When you want a delightful sports car that doesn’t kill your budget, options like the Subaru BRZ or Toyota 86 often reach the top of the recommendations. The driving dynamics of these vehicles are incredible, making them excellent starter options for those wanting to upgrade from a commuter.
Although these vehicles are rising in popularity, you cannot discount what the Mazda MX-5 offers.
When you flip through the pages of Stance Magazine, you’ll find many ND MX-5 owners tricking out their vehicles to create an impressive driving experience.
It might look like a sports car, but does the Mazda MX-5 deliver that high-speed experience at just 155 HP on a stock engine? If you outfit the vehicle with a one-off manifold and a Precision turbo kit, you can top out at 500 HP.
Alina’s Stanced ND Miata Build Breakdown
Alina’s stanced ND Miata sits incredibly close to the ground without compromising its maneuverability. The highlight of this build is the wheels and rims, creating a tucked look that still feels natural without an excessive negative camber. It can be paired with an improved air intake for impressive power.
Stanced cars develop a love-hate relationship with people. Some people look at the negative camber and love the look. Others wonder how you could ever try driving down the road with this setup.
Depending on the stance severity, an ND Miata could look like someone dropped the vehicle and broke the axles. Some people might think that the tires are broken or flat.
Although the stanced look is more cultural than practical since you wouldn’t be able to pull into your driveway, it can produce a unique look that turns head. It’s an aggressive fitment that turns it into more of a show car when the stance is severe. The vehicle becomes hard-parked because it is maneuverable except in basic circumstances.
With Alina’s stanced ND Miata, the stance is slight. If you weren’t sure what to look for with this option, you might miss the changes. Since she keeps the wheels mostly straight, her acceleration profile remains excellent. There’s enough room underneath to avoid scraping.
The SevenK wheels, Borla exhaust, and other aesthetic upgrades are all just icing on the cake with the build.
How to Stance Your Car Today
If you give your car a severe stance, the benefit is that your maintenance costs will stay down since you won’t be driving it much.
When you want to accomplish something similar to Alina’s stanced ND Miata, you can take these steps to get the result you want.
1. Achieve the fitment you want.
When you want the stance for appearance only, the most severe fitment is what you want to achieve. If you’re looking for something that drives well, you can offset things by a small amount to get something unique and still practical.
You’ll want to run wide wheels with a negative offset to achieve the stance. The amount of stretch used here is up to you, but it is the only way to get the wheel tucked under the fender while sitting flush.
It is illegal in some states to have a wheel pushed past the fender. Wheel spacers and longer mounting hardware will help you get to where you want to be.
2. Lower the car.
You’ll need to lower your vehicle so that the tires and wheels sit flush with the fender, if not poking out. That means your suspension will need to have some changes made to it so that you can achieve the desired stance.
You have three options available to you when altering your suspension so that the vehicle lowers with the stance change.
| Lower the Springs: | • This option is the fastest and cheapest method to use when changing a car’s stance. • It gets you to a set height, but it also creates a static result. • That means you’ve made a permanent change. • You might want to add some sport dampers if you plan to get behind the wheel. |
| Coilover Suspension: | • You get the damper and spring with this choice without being forced into a single height limitation. • It’s still static, but you can get underneath the car to make adjustments. • This choice tends to be the most popular because it delivers variability and semi-permanence. • Although you’ll get more street credit, it’ll be harder to drive the car. |
| Air Suspension: | • If you select this option, the shocks and springs get replaced with airbags. • They get fed with the right amount of pressure to achieve the desired height. • Most systems offer programmable options that let you have various presets. • That means you can decide to camber if you want to go lower, although your tires won’t appreciate that decision. |
3. Find your wheels.
Once you’ve handled the suspension and achieved your fitment, the goal is to find some wheels that most people do not have. You could put on racers, dishies, or even 1552s. It all depends on the look you love and how you want everything to stand out on your Miata or another vehicle.
When you start searching for custom wheels, it all depends on the pattern and aesthetics you prefer. Many options use chrome or black to deliver an impressive result, but blue, red, and even yellow are potential options to consider.
You can find a few online options that might work for your vehicle. Please remember to verify the fitment and measurements before ordering to ensure it’ll work for your stance.
| AC Wheels ACW001: | • Although the lugs are not included with these wheels, you’ll find that this 20-inch design delivers a head-turning look for your stance. • The black and red dynamic speak of pure speed and luxury when you’re behind the wheel. • They’re made of a steel alloy, and the hub rings come in the box. • You’re going to love these rims. |
| DUB S115 Ballers: | • This product comes with a lifetime structural warranty. • You’ll also get 12 months of protection against finish lifting or peeling. • The design uses a classic five-bar approach while keeping everything tight and clean. • The number of lug holes and the lip depth or size varies on the eventual size that you purchase. |
| Giovanna Racing Set: | • If you want an affordable set of four wheels to keep your budget happy, this set delivers an impressive result. • It’s set with a stunning black on a foundation of alloy steel to transform your stance quickly and impressively. • They’re strong, durable, and delivers the stealth look you want. • You’ll want to track the size carefully to ensure you get the correct product. |
What’s the Point of Stancing a Car?
When you see an aggressive offset with tons of camber, the goal is to show off how tight the fitment is that you achieved on your car. Alina’s stanced ND Miata is a prime example of what is possible with a Euro approach to this design element.
Some drivers have the goal of driving the lowest stance out there.
You can work on this project with any make and model. That’s why it is such a popular option! You’ll find people tricking out everything from a Dodge Caravan to a Honda Civic. It’s all about what you hope to accomplish with this particular style.
Someone has even stanced a Land Rover using smaller rims and tires or wide-arched a Ferrari 348.
When you see stanced cars, you can even see the rim touching the fender arc because of how it has been bent to the side.
Are Stanced Cars Dangerous?
Although a stanced car does look impressive, it can develop some significant issues when the setup is severe. The best step you can take if you want a nice angle is to reinforce the bearings and hubs.
You don’t want to max out the factory setup where the suspension geometry gets thrown off. It could generate less steering control, responsiveness, and stability. That means your risk of experiencing a body roll increases even though you have a wider and lower stance.
Once you start rocking the camber, stability issues can increase. There could be damage to your sidewall, fender, or rim. After the tires get stretched to achieve a specific look, there’s always the risk of de-beading to consider. That means a tire could blow out, even at low speeds.
Even if you avoid all these risks, a cambered tire has less traction on the road. That means you’ll have lower responsiveness in different situations. You don’t want to clip an apex or attack corners.
What you can do is drive low and slow, showing off your unique style while enjoying time with your friends and the stancing culture.
What Is It Like to Be in the Stancing Culture?
There’s this idea that a stanced car is something you’d see at a car show. It’s more likely that you’d find a group of people getting together to share lunch at the local McDonald’s.
You can always find people tricking out their cars with lights, stereos, subs, and more. Those investments are a fast way to capture someone’s attention. If you want something more subtle, dropping the suspension while using a negative camber can deliver what you want to see.
What surprises most people about stancing culture is how many women like Alina there are producing bespoke results. Although you don’t need to spend your life savings to create the outcomes you want, it makes sense to follow your passion.
The stancing culture is one of the few places where you can find a 16-year-old kid having a conversation with a 70-year-old mechanic about the same car, wheels, and interests. It’s one of the most accepting places you can be in today’s world, and that’s why it is great.
You could spend millions of dollars to trick out a car in this way if you had those resources. Most people spend around $5,000 on the wheels, suspension, and reinforcements.
If you want an air ride suspension, you can expect to pay about $7,500 for the product and its installation.
The best way to manage these expenses is to take advantage of whatever 0% financing packages are available to you at the moment.
Is It Worthwhile to Stance a Car?
I stanced my first car. It was a 1979 Mercury Capri, and I did it more out of procrastination than anything else.
I was driving the car into town one morning to run errands. The oil pressure gauge suddenly went haywire, smoke came out of the engine compartment, and I sputtered to a halt. It turned out that I’d blown my timing belt.
The interior needed a complete rebuilt. I learned how to manage engine gaskets, fit hoses, take apart a radiator, and a lot more when working on the repair. My folks said that if I wanted to be a car owner, I needed to learn how to do things myself.
It took me six months to finally get the car running without having it leak oil or antifreeze.
I could have done it in a couple of months if I hadn’t been distracted by the idea of stancing the car. It wasn’t anything severe, but it was enough to get noticed once I started driving around town again.
Would I put in the work to stance another car? Probably not. I’m focused more on practicality than visual aesthetics today.
Was it fun to do? For sure! When you have the right wheels available to get the job done and the right suspension, the job can get finished in a single afternoon.
What about you? How do you feel about Alina’s stanced ND Miata, this subculture of the auto industry, and how the cars look?