Is it time to replace your race suit? Let’s get you track-ready. Top Steering Wheel and Boss Kit Recommendations for the Mazda MX5 Mk3
The Mk3 is the MX-5 people buy when they want the car to be usable. Bigger than the two before it, better trimmed, and the one you can do a long drive in without arriving folded up. The cockpit is still small though, and the wheel is still the thing your hands are on for every mile of it.
There is one thing to get right before anything else, and it is the thing this car gets sold the wrong version of more than any other.
Everything below is kit we stock. The boss kit is the one listed for a 2005 to 2014 MX-5 rather than a generic Mazda fitment, and prices sit on the live product cards so they stay right. The interior shot above is an illustration rather than a photograph of a customer car, and the product photography is our own.
The bit that makes all of this easy: 6x70mm PCD
Start with the good news, because it makes the rest of this page easy. MOMO, OMP, Sparco and Sabelt all drill their wheels and their boss kits to the same six bolt pattern, 6x70mm PCD, and our own listings say so. The OMP RS is described as fitting most aftermarket boss adaptors through six bolt holes on a 70mm PCD. The Sabelt flat bottom listing says its six bolt pattern lets it fit the most popular boss kits.
So the hub and the wheel are separate purchases and neither locks the other in. A B-G boss will take a Sparco wheel. A MOMO boss will take a Sabelt one. A quick release goes between the two and works with either, and the B-G universal is drilled for both 6x70mm and 6x74mm so it covers the odd one out.
Three decisions, and none of them constrain the others:
- The boss kit, which is chosen by the car
- The wheel, which is chosen by you
- The quick release, which is optional and chosen by how you use the car
The first one is where MX-5s go wrong, so it gets its own section.
Which boss kit fits an MX5 Mk3
One, and it is not the one most MX-5 listings will sell you.
The B-G BG8178 is the hub for a Mk3. Our listing gives its range as 2005 to 2014, which is the Mk3 exactly.
It matters because the MOMO MK5702 is the hub for every MX-5 before it, and that one runs 1989 to 2005. A single part covering sixteen years and two generations is unusual, and it is why you will see MX-5 hubs described loosely. A Mk3 sits the other side of that line.
If your car is a 2005, go by the build date rather than the registration year, because that is where the two ranges meet.
It is drilled 6x70mm, so every wheel further down this page bolts straight to it.
The five wheels I would put in an MX5 Mk3
1. Sabelt SW-732-733 Flat Bottom
My pick for this car, and the reason is the bottom of it. Sabelt flatten the lower edge for better clearance in a small cockpit, which is exactly the complaint people have about climbing into an MX-5 with the roof up. Suede on an oval grip, flat rather than dished, and you can have it in 320mm or 330mm. Take the 320 if you sit close, the 330 if you do not.
2. OMP RS
The biggest of the five and the one that changes the car least. Semi dished, black suede, slotted spokes, and a yellow marker at the top so you always know where straight is. If the Mk3 is doing long runs with the occasional track day rather than the other way round, this is the sensible one.
3. Sparco 323
The middle of the range in every sense. 330mm, flat faced, suede, and a chunky 39mm grip section that suits big hands and cold mornings. Nothing about it is showy, and in an MX-5 interior that is no bad thing.
4. Sparco 310
The smallest here at 310mm, and Sparco list it as suited to open cockpit cars, which a Mk3 with the roof down is. It carries functional buttons in the spokes and it is built for saloon and rally use, so it is the one for a car that sees track days. Going down to 310 is a big step and you will feel it when you park.
5. OMP Racing GP
The entry point of the five and the lightest thing here at 490g, which is a figure OMP publish and most manufacturers do not. 330mm, flat, with a polyurethane and perforated leather grip that shrugs off wet hands, so it is a good roof-down choice. If you want to try a smaller wheel without spending much, start here.
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From £195.00 Excl. VAT Select options This product has multiple variants. The options may be chosen on the product page
Quick release, and whether you actually need one
A quick release sits between the boss kit and the wheel and lets you lift the wheel off the column. In an MX-5 there is a reason to fit one that does not apply to most cars.
It is the getting in. The cockpit is narrow and the sill is wide, so you drop into a Mk3 rather than step into it, and with the roof up the opening is smaller again. Taking the wheel off makes that a great deal easier, and more so again if there is a bucket seat or a harness bar in the car. Security is the other reason people give, and it is a weaker argument than it used to be.
If the car is standard inside and you get in and out without thinking about it, you do not need one.
Weld-on units are cheaper, but the column has to be machined, so that is a job for someone who has done it before. Bolt-on units cost more and go straight on. The B-G universal is drilled for both common patterns, so it will move to another car later.
Fitting it
An evening, in this order:
- Battery disconnected first, so the horn behaves when it all goes back together
- Standard wheel off, then the boss kit onto the column splines
- Mark the column and the wheel before the centre nut comes off, so the new one goes back on straight
- The horn wiring runs through the boss kit, so there is nothing to cut
- Torque the centre nut properly and check the wheel is centred with the road wheels straight before you drive it
If you would rather we did it, we fit these in-store.
What I would actually buy
For a Mk3 that gets used properly: the B-G hub and the Sabelt flat bottom in 320mm. The flattened lower edge earns its place every time you get in.
For one that does long distances: the same hub and the OMP RS at 350mm, which keeps the steering weight close to where you found it.
For a track car: the Sparco 310 and a B-G quick release, and go in knowing that parking will ask more of you.
Final thoughts: check the years, then please yourself
There is only one thing on this page you can get wrong, and it is the hub. The MOMO part covers 1989 to 2005 and the B-G part covers 2005 to 2014, so a Mk3 takes the B-G one. Get that right and the rest is genuinely free choice, because every wheel here shares the same 6x70mm pattern and will bolt to it.
After that it comes down to how close you want to sit and what you want under your hands. Nobody else can answer that for you, though I would not go below 310mm in a car you also drive to work.
Working out those combinations is my job here, so if you are stuck between two of them, or you are not certain which side of 2005 your car falls on, email us with the build date and I will tell you which to order. I am Cameron, by the way.