Big Wheels !!

[Ciaran]

I have sent a letter off to santa looking for big wheels. Santa's little helper, - Mark in Southern Cal, has been sending on some very nice pic's, I'm wondering if anyone here has 18/19", and if so, how do they look and any problems with tyres??

This is what Santa Mark is offering....

[Ciaran]

Sorry, I lost the run of myself,

I was looking at 17/18" wheels. I then got a fit of the looneys and had a look at 18/19" and decided I need more medication, so sorry about that, my query really is about 17/18" wheel, and peoples experiance with same :roll:

[Rob_Fenn]

Yeah, wouldn't go for 18/19s unless you're hoping to get on Pimp my Ride. The first thing i would do is lower the car as if you get fancy wheels it will only draw attention to the massive arch gaps.

You won't have any problems with ride with the OEM suspension.

-Rob

[DAVEMAT]

I ain't goin on Pimp My Ride :shock: , but I am on medication and waiting on delivery of a set of 18/19s
Just hope they're waiting for me when I return home.
Then you're probably right, after that we'll take a look at lowering her 8)

[ctrlaltdelboy]

call me narrow minded if you like, but weight should be a prime consideration in any wheel 'upgrade'

Mark J is from the same mould as me on this point, and is unlikely to be trading in wheels that are very heavy, indeed from the pic those do look like they should come in at a nice weight.

more anoraky info on this here (http://nsxcb.co.uk/forum2/viewtopic.php?t=216)

[Papalazarou]

I've thought about fitting different wheels but worry about ride/handling.

Americans always run bigger everything, but then they're driving culture is different; they tend to cruise more, the roads are maintained to a high standard (in general) and they seem more concerned with acceleration.

If I lived in the states I'd probably run bigger wheels. unfortunately I live on Exmoor where it rains for four months a year, the roads are 'interesting' and there's no-where to cruise!

Cheers, James.

[Jim]

Hi, Jim

I have just changed over my wheels and gone down a size today, it does make a difference to the feel of the car. I had a set of front 17x7.5 with 215/40/17 and rear 18x8.5 with 265/35/18 and the car was OK, but would not let the backend draft around corners without maxing things out and would then break away not draft. Also the front wheels rub on the inner arch with the large front wheels

I now have a set of front 16x7.5 215/40/16 and read 17x8 245/40/17 with new tyres all round and the drive with the small wheels is much more fun as it was wet today. I think that the springs will need to be changed next to drop the car an inch or so.

The larger wheels win on the bling ometer, but not on the driving fun.


Jim

[Jim]

Sorry spelling mistake in the item above replace "draft" with "drift"

[Senninha]

What rims were/are you running? Stock or aftermarket?

[Jim]

Both after market, the larger rims are Khan's and the smaller ones are team Dynamic ! (came spare with the car, just had them refinished in gold, looks nice on a red and black 91'). The Khan's are very heavy compared to the smaller wheels, much more than the difference in wheel size would account for. I will be removing the wheels again at the weekend to paint the breaks and will but them on the scales to compare.

From a looks point of view the larger wheels do look greater, but I am in test mode at the moment trying to tune the car to handle and drive as it was designed to do.

Jim

[Ciaran]

Thanks everyone for comments,

and yes, I am a Dali weight loss convert, I expect the Enkei's to be a good deal lighter than OEM, saving 7lbs + even with the increase to 17/18"

I am however having a bit of a tyre problem, I like the Kumho, they have proved very good on road, track, and rain, reasonably priced too, however they don't seem to come in Mark J's recommended size of 225/35/17 (or 215's) for the fronts, the rears are fine with 265/35/18. However if I up the fronts to 215/40/17, which Kumho make, there is no corresponding rear at 265/40/18 :evil: So would it be reasonable to run 215/40/17 up front and 265/35/18 on the rear??

Any ideas on what to do ???

[Jim]

I had 215/40/17 with 265/35/18 setup on my car and standard ride height, but the fronts rub on the inner arch during turning. So I have removed them. I will be replacing the tyres with lower profile 35 front and 30 rear once I fined the right tyres ratio and brand. I think running 35 front and 35 rear will throw out the ratio between front and back to much. Front wheel dia will be 4 mm smaller than standard and the rear wheel will be 12 mm larger than standard if you go for the 35 front you will need the 225 tyre to add some addtional height to the tyre wall making the dia of the 225/35/17 tyre 3 mm larger than the standard 205/50/15 front tyre.

The information above is just that information, the only advice I would give is that the 215/40/17 rub on a 91' so much that I removed them from my car and will not be purchasing that size tyre in the future.

Standard tyre sizes taken from my 91' NSX later model had different tyres as standard.

Tyre calculator used can be found at:

http://www.tyresave.co.uk/tyresize.html


Jim

[NSXGOD]

I had 215/40/17 with 265/35/18 setup on my car and standard ride height, but the fronts rub on the inner arch during turning.Jim

Then most likely your front wheels have the incorrect offset, you are running big spacers which equals the same thing, or the car it too low, or a combination of those. I am running 235/40/17 in the front on a lowered car on 17X8.0 +45 tecnos and they only rub on the inside of the wheel well at full lock - ie when I'm parking. I can 4 wheel drift that car using 275/35/18 on the rear, even nicer with 285/30/18 and the TCS removed, and it will do the same thing with 215/40/17F - 265/35/18R (TEIN RA, stock swaybars, street tires)

Nothing rubs at the track.

The smaller wheels and tires will accelerate faster and should handle better as they have less total weight, but that is not always the case, with the 235's on the front I was able to dive bomb corners that I would have had terminal understeer in with 215's so I think I had a faster lap time..

All comments pertain to dry weather - I don't dive bomb anything in the wet. :mrgreen: .

JMO.

[NSXGOD]

I had 215/40/17 with 265/35/18 setup on my car and standard ride height, but the fronts rub on the inner arch during turning. So I have removed them. I will be replacing the tyres with lower profile 35 front and 30 rear once I fined the right tyres ratio and brand. I think running 35 front and 35 rear will throw out the ratio between front and back to much. Front wheel dia will be 4 mm smaller than standard and the rear wheel will be 12 mm larger than standard if you go for the 35 front you will need the 225 tyre to add some addtional height to the tyre wall making the dia of the 225/35/17 tyre 3 mm larger than the standard 205/50/15 front tyre.
The information above is just that information, the only advice I would give is that the 215/40/17 rub on a 91' so much that I removed them from my car and will not be purchasing that size tyre in the future.
Standard tyre sizes taken from my 91' NSX later model had different tyres as standard.
Tyre calculator used can be found at:
http://www.tyresave.co.uk/tyresize.html
Jim

Hi Jim -

The fenders and the ride height and the wheel offset did not change from 1991-2005, the only thing that did was the wheel diameter and width;(16X7 in 1994 running a 215/45/16) and 17X7 running a 215/40/17 in 2002+. Those tire and wheel sizes do not rub.

If you car is rubbing with the 215/40/17 you need to look at another explaination.

Also, 225/35/17 is SMALLER in diameter compared to a 215/40/17.

[DTA-Motorsport]

Another explanation for rubbing tyres (in addition to all the ones listed above) is old, saggy springs. This is something I see on 300ZX very often. Many of the 300's are now approaching 12 - 15 years in age and if they still have the original springs then these may well have sagged. I've seen it on my own car when it was parked next to another 300 with new (stock) springs. Mine was a good inch lower eventhough it hasn't got modified suspension parts! I don't know what year your car is or whether you've got new suspension but it is worth investigating.

Regards,

Dan