Trouble finding rims

[SuDZ]

I have been trying to wade my way through rims but having a tough time. basicly i am looking for about a 16 inche wheel for my Z. Now what size wheel, tire would work best?

Also my other question is where do you guys look. I could not find anything on places like tirerack.com or most other sites do not have a 260 (or 2140 for that matter) listed as one of the available cars.

Just looking to see where you guys have been looking for some ideas.

SuDZ

[Zrush]

That was one of the hardest parts of restoring the '77 280Z. Finding some nice rims that would fit. I didn't want to have rubber bands for tires like the ricers. I love the old school SS Cragars, but someone said that they tend to chip. For now we have the 14 inch Weld Draglites. When we upgrade the brakes we are going for 16 inch rims and the search will begin again.

Vicky

[240ZX]

SuDZ,

As a suggestion..........look around until you find a Z and or picture of a Z with the wheel set-up you want on your Z and then contact the owner of that Z car and ask him what was involved. I can tell you I've seen 14", 15", 16", 17" and even 18" wheels on the series 1 cars that fit well. As you already know, most of the custom wheels now days are for front wheel drive cars and have alot of offset built into the wheels. Wheel spacers and different length wheel studs are likely required. IMO, one of the easiest and most attractive wheel set-ups is the 16" x 7" Panasport wheels with a 50 series tire. These guys will bolt right up and will have the right offset. Another thing that is important and contributes to how good a car looks is how the tire/wheel sit within the wheel well.....basically you may have to lower the ride height from stock to get the correct look. Now, going to wide (8" to 9") 17" or 18" wheels you will have to install coilover shock to gain the additional clearance the wider wheels require. There are no easy answers and no one particular method for installing custom wheels/tires! But, I can tell you this, getting the right tires/wheel set-up on your Z and having your ride height correct is going to make the biggest impact on how your car will look. So, take your time on this effort and you will thank yourself later.

[2-4-T-Z-MAN]

I'm running 16" panasports with 235/50/16.

Bolt right up, no clearance problems.

Good luck.

[Teranfirbt]

I'm pretty sure the bolt pattern on these cars is 114.3x4?

If so check out the billet series that centerline has, they will fit it great.

[SuDZ]

Okay,

I had a deal come in that someone has some Sentra SE-R Spec-V rims. They are a 17 inch wheel that runs in at 114.3 which is the same as us as far as I can recall. Also they have tires on them that are stock sizes at 215/45-17 which when I used the Miata tire size calculator said that is would be a bit off, but not much. I think it said that at 59.3 it would read like 60 or so. That is pretty managable to me.

My question is , does the fact that the Sentra is a FWD car matter? I have seen rims that are for RWD cars that sort of seem like they say it for a reason. The only thing is I am not sure what that reason is.

Is it okay to use a FWD rim on our cars?

SuDZ

[Teranfirbt]

FWD rims generally do not work on a RWD car.

The FWD rims have a huge offset, 35mm positive or more. most RWD rims only go as high as 10mm positive.

Actually it's more in the back spacing (distance from the hub to the inside lip of the rim), FWD has huge back spacing (5-6"+) while a car like the Z is at about 4.5" backspacing.

[SuDZ]

Originally posted by Teranfirbt

FWD rims generally do not work on a RWD car.

The FWD rims have a huge offset, 35mm positive or more. most RWD rims only go as high as 10mm positive.

Actually it's more in the back spacing (distance from the hub to the inside lip of the rim), FWD has huge back spacing (5-6"+) while a car like the Z is at about 4.5" backspacing.

Yeah, I took a look and they have like +45mm offsets.

So no go huh. Back to the drawing board hehe.

SuDZ

[Teranfirbt]

Well, you can get billet wheel spacers for them, but you gotta watch out. A lot of them won't take the power a Z can dish out, and a lot of tire places wont do any work on your car if you have em.

[SuDZ]

Originally posted by Teranfirbt

Well, you can get billet wheel spacers for them, but you gotta watch out. A lot of them won't take the power a Z can dish out, and a lot of tire places wont do any work on your car if you have em.

I am pretty much skipping that idea now. But I did kind of like the wheels that are on zcarpart.com , the "Racer" wheels. I am not sure though how they would look. I am trying to look around for pictures on the site but not having much luck so far.

SuDZ

[ChrisA]

On my 73 I am running 16 x 7 Koenig Monsoon rims with 38mm offset. I had to purchase custom wheel spacers made by John Williams machine shop in California. I have seen the spacers listed somewhere else on the web but cant remember where. I have heard that some older 4 bolt wheels off Mustang 2's will fit the car also.

[Teranfirbt]

Yes, I forgot about those. Any rim off a 4 lug mustang will work (early to mid 80's)