Sportmax 002 15x8 or Konig Rewind 16x7?

[SportBikeMike]

I love my Konig Rewinds....although it was a bit of a struggle getting the caps over the hubs on the front wheels. Rubber mallet required....

[70 Cam Guy]

Of course, keep in mind that you'll be challenged to find any wheels that look decent in a stock size, except for some good used wheels. It's a challenge to find 15 inch wheels with the 4.5" 4 lug pattern & zero offset.

If you're looking for a 14" or 15", you'll find the AE86 corolla and older uses the 4x114.3 (4x4.5) and similar or negative offset. Tons of cool 15" wheels and old school cool JDM wheels can be found on club4AG and probably on HybridZ from other Z people.

Pie, from what I understand the ZX has more room for width and your final width decision will determine which tire sizes to look for. You'll want to search more to see what your limits are

[d240zx2]

Well, I bit the proverbial bullet today and ordered the 16 inch Konigs and Yokohama S.Drive tires (205/50-16). Yoko has a $40/set mail-in rebate that brought the price down to $77 each. The Rewinds were on sale at Discount Tire for $127. They'll be in next week.

[Jeff G 78]

That's a great price on the Rewinds. I paid double that for my Panasports and I got a good deal on them. I think I would have bought five at that price in case I ever bent or curbed one. You never know how long they will be available. What color did you get?

[S30Driver]

I agree with Jeff, the extra wheel would be great to have as a backup at that price.

The Yokohama's are a great choice.

I bit the bullet last week & ordered tires for the new Rota RB's I bought a month ago.

Originally was going with the S.Drives but ordered Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 star's instead.

205/55/16 Got them on last friday, they look great....

[d240zx2]

I got the graphite, Jeff. I'm thinking about painting the spokes body color, but at the $200 per wheel quote I got, that might wait a while....Seems the masking required eats up a lot of time.....

[d240zx2]

I saw a set of those Dunlops on a set of Rota 17" wheels today. What an awesome look they gave to that BRG colored Z....

[Jeff G 78]

IMHO body colored spokes would look a bit hokey. Be sure to post pics once you get them on the car.

[d240zx2]

Yeah, you're probably right. I'll have to do some photoshopping once I get them on to see how it'll look.

[d240zx2]

Wow! Even if it IS my baby, she sure looks better with new shoes!

[Jeff G 78]

Very cool! Don't even THINK about body colored spokes :sick:

It looks awesome the way it is.

[Sean240Z]

First off, thanks to all who contribute to the forums. It's fantastic to have such an awesome source of information dedicated to the early Z cars. My small contribution follows:

Well after 19yrs, I finally decided to upgrade the wheels on my Z. It's just getting too hard to find a decent 14" performance tire. For the last five years I had been running 205/60R-14 Falken Zeix tires on my 14x6 "Iron Cross" wheels. These tires were OK but had a fairly soft sidewall. I used to fill them to 45psi to get decent response from them, though they ended up being fairly harsh over bumps.

After much research, I decided on 16x7 Konig Rewinds (Gun Metal). I got them from Discount Tire Direct for $125 each (plus $50 online ordering rebate).

Next to tires. I did a lot of research (http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/comparisons/09q2/tire_test_nine_affordable_summer_tires_take_on_the_michelin_ps2-comparison_tests/dunlop_direzza_sport_z1_star_spec_page_11) and decided on 205/50R-16 Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec tires, an "Ultra High Performance Summer Tire" . I got also got them from Discount Tire Direct for $114 each (plus $50 Dunlop Rebate).

New wheels and tires :

Below is a comparison of the two wheel/tire combinations. According to the tire size calculator I used (http://www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html), the new wheel/tire combination should be 0.4" taller, which looks about right.

Though the treadwidth of the tire is the same, you can see the difference between a 6" and 7" wide wheel.

After I pulled the old wheels off the car I weighed the old and new combinations, with the following results:

- 14x6 Iron Cross with 205/60R-14 Falcon Ziex tires - 37lbs;

- 16x7 Konig Rewind with 205/50R-16 Dunlop Direzza's - 39.5lbs.

Now for the results:

NOTE: My car has Suspension Techniques Sport Springs and Anti-Sway Bars installed. The ST Sport Springs lower the car approximately 1.5" over stock.

My first impressions after last night's drive follow:

- there are no clearance issues/rubbing with this combination on my lowered car;

- after pulling out of the driveway, the tires immediately picked up the sand that remains on the road after the winter (200 Treadwear rating), and peppered the wheel wells (once I got to clear roads, this issue went away);

- I found this wheel/tire combination (tires at 46psi) to be more compliant over bumps than my previous combination;

- road noise wasn't an issue for me as I have a "sporty" exhaust and drive with the windows open, but wasn't any greater than my previous wheel/tire combination;

- now to performance, WOW!!!!!!! What a difference in steering feel/response, cornering is much flatter with increased confidence (I wish I'd made the upgrade earlier).

- finally, I think they look great, so does my son;

As an aside, I knew that I was going to have to replace my clutch soon (I've got 30,000 miles on the current clutch). Well, these new tires have great traction. So much in fact, that their traction exceeds the "traction" of my clutch. After a spirited start where the revs increased much faster than forward progress would indicate (at first I thought I was spinning the tires), I realized that I'll need to replace my clutch in the very near future.

Edited May 1, 2010 by Sean240Z