Ideal rim and tire size?
 

Im shopping for some new wheels and tires, and was wondering what is th best sizes to got with? I want 18 inch no bigger cause there is not point in my eyes and also think its dumb to drop 500-800 a wheel. Iv seen alot of pople go with 18-8.5 or 18-9 in the rear 18-8 in the front. The thing is the rims im looking at i cant seem to find any bigger then 18-7.5. Cant that be used it sucks cause i got my mond set on these wheels and been looking every where to see if they make a bigger size, all there other wheels come in bigger sizes but these and cant figure out why. 5zigen hyper 5zr

18's are the way to go, and they are called wheels :)

I have 18 x 8.5's all around... on my eibach lowered car, and it looks really well, no clearance issues.

I have 18" ADR CYPHER RIMS ON MY 1993 300zx n/a/ 18x8 in the front with a 35mm offset im useing a 5mm spacer for the front as they said from ADR to use 5mmm spacers on the turbo cars and i have 18x9 adr cypher rims on the back 35mm i bought mine of ebay !

1982 280zxt
1993 300zx n/a/ brembo brill slot rotors 18" ADR CYPHER RIMS K+N pop filter charger system chrome intake pipes Megan Raceing Mufflers

Will 18x7.5 work? And should i go smaller in the front? And what is the biggest offet i could go with? Yea i know its wheel notice when i talked i referred them as "WHEELS" lol : :D .

7.5 will look very funny in the back. My car has this problem right now until I can't afford tires for my old wheels and then put those on. It will be tucked under and look really ridiculous.

no matter what size rim and tire you get, make sure you get the same size wheel to go with it (the rim is the outer section of the wheel where the tire mates to... the wheel is the entire thing)

7.5" = no traction

stock TT rear wheels are 8.5", so if you ask me, if you're going to go a larger diameter, go wider too so at least there's a performance aspect to it. If you are wondering why I said "so at least there's a performance aspect to it," I said it because wider is the only thing that's going to help you. The larger the diameter, the more rotational mass the wheel is producing, and therefore the car will likely accelerate and stop a little slower than with stock sized wheels. Unless you get some lightweight wheels like the 5zigen FNO1R-C's (which is what I'll be getting eventually). 17's are the best compromise of look and performance (being lighter than 18's and almost looking the same) so I'll be getting 17x8.5 in front and 17x9.5 in back (or maybe 10" wide). Not sure of offsets yet. But of course, I follow the rule "form follows function" so maybe you'd be happier with some 18's if looks are most important to you.

Getting anything thinner than 8.5" in back is just dumb in my opinion

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Once again, I post this likn for comparing tire sizes that will fit and such...
http://gs.tolan-hoechst.com/tirecalc.htm

This car is designed with a staggered wheel pattern. you should keep it that way. Im changing the my wheels to VOlK Racing sf challenge 18-8 in the front and 18-10 in the rear . These wheels are soo light its not funny ... Wrap that with Toyo's new proxies T1Rs= NO more traction issues..

IMO....an 2" stagger front to rear is too much on this car. You're car will have a tendency to understeer far more severely than the stock setup. You may like how it looks, but it will underperform most peoples expectations.

So you suggest going to a 18-8 in the front and a 18-9 in the rear? Thats what my original plan but then i was on the phone with stillen and they told me to go big to the 10 .. you think the 9 would be better ?

Here's your problem...
.. lol jk. I know some people don't like stillen, i've never dealth with them.
Do you want to drag, grip, or just show? if you want to drag or just show, then go 10's. Like they said, a 2 inch stagger is alot and does cause understeer. I personally like my 8.5's all around, i do wish i had gone a little bigger in the rear for looks though.

Find a wheel you don't have to use a spacer with though. I hate my ADR's for that reason...

I have 8.5's in the front and 9.5's in the rear. I'm not sure if 9's will fit in the front. I would try and keep it to 1" stagger. How much power are you putting to the wheels? 10's are pretty damn wide. I'm running 275's on my 9.5's and I've always been happy with that.....I may change my tune once I get her running again with all the new goodies.

I've seen 10s on a Z before and it looks really aggressive. The guy I saw taht had it did also have the strosek widebody kit.

everyone's seen that car..... and 10's look retarded without the wide body kit (IMO)

isn't there any one with 10s in the rear and 8s in the fronts here? im running about 400 hp to the rear wheels . id like to get 8s in the fronts but cannot decide weather i want 9 or 10s.If i did decide to go with the 10 what size tire would i have to get ?. If its a 9 im gonna put the 275/35/18. they fit that nicely. Basically i want the car to handle amazing

Really? I didn't think that too many have....is this the same one from San Diego that has a lot of gold flake and jspec headlights?

I thought you were talking abuot "a mean Z's" car thats black with the strosek wide body kit, then there's russel with the Z1 wide body kit, but he has like 12's on the back doesn't he? anyways, we've all seen some form or other of it =)...

yes, ameanZ's Z does have 10s on the back too, I didn't realize it thouhg. Has anyone seen 10's on a Z w/o a widebody kit? I saw a Z with 20s on it.

Every resource I've seen, including Tire Width for a Wheel/Rim Size Chart, states that a 275 tire is outside the recommended range for safety and performance on a 9" wheel. And furthermore, I would caution against making the assumption that a wider back wheel alone will solve your future traction issues as you mod your Z to increase horsepower output. The science behind the effects of going with wider than stock wheels is thoroughly explained in the following article: Wheel Tech, Part II: Width Matters | Tuner University. As far as going smaller than the stock 7.5" front wheels, anywhere on this car, makes little practical sense. The original poster's handle suggests he has a TT, though he never states this in his post. And thus again, it would make little practical sense to go smaller than the stock 8.5" wheels in the rear. There are plenty of staggered setups available online that keep either stock or near stock offsets and widths while increasing wheel diameter if you want to change your car's look, while minimizing the negative side effects caused by the changes to your suspension geometry. At the end of the day, when money is a factor, a better return on your investment will be garnered from buying a higher quality tire.

I'll be the outlier here.

The stock wheels will handle better than any combination mentioned. Larger diameter wheels regardless of weight have a higher moment of inertia because the mass of the rim is further away from the axis. In general, that makes the cars handling slower.

I saw a car for sale recently. Big aftermarket wheels, a different nose, a modified interior and a snapped timing belt. There are probably better things to spend money on than big wheels.

Sounds more than a little preachy.:smile: Sorry about that. I'm old and love the original look of these cars.