Max tire width on 7" rim on front of 260Z

[Murph]

Currently my 260Z has 14x7's front and rear, 225's up back and 205's up front. I haven't really push the car much yet (it wasn't on the road for long and suspension was rooted....and sh*t tires) but it did seem to under steer when I did push it.

What sort of tire widths front and rear do people generally run on zeds? How wide can you go on the front without rubbing in the guards?

Thanks

[sjcurtis]

I can only talk from my experience, if you run 225 on a 14X7 rim use them at both ends of the Zed to keep it all equal, reduce the twitchines. If you run reasonable compounds the 225 grip will assist you in departing from the crowd smartly on demand.

good luck

Steve:classic:

[jeffs73z]

I also run 225/60-14 all around with no problems or adjustments.

Jeff

[Murph]

Good stuff. 225's it is!

Looks a bit funny with the skinny front tires as is, so I'll be glad to be rid of them.

[LanceM]

I have 235/60-14 all the way around on 6 3/4" rims, no clearance issues.

[2ManyZs]

A good "rule of thumb" is to not go more than 2 inches section width of the tire over the width of your wheel.

eg. with a 7 inch wheel, try to keep the section width close to 9 inches for the tire or you'll end up with bulging sidewalls and abnormal tread wear.

Most tire manufacturers will give you the section width, tread width, overall diameter for each of the tire sizes they carry so you can determine which width to get in whichever profile you choose.

[Murph]

Just got my zed back, and realised that it's running 215/65-14's front and 225/65-14's rear.

Now I've looked at a mates zed and he's running 225/60-14's as is jeffs73z above. I gather the 60 profile would be correct ?

[speedyblue]

I was running 215/65's on mine and the front rubbed on that lower panel at the front. Bent it out of the way and had no problems with it since. Now I'm running 235/60's all round but I have noticed one thing. As you go wider, it grips worse in the wet. Hot rodders had some sort of 'rule of thumb' about width versus weight, and once it is exceeded the load is spread over too greater area or something.

OK in the dry though.

But I do remember the nice wet day I had with a rather past it L24 engine. Spin through first, slam into second and keep her going. 80kph and still fishtailing down the Gold Coast Highway in the morning traffic.

Good if you are ready for it, very bad if you are not.

But Alas, now I am fitting a nice G-nose and in a trial fit, noticed that the big feet will no longer fit. And I really loved the stance of wide rubber hanging out the front too.

[Murph]

How wide a rim are you running the 235's on? That's pretty fat!

Atm, I'm thinking for the next set of tires I'll go the Yokohama A509's in a 225/60-14. About $150 each.

Mind you....I am enjoying having the shitty rubber on it atm.

[1975yellowBSPZ]

even with the overfenders the 235s won't fit? or you just don't want to drill the holes? I'm running 235's on my 14X7's and the fit is fine except I get a little rubbing in the pass. front on my msa airdam, I think If they were 60 series not 70 it would be ok.

[speedyblue]

I'm running them on a 6 inch rim and they go great The tread wear is farily even. It did wear out in the centre first by about 2mm but it was probably because of overinflation (35~38psi)

I had to lip the rear guards a little, but it only took the use of a block of pine and a rubber mallet.

Looks tough though.

[240ZMan]

One other aspect you can use to tune the handling is tire pressure. I have 14 x 7 rims with Goodyear 215/60-14 Eagles all aorund (not my choice, the PO had just put them on before me). They are a very hard tire with OK, but not great grip. I too found more understeer than I liked, so I have the fronts set at 35 psi and the rears at 30. Didn't make a radical difference, but it improved the crispness of the initial turn-in, and did make the car more neutral in higher speed sweepers.

This is not my daily driver, so it only goes out on dry clear roads. I'd be careful about this much of difference between front and rear if you drive in the wet.

Until I can put the rear sway bar and bigger front on, this was a good (and FREE) improvment.