15" rims...what tires?!?
 

I just bought some 15 enkei meshes and i need to get some tires...i want to do 225 in the rear and 205 in the front...what tires do you guys suggest, and what size tires?

what size tires do i use to keep stock ride height?

Did your car come with 185/70 R14 on it? Tell me what size you had stock and I"ll tell you how wide you can go.



Also check out the thread" Maxium size for a 280ZX " It's about halfway down this page. On there you will find my tire caculator witch tells you the deminsions for metric tires in Inches. :D

205/60-15
225/55-15

hey guys well i got tired of those meshes, and bought those new konig rewinds, gunmetal. Well anyways are you sure that 205/60/15 is the right size, beacuse they look really big? Is it 205/60/15 or 205/55/15?

Darrell

Yes, I'm sure. 205/60/15 is the factory tire size that came on the 280ZX turbo with 15" wheels. They do look big compared to all those people running undersize tires. :)

oooo gotcha :hpydance:

Hey DarrellBuddy321, do you have pics of the Konigs on your Z? I'm really interested in those specific wheels, but I'd like to know how they look and fit before I buy.

If you went with the 15x6, I'd go with 215/60-15 - gives a square sidewall look. 225s would give a little bulge in the sidewall, and 205s might start rounding the wall in towards the contact patch.

Correct me if I'm wrong on any of this. I'm running 215/60-14s on my stock 14x6 wheels, and I think they fit perfectly. There's just a slight bulge on the sidewalls, and the tire height combined with white lettering gives it that sexy muscle car look. This is what I'm basing my info/advice from.

-Dave

225/45/16's in the front & 245/45/16's in the rear...

You'll need 7" in front and 8" wide wheels in the rear, but DAMN it looks good!

Seriously though, I agree with Dorifto, I think 215/60/15's generally look better than the 205's. The 205's are just too narrow for my liking.

I've got 205/15's on my 'winter/rain' wheels and they're awfully narrow. The wheel wells look like empty caverns, but I was running 225/50/14's on my ITS car back in the 80's so I may have a little perspective problem.

Ill be getting the rims in about a week, so ill post pictures when they are mounted. The rims are 15x7 actually, and i think that 225, is 7inches wide? Correct me if im wrong. And wont the speedo be off a bit with a tire that is 215?

Let's see here ...

First, the width of a 225 series-width tire. 225 / 25 = 9 inches wide. More explanation of conversion follows.

The tire width doesn't change height; tire profile ratio changes height.

Let's take for example a 215/60-15. 215 is the tire width, in mm. 60 is the percentage of the tire width that the sidewall is high (profile ratio). 15 is obviously the rim diameter.

Now, assuming you mean stock as the 14x6 wheels, and 185/70-14 tires, let's figure out the math.

We've established that the assembly is at least 14" tall, not including the tire. Then, we figure that there's roughly 25mm in 1 inch. The tire sidewall is 70% of the tire width (185mm). 70% of 185 is 129.7mm. 129.7 x 2 (you measure the sidewall twice) is 259 mm. 259 / 25 (to figure inches) is 10.36 inches. Add 10.36 and 14, which gives you 24.36 inches. So the assembly height of the stock wheel and rim is 24.36.

Now, let's do this for your selected rim/tire size, 215/60-15.

60% of 215mm is 129mm. 129 x 2 is 258mm. 258 / 25 is 10.32. 10.32 plus 15 equals 25.32 inches.

Now, lets compare the assembly heights of stock versus aftermarket.

24.36 inches stock, versus 25.32 inches aftermarket. This means that the aftermarket setup is taller than stock by .96 of an inch. By guessing, I would say that at 60mph, your speedo would show 57-58mph. Therefore, your speedo readings would be slightly altered, but not enough to cause panic or worry.

If you meant stock referring to the turbo wheels (15x6?, and 195/65-15?), then the size difference is negligible.

Now this poses the question: if I just did all that, why am I failing my math class? :D

Hope this helps,
-Dave

You can always cheat like I did! :chug:

http://www.1010tires.com/TireSizeCal...?action=submit

My 245/45/16's are actually .06 inches shorter than the stock 195/70/14's that came on most ZX's so my speedo reads 60.1mph when it should read 60mph.

Meaning it has fewer than the 18,000 miles on the odometer!

New Rims
 

Looking goooooooood! Nice choice on tire size. :)

haha thanx :rolleyes:

Sorry to bring up an old thread but I had a quick question. I just got the same rims. I put 225/60/15 tires on it, I was just wondering next time around what is the biggest tire I can fit on those rims?? Thanks
Rob

Theotrically, you can go up to 255's. But on the front you'll run out of the wheel well and suspension clearance before that.

sweet, so could run 255's in the rear an maybe 215's in the front, that would look so awesome,
Thanks
Rob

That might give a really cool retro muscle car look, but for handling... it's a really bad idea. You put that big of a width difference on your car from front to rear you'll learn really quickly about how nasty UNDERSTEER can be:eek:

Rod.

It would be good at the drag strip (if you're having traction problems with what you have = unlikely) but you're better off keeping all four wheels the same size. Of course, I have different size tires on my front and rear, but I DO have traction problems... :cool:

225/45/16's on the front and 245/45/16's on the rear.

With the 1.5" suspension drop, the extra .5" lower tire profile on the front and a very low air dam, makes navigating parking lot speed bumps very interesting.

The rear tires are the factory height combined with the slightly shorter front tires gives it a nice aggressive stance and keeps as much air from getting under the front at speed very low as well.

Next will be to fabricate a 'wind channel' pan underneath the engine bay to eliminate the positive pressure and contribute to a little more downforce.

I wasn't exactly serious when I said that, I just figured it look cool.

I've got 16s to install and I was going to run 225/50/16 and 245/45/16
At that size both would be correct outside diameter. Sounds like that is the way to go for a street car. Do you agree or would you still prefer your 45 series on the front? (my wheels are staggered too)