helpful in some way. If i can take any other measurements or anything that would help let me know.
John

Keith

AWR never told us about this, so we didn't know! I expect we'd be able to match their price - and we can ship them wherever you want.

MRM331

Awesome Keith, thanks!

BTW, since you and your staff have done one of these would you mind answering a few questions I've seen posted around (that I have as well)?

1. What materials are required to bond the rear fenders and do the flairs come with instructions on what to do?

2. Have you noticed in the cold Colorado climate any cracks developing where the fiber glass flairs meet the steel fenders? I've read where some people claim that the different expansion/contraction rates of fiberglass and steel would cause cracks in a matter of time.

3. What is the actual offset you would need to fill these flairs? I've seen +12 on a 15X8 discussed at CR. I don't think anyone makes a +12 wheel but would a 0 offset wheel with a 15mm spacer work? If a 15mm spacer would work with a 15X8 could one get away with no spacer on a 15X9 with 0 offset (each side of the rim sticks out 13mm more for each inch of rim width)? I've been looking at using a 15X9 -20 with a 25mm spacer. Would that even be a good idea or are spacer not so good for track work? Honestly they kind of give me the heebeegeebee's...

4. What is used to bond the bumper cover extensions and keep them flexible?

Thanks,
-Jason and the V8 Miata community.

Keith

We've never installed an AWR kit here. The Track Dog runs a Mazda Competition widebody, and it was done before the AWR pieces existed. We had it installed by a local body shop. That car lives inside and the body kit is shot full of holes from 140 mph rocks coming off the wheels. Haven't seen any cracks though

Any body shop should be able to provide you with the materials to bond 'glass to steel. Ask them about the plastic too - they'll know better than I would. Bodywork is a specialty, and while I can paint a racecar I still ask a lot of questions down at my local supply store.

A 0 offset wheel with a 15mm spacer is the same as a -15 wheel. A 0 offset is further out than a +12. Spacers aren't too scary on their own, especially the ones that bolt to the hub and then have an extra set of studs. It's going to have an effect on your suspension geometry, though - your wheel rate will go down and you'll end up with a fair kick through the front wheels on bumps.

The kit is designed to cover E Production tires, which are a 9.5x23 bias ply slick on a +15 wheel. That's a pretty fat piece of rubber, so you'll probably want more offset to compensate.

MRM331

Thanks Keith.
I always thought that white one on your site was done in house. I don't know why I thought that, I guess I just assumed (sorry).

So further out from the hub starting at 0 is +offset and moving back into the car is -offset. I always thought it was the other way around. Thanks for clearing that up, I would have ordered wheels that were way off.

The spacers I've been looking at are the hub-centric ones with the separate lugs. It's good to hear they are suitable for track work and not just bling.

Thanks,
-Jason

Haraise

What kind of useful rubber are people fitting under these? Something like 255/40/17? (25") 295/35/17? (25.1") 285/30/18? (24.8") Or is everyone just doing it for 'the look?'

MRM331

My motivation to look into this was the frustration I was having in trying to get the car to hook up. Since then I've taken the advice of some turbo people and lowered my rear tire pressures to 35 psi down from the 41 psi I was running. It seems to have made a difference. I also think I need to redo my bushings, the ones on the car currently were put on about 7 years ago and not properly lubed since then. I'm also running no rear sway, which would also help if I were to put even the stock one back on. Lastly, I'm running a rather aggressive, autocross style camber on the back. If I dial that back a bit it may help as well. Right now I'm running 225/40-15 RS-3's.

All that said, I would like to repaint my car at some point. The rockers are showing the very early signs of rocker rust so it's inevitable that some body work will be in the car's future. At that point I'm going to seriously look into this again since it would be the logical time to add them in. My only real concerns about doing it now is, while I know I'll get gobs of traction in the back from the wider tires I'll run, the steering seems to be somewhat compromised when you stretch everything out (from what I've read).

So no, it's not the look that I'd be going after, it's the extra room for larger rear tires (which is also a double-edged sword since any tire over what I have now is going to cost a lot more to replace...).

-Jason

driftdevil

edit: damn I forgot to look at the date of the thread. LOL

Hey new guy here with a little info for you on wheels for the AWR flares.
I've got a buddy that is having the kit put on his car right now. He bought some 15x9 +0 XXR wheels with 225/45/15 RS3s to put on it. They fit perfect but the flares needed to be trimmed a bit to get full lock.
Sorry don't have any pics of it but they fill out the flares perfectly and he has RB lowering springs on the car so it has around an 1 1/2 drop on it.