Who's running the Panasport 16X7 +11 wheels from ZCar Garage?

[Jeff G 78]

9 minutes ago, Steve-on the road said:

Hi Jeff and other members. I'm new to the forum and excited about fixing up a 73 240z and being involved with so many enthusiastic and knowledgeable members. Jeff, may I ask what the wheels/tires are on the z you posted above? They look great, as does the car! Are they Konig Graphite 16 X 7 with 0 offset? Is a 205 the widest tire you can run on a 16 X 7 with 0 offset and not have rubbing on stock shocks/suspension? Does a Panasport 16 x 7 +11 with 225/50s end up looking the same in the wheel well as a 205 with zero offset? does the Rota 16 X7 +10 offset allow the 225s without rubbing also? I like a little color on the spokes and not sure if the Panasport comes in different colors like the Konigs and Rotas. I do like the wheels/tires filling the wheel well as pictured but hoping to stay stock for now, avoid rubbing and rolling edge (though not opposed to it!)

Steve, There is a thread from about 15 years ago where I documented what it took to make my wheel/tire package fit.   I can't find it, but here is another thread where I posted pics of the trimmed lips.  I believe I removed between 8 and 10mm from the weld flanges between 11 and 1 o'clock on the fender.

My wheels are Panasport 16x7 zero offset with 225/50R16 Hankook RS-2 tires.  My car is lowered 1" via KYB springs.  The front tires rub the front valence when backing up and turning, but not while going forward.  An aftermarket airdam will usually give you more turning clearance.  The rears took quite a bit of rolling and trimming to clear.  I attempted to run them without trimming and the tires were getting cut badly with any moderate suspension travel.  I tried rolling first, but it wasn't enough, so I then did it right and trimmed.  

As I've said over and over and I'll say it again here -  ride height has no effect on tire clearance.  Lowering a car only changes the starting point of travel.  The tire will still move through the same arc regardless of the starting point.  If you go with extremely stiff race springs, you might get away with less clearance, but any street springs will still allow full suspension travel over bumps and undulations in the road.  That's why the only correct way to check clearance is to remove the springs and run the suspension through full travel using a floor jack under the control arm.  Go at least far enough to compress the jounce bumper by 1/3 of its height.

[Steve-on the road]

Awesome, Jeff!! Thanks for the quick replies! This is going to be fun. Really appreciate the input!

[Steve-on the road]

Jeff, I looked at the thread you sent. Thanks! Did the panasports come with that graphite spoke color? Looks great.

[Jeff G 78]

1 hour ago, Steve-on the road said:

Jeff, I looked at the thread you sent. Thanks! Did the panasports come with that graphite spoke color? Looks great.

Yes, they did.  I really like the color.

[Yarb]

@Jeff G 78is this offset true for say bc racing coilovers? I’ve got considerable more room between tire and strut now that the factory coils are gone.

[Jeff G 78]

6 minutes ago, Yarb said:

@Jeff G 78is this offset true for say bc racing coilovers? I’ve got considerable more room between tire and strut now that the factory coils are gone.

You will be able to go with a higher positive offset wheel with coilovers.  For a 16x7 wheel and a 225/50R16 tire, the ideal offset is around +10mm to clear the stock strut and fender lip with little to no trimming.  With coilovers, you can likely go closer to +20mm on a 16x7 wheel and 225/50R16 tire though I have not measured the exact differences myself.  Of course that combo would look goofy as the tires would be sucked in narrower.  With a higher positive offset wheel, you can now go with a wider tire and still fit within the fender.  I know a 245 width tire will fit with coilovers and the right offset.  I'm guessing that a 245/40R16 tire on a 16x8 wheel would probably require around a +10mm to +15mm offset to clear the strut and fender with similar trimming to what I did.  The front gets a bit trickier as a wider tire is more likely to contact things while turned.  There used to be a great website for comparing different wheel offsets and tire sizes at www.rimsntires.com, but it is down.  I'm not sure if it's gone for good, but it says down for redesign.  Hopefully it comes back as it was my favorite site for playing with these things.  Hope this helped.

[Yarb]

Yes Sir.. thank you

[Steve-on the road]

Thank you Jeff! I wonder if a 215 might just fit with the 16 X 7 zero offset without rubbing on the standard stock 240z setup.

[Jeff G 78]

23 minutes ago, Steve-on the road said:

Thank you Jeff! I wonder if a 215 might just fit with the 16 X 7 zero offset without rubbing on the standard stock 240z setup.

215 is an odd size. Most run 205/55R16 for a good fit. 225/45R16 is another option as they are shorter so it buys some clearance and gives you some gear ratio advantage. 

Edited January 14, 2022 by Jeff G 78

[Steve-on the road]

Excellent. Many thanks. I'm thrilled to have these conversations. The Z is a work of art and stirs the passion to make more art.

[Yarb]

I’m currently running 205 60R15 tires on ZX turbo wheels. No clearance issues before I removed the factory shocks. Once the park bench bumpers were removed the car rose 2-3 inches all the way around. Lowered it back down and have plenty of clearance.

[Jeff G 78]

205/60R15 are very short, so they will give you a lot more clearance than a 205/55R16.