Is there a specific reason why, in the 03 - 05 models, the 5AT came standard with 17" rims while the 6MT came with 18"?

 

$$$$$

 

torque

 

does anybody know the weight on these stock 17" rims?

 

Does that mean swapping out to 18's or 19's would adversly affect performance?

 

I don't believe that the tranny has anything to do with the size of the rims. I have an '05 with a 6MT and only 17" rims. I believe it has much more to do with the trim level of the car.

 

Yes. Nissan ran out of 18 inch wheels. But they had a huge pile of 17 inch wheels left over from the Altima.

 

Well, lets think this for a sec.

Sports car + 5AT + 17" wheels = G@Y + Convertible = Super G@Y.

Sports car + 6MT + 18" wheels = Real sports car.

That's IMO.

 

Yeah, nice post. Thanks for the information.

 

Correct. But the Touring 5AT's got 17's and the 6MT's got 18's.

 

its cause they suck

 

I have an 03 6mt base with 17" stockers. I thought the base and enthusiast got 17's while performance and touring got the 18's.

 

My 03 touring 5AT came with 17's. Just upgraded to Staggered 18's from an 06 grand touring roadster. Does handle better coming out of turns. Other than that, it just looks so much better.

 

The 7 spoke 17's only came on the base, enthu. and 5AT touring models. The performance and 6spd. touring had the 6 spoke 18's. Track has the Rays 6 spoke lightweight rims. 35th anni. Z's have the same rims as the 06's.

 

Auto's=chick Cars

 

It will affect performance but not toooo much. The bigger rim has a bigger radius, and thus the gravitational moments of the rim have been spread out futher from the source of the torque. (Approx 1".) Thus, the engine has to apply a little bit more torque to get the wheel rolling at the same acceleration as an 18" wheel. Since you'd still have the same engine, then the torque is fixed. You will, in turn, lose some acceleration.

In other words, if you want to squeeze all the performance you can get out of your Z, stick to 18s. Else, if you care more about looks, 19s will work fine.

However, 19s w/ a final drive upgrade work great. (3.2 => 3.5 for 5AT, 3.5 => 3.917 for 6MT.)

 

 

that sucks...my 06 came with stock 18"s soon she'll be rollin on 19"s

 

 

here we go again...