Murph Z32

I searched for over an hour last night to see if anyone has tried to put Axis Hiros on the Z32. Here's what I want to do. I want to put 18 x 8.5 on the front. To do this I would need spacers. Spacers are somewhat controversial on this forum, but I have a friend who put installed spacers on his TT with Axis Mod Sevens and has no problems. The rear wheels I want to put on are 19 x 10.5, but I think they may be to big. Axis reccomended that I put on 19 x 8.5 and 19 x 9.5. I don't mind going 19 X 9.5 in the back, but I refuse to put a 19 inch wheel on the front. Any help or Ideas would be much apprieciated. Thanks

ZLover4Life

19s are too big. Not only will they likely cause rubbing issues (and your car will sit like an SUV), but it'll have so much rotational mass that it will make your 300ZX slower.

Go 18" all around if you're really set on larger wheels. Spacers are ok as long as you don't go too large with them (the largest I'd recommend are 15mm).

snwbrderphat540

8.5 you shouldnt need spacers, nither should you for 9.5 really... just get the proper offset. i had 9 inch wide rims all around on my car had no problems. and i would honestly say go 17 because you can get more tire on them, just perform better and look better imho.

Murph Z32

The 19 x 9.5 doesn't need spacers. You have to use them on the 18 by 8.5 to clear the brakes.

ZLover4Life

For the record, I agree with Eric about the 17s being better for performance. Less rotational mass and more tire results in better grip and better acceleration/braking.

Murph Z32

That sucks, I really want to buy those axis hiros. Any thoughts on other brands of wheels I should look at?

snwbrderphat540

volk, racing heart.... idk... those are my fav for 5 lug.

entropy31

3rd on 17s. best looks/performance wise imo.

ZLover4Life

plus 5zigen, Advan, and Rays

(I'll be getting some 5zgien FN01R-Cs someday... super lightweight and look awesome)

But seriously, if you really want those wheels, get them... it's your money and your car. We're just providing input for the best possible performing 300ZX.

Murph Z32

O.Z. Galileo III are the wheels I'm looking at now. 18 x 8.5 front 18 x 10 rear. It looks sick. Too bad they are around $2500. How much do those wheels weigh Zlover?

Goofyz

the differnce between 17" and 18" are minimal, 19" look a bit silly on the z cuase you have to use 20 series or under tires to keep them from rubbing, and at such a low profile you can not get the performance out of the z you would expect for such a car. 17" probably help you accelerate a bit faster with less rotaional mass but you have something like 28% smaller contact patch to the road so perhaps the 18s make up in traction what the 17 make up for in weight. Maybe not but they probably help you to stop a bit shorter distances. We aren't talking 20 feet or anything but perhaps a good 3-5 feet in 60-0 stoppig distances ( i am talking same make/model of tire but different sizing 17vs18s) on the same car on the same track. But you lose this when you go to ultra low profile cause the tire will not handle road inconsistances or dissipate heat as well. So, to sum up, go with 17s or 18s if you want a bigger rim for show but stay away from the 19 and 20s if you still want performance.

ZLover4Life

3-5 feet of better braking is the difference between a good day and an accident... or a good day and a pair of handcuffs when you plow over a kid who runs out into the street.

CanyonCarver

I think it would be really interesting to see some hard numbers on the statement that larger wheels increase the rotating mass of the vehicle by any real significant amounts. While aiming to maintain your stock outside diameters for proper speedo correction, a larger diameter wheel generally increases in size in the spoke length, ie: take the sectional area of the spoke and add a 1/2" in length to go to a 1" taller wheel. Then add that weight for each spoke. With just a quick net search, AL weighs 2,560 kg/cu m.

At the same time, A larger wheel requires less tire and vice-versa. So, when looking at the cross-sectional area of a tire, you reduce the amount of rubber by a rather significant amount when dealing with the length of a circumference. A quick net search show manufactured rubber weighing 1522 kg/cu m. I would speculate that tire rubber is heavier with the plys, belts and the bead cord.

Anyone care to play with these number further?

I do agree that 19's give off that SUV look.

Murph Z32

The little b@st@rd should stay out of the street.

ZLover4Life

You're ignoring the fact that adding a half inch to the spoke moves the entire rim of the wheel (the part that the tire sits on) out a half inch too, and that's what increases the rotating mass so much. Having the extra half inch on the spoke does comparatively nothing - it's when you move the rim out that the rotating mass changes.

The rotating mass of an equivalent section of tire will be less than the outer rim of a wheel when it's moved out a half inch. I mean think about it logically... we're talking about the weight of half an inch of the sidewall of a tire. The bulk of the weight of a tire is in the tread, not the sidewall. If we're not talking about changing the tire's outer diameter, the bulk of the tire's weight will be in the same spot regardless of wheel size - but with 17" wheels, the rim is closer to the center and therefore has less rotational mass.

And in this case, we're talking about moving the rim of a (presumably) heavy wheel to begin with - last time I checked, Axis wheels weren't light. So when you move a heavy rim further out from the center, the rotating mass is going to increase even more. Yeah, an inch on 5Zigen FN01R-Cs or some 350Z S-Tune wheels (the real light Rays ones, I don't remember the model) isn't going to mean as much as an inch on heavy wheels.

And people have looked into it, I just don't have the data on hand. It's pretty much the reason that many people stick with the stock wheels or 17" wheels when they track the car a lot (Greg Dupree and Dean Delvy come to mind... Dean runs stock wheels and Greg runs 17" Volks in the back IIRC, and Greg's doing 9s while Dean does 10s).

I'm not sure about the Advans or Rays (I know they're pretty light - I'm sure that data wouldn't be hard for you to find), but the 5Zigen FN01R-Cs weigh 17lbs if I recall correctly.

http://www.splparts.com/Parts/Univer...en/default.htm

And you're right, kids should stay out of the street... but the majority of people don't think, let alone children.

Murph Z32

All the so called fitment specialists said I could get away with a 275 35 or 30 19 in the back. I have a friend here who has mod 7 19's for his rear wheels. I'm gonna go look at it in the next day or two to see if it has that suv look.

Murph Z32

What do you guys think about the volks on this Z?

snwbrderphat540

nice, a little to chrome for me, but nice. i LOVE these volk wheels, it was what i wanted if i ever got a TT cause not worth the money on my NA and now i got a S30 sooo.... yeah but here

Murph Z32

Do those wheels come in an brushed silver color? I could only find gunmetal and bronze.

b300z

search long and hard for some wheels. it can make or break your Zs appearance

have you looked at any HREs, SSRs, Fiske, Volk(other models), CCW, etc

Murph Z32

I agree. I don't like the ssr's for the z. The only ones I like my buddy just bought for his NSX. I want to go with those hypersilver Axis Hiros. I just called axis, no spacers are necessary for the front wheels (18 x 8.5). I can put a 19 x 9.5 on the back, with a 2.5" lip. A friend of mine also has a black 90TT with Axis Mod 7's on it. 18 in the front and 19 in the back. I want to see if it has the "SUV" look others have talked about. I have also looked at OZ Gallieon III. Volks are expensive. I like the wheel snowbdr has a pic of, but I like brushed finish with a polised lip. Hell, I've got the car I've always wanted with low mileage. That's the hardest part.

Murph Z32

Damn, I just found some bada$$ wheels, but they don't make an 18 for the front. Volk GTS. God hates me. I guess it could be worse. I could be driving a V6 camaro.

snwbrderphat540

hmm, ill check the site again, i think that color would be killer with black or silver but its all in taste... lemme' take a look for yah.

EDIT: sorta like this?


here is the site im using for volk wheels, not hte site i usually use but it seems to get the job done.

http://www.mackinindustries.com/md/index.html

and yeah volk is expensive but damn good, and hell, if you were ready to drop 1800 on headlights or w/e the cost was i think the price of volk wheels shouldnt faze you to much



and here is volks official site i guess. http://www.rayswheels.co.jp/ some of it is japanese though. lol

Murph Z32

Something a bit more silver like this.

Murph Z32

Anyone know who sells these rims?