Engine oil – penrite 10-40w synthetic – supercheap, autobahn, repco usually.
Gearbox oil – royal purple, vmx 80 GL4 (do not use GL5 as it messes up the synchros long term) – supercheap, autobahn, repco usually.
Oil Filter – z386-2 – supercheap, autobahn, repco, ebay.
Coolant – Toyota Red – Available with qld club membership at a bulk price and discount.
Fuel filter – ebay usually $10.
Headlight Fluid can be found here.
Tyres and Wheel choices – “The best setup” – Gordaen tyre calculator
There are alot of different tyre and wheel choices being the responsibility and personal preference of every owner to maintain handling and the look (stance) of their chosen MR2.
However under normal driving circumstances for nonturbo or turbo cars handling mid corner speed is a quality i would recommend maintaining. Choosing a proper tyre compound, profile, offset and rim diameter which fits in your budget and is also available
is a tricky task to complete. In Queensland you will find the tyre choices on a 15″, 17″ & 18″ more available than anything on a 16″ rim as manufactures seem to have removed any of the performance tyres out of that size range.
Hence when looking for the elusive “best setup” owners haven’t got a lot of choice but to upgrade the rims and tyres at the same time. We have members buying and selling their 18 inch rims to go back to stock 15 inch rims to increase the handling and ride
quality of the car and vice a versa for looks.
Ideal tyre fitment – Let me put a caveat on the following that this is based on club members feedback in our Queensland club and you will get different opinions world wide dependant on your climate, ride comfort requirements and use of the car.
What I am referring to below is a street setup. The stock tyre and rim choice of the 15 inch common rev 3 rim seems to be what is most commonly used as reference even though there are the 14 inch wheels which the car came on in oem spec from 89 – mid 91.
The 15 inch oem rim and wheel still have ride benefits over the upgraded 16, 17 and 18 inch rims which most members run on their chosen MR2 however it comes down to personal choice, desired characteristics and availability.
Stock reference guide – Here
Front 205-215 on a 7/8 inch rim +35(stock) +30(coilovers)
stock is a 6 inch rim with a 205 15 inch tyre +45
Rear 225-245 on a 8/9 inch rim +32(stock) +38(coilovers)
stock is a 7 inch rim with a 225 15 inch tyre +45
Offset with coil overs being a little wider at the perch reducing clearance to a +32
The real difference will also be the series or profile of the tyre used with stock suspension not being able to vertically accommodate a larger profile tyre as easily as a set of coil overs can.
The MR2 handbook is also a good reference guide and worth the $$ in the long run as you get more accustomed to the nuances of the MR2.
I would encourage you and to read up about the MR2 as much as you can as this car has been raced by many enthusiasts worldwide successfully and is sensitive to deviations to its design parameters being maintained. Ultimately you become the pit engineer and the driver, the designer and the mechanic as your car gets maintained or evolves as you want it to. The cars are becoming more and more scarce as the years go on with approx 1/3 of the cars not being reregistered in the last 5 years. Keeping in mind the cars aren’t being made anymore and the numbers effectively will only be decreasing. So, and i say this sincerely, it really is up to you to keep that MR2 of yours burbling along the road for others to enjoy seeing the sight and sound of a very well designed and built car and which will hopefully give you years of driving pleasure still to come.