Wheels ???

[FrankieZD]

My car is bocomong a money pit.

The interior is about done & I'm looking for some nice wheels.

I currently have a set of "centerline" 15" that look pretty good. The problem is that previously I had flares on the fenders & the wheels fit fine. I got rid if the flares and now the centerlines are a little too wide & will hit the fender on bumps.

I looked in to some really nice Konig 17" wheels but they need adaptors & American tire (or any one else) won't mount "adaptors".

Any one with any ideas where I can get some nice looking wheels. I don't care much for the panasports but there must be something else out there.

You guys have helped me with so many other things I'm hoping you'll come up with something now.

P.S. The fiberglass door panels from Pete Robinson are great.

[72 OJ]

Panasports are IMO the best choice for a S30- Z, quality second to none , plus a timeless look And yes they are true $$$$ pits

Edited July 11, 2012 by 72 OJ

[5thhorsemann]

Dude, your car isn't the money pit, your wish list is. If we would just stop changing things and force ourselves to leave well enough alone, these cars are as cheap as any to keep on the road.

Now shut up and spend all the cash you have to make the car exactly the way you want it, and if your wife starts crying about it, give her a reason to cry.

[MotoManMike]

Very nice reply 5th Frankie, they are only as big of money pit as you let them be. I can go hop in either 1 of my 2 Z's and drive them where I need to go, no problems and have a blast doing it. I could however drop another 10 grand on them and probably still want some more parts or power. There is a very fine line of satisfaction when it comes to upgrading anything whether its a car, boat, motorcycle etc. If it isn't broke don't fix it philosophy will keep the money in your pocket. Fix it until you are happy will usually leave most men spending more than they ever want to because you will always see one better and want yours to be that way and the cycle continues.

What size tires are you running and what size and offset are your wheels? I've used 15x7 inch Konig rewind wheels on both my cars, with 0 offset with 205/50/15 on both. They look pretty sharp IMO. On both cars the tire rubbed on the drivers side worse then the passenger side. I had to trim the inside lip of the quarter panel to get my clearance so they wouldn't shred tires. I found that taking one of those cheap car ramps you can buy at auto parts stores, backing just one rear wheel up on one ramp would compress the suspension enough I could mark the inner lip of the panel with a marker so I knew how much metal to trim to let the wheel travel throughout the suspension stroke and not rub. Good luck. Horseman is right, these cars are dirt cheap to keep running, vanity costs money. I wouldn't mess with wheel adapters, then offsets get tricky because they push the wheel out even further in the rear. The wheels you like are out there just search the bolt pattern for the Z I think is 4x114.3 if i'm not mistaken. If you were running flares I would have thought they would have cut the quarter panels anyhow do you have any pics of the wheel well in the back?

[FrankieZD]

Very nice reply 5th Frankie, they are only as big of money pit as you let them be. I can go hop in either 1 of my 2 Z's and drive them where I need to go, no problems and have a blast doing it. I could however drop another 10 grand on them and probably still want some more parts or power. There is a very fine line of satisfaction when it comes to upgrading anything whether its a car, boat, motorcycle etc. If it isn't broke don't fix it philosophy will keep the money in your pocket. Fix it until you are happy will usually leave most men spending more than they ever want to because you will always see one better and want yours to be that way and the cycle continues.

What size tires are you running and what size and offset are your wheels? I've used 15x7 inch Konig rewind wheels on both my cars, with 0 offset with 205/50/15 on both. They look pretty sharp IMO. On both cars the tire rubbed on the drivers side worse then the passenger side. I had to trim the inside lip of the quarter panel to get my clearance so they wouldn't shred tires. I found that taking one of those cheap car ramps you can buy at auto parts stores, backing just one rear wheel up on one ramp would compress the suspension enough I could mark the inner lip of the panel with a marker so I knew how much metal to trim to let the wheel travel throughout the suspension stroke and not rub. Good luck. Horseman is right, these cars are dirt cheap to keep running, vanity costs money. I wouldn't mess with wheel adapters, then offsets get tricky because they push the wheel out even further in the rear. The wheels you like are out there just search the bolt pattern for the Z I think is 4x114.3 if i'm not mistaken. If you were running flares I would have thought they would have cut the quarter panels anyhow do you have any pics of the wheel well in the back?

Sorry, I should have been clearer. I'm not really complaining about the cost since I've owned this car for 40 years. It's been through a couple of changes.

Back in 79 I rear ended a guy & had to repair the damage. The body shop showed me a "G" nose that would actually be cheaper than replacing all the front end components. He also talked up the flares. I did both and was very happy for a long time. Although I never liked the look of the IMSA flares.

I retired & decided to restore the Z but without the flares. I had previously replaced the factory 14" deep dish mags with 15" Centerlines. They fit well with the flares. However I decided to go with a more stock look. My body man replaced the front fenders & rear quarters. The centerlines now have the same problem you describe.

Anyway I did some more digging and Motorsport may have a set of 17" konigs that don't require any adaptors so I'm looking there right now.

My total cost for this car new was $4550.00 and I'm about $10,000 into it now.

As you can guess after 40 years I really like this car.

Thanks for the feedback.

[d240zx2]

I ran Koenig Rewinds, 16x7 with zero fitment issues on 721. It was lowered two inches, too.

[MotoManMike]

I'm pretty sure the ones from Motorsport wheels for the Z are all a -5 offset so you shouldn't have the rub issues with that offset with whatever you go with as long as the tire isn't too tall. I got my wheels at tire rack dirt cheap, like 420 a set for the wheels but they only had 0 offset. Thats pretty awesome you have kept the car that long. I admire your ability to stick with something but hey you made the right choice 40 years ago which helps ALOT. I love the G-nose. They look sharp, i'm sure it really helps when its windy outside too as these cars are affected alot by side winds and my stock car is worse than the other Z I have with a front air damn on it in the wind, and its much more stable above 75mph. 17's IMO are a little large looking on these cars but some people really like that big wheel look, I chose the 15's because it looked to me more period correct and tires are a heck of alot cheaper. I'm really hard on tires so i've got to keep my wallet in check. Keep up the good work, i'd love to see that car.

[Zedyone_kenobi]

Um, there is a Gnose being discussed and we have not asked for pictures yet!!!! AHEM pics!!!

[FrankieZD]

I have some pictures but I'm not too computer savvy.

How do I post them ?

[Zedyone_kenobi]

Well when you go to reply, there is a box called 'Go Advanced' right next to the box that says 'Post Quick Reply'

When you click that you will get a fancier text box with lots of options. There is one option that looks like a picture. Click that. And then you will get a dialog box that appears asking you to choose where the picture comes from. One tab is for picking a picture from your computer, the other is from a web URL. If you have the pictures on your computer you can click that tab and then click select files. After that you navigate to those pictures and then choose them. Then click SAVE and then click upload file(s)

That should get you there.

[FrankieZD]

Thanks for the direction. Now we'll see if I can follow it.

There should be 4 pictures here.

I wanted to show the door panel I got from pete robinson as they are beautiful.

Incedently I will be selling these centerline "lookalike" wheels if anyone is interested.

[FrankieZD]

I got the Konigs that don't require any spacers/mods to fit. I think they look great.

I'm very happy to say thay don't have any clearance problems either.

I would like to sell the centerlines (8" x 15") if anyone is interested.

Thanks for everything.

Edited July 18, 2012 by FrankieZD