LA-Z

The M3 comes stock with 19's as an option, and they had 20's on the Z concept car. Would 19's work? Would if affect the handeling (good or bad). I know about the degrading of ride quality. I am going to buy the Enth. model, and want to get larger then 17 rims, and thinking about 19....

Thanks guys.

3rdpower

I'm not necessarily the wheel expert but wheel weight is a chief concern with the "enthusiast" crowd. I think also there's some issues about rotational speed... 19s would work though *shrug*. I'm sticking with 18's and going with something a bit wider on the back personally. I want to keep the weight down but get that look 8)

Traffic

Hey, I'm all in favor of 19"s. Rotational mass really matters more the less HP you're working with. When you've got some dumpy Civic, you can really tell the difference between the stock 14"s and some 17"s or 18"s. In reality though, going to 19" does slow acceleration down slightly, but you do get laser-quick turn in. Another potentially negative quality of low-pros is their breakaway. With a 50-series tire, grip will progressively decline the harder you push the car (you'll hear the tire squealing too), but with a 40- or 35-series, grip stays at near 100% until the tire finally "breaks away" and you start going straight and getting understeer. Personally, I'm going with 18x9 and hopefully 18x10 in back.

BrianZ

why not 25"? Or 80"?

You gotta stop somewhere. 18" will do just fine.

LA-Z

The only reason I'm throwing 19 out there is it is avail. with the new M3 Stock, and it looks sick. SICK. Trust me, I live in L.A. and drive through B. Hills every day to work and see them all the time. I can only imagine how sick the Z will look with 19's seeing as how sick it looked with the 20's... I'm just trying to figure out how much it will slow me down, and effect overall performance, and if they are putting them on the M3's there must be some benifit right

BrianZ

First you say you're considering 19" wheels then you say you see them all the time and they look sick.

Well?

Seems like you answered your own question.

LA-Z

Heh...they look sick means, they look SWEET! Sweet, sick, ill, cool, Stupid Ill, all that jazz man...anyway what I meant was they look nasty. Nasty in a good way!

nizl

Don't mind BrianZ... he has a problem with anything that's not in the Oxford dictionary...

BrianZ

LOL! You got me. Right on.

So sick is good. I'll "remember" that next time I'm sick. Or somebody does something "sick" like that whack-job in Riverside.

VERNACULAR aside (and assuming "sick" is "good") then I'd say you can comfortably go up to the 20" that was on the second prototype. I probably wouldn't go over 20" on this car, so you're 19" would probably be fine. Bit of a rough ride, but hopefully the taxes in Beverly Hills actually pay for road repair instead of welfare.

LA-Z

Now that is funny! Don't actually live in Beverly Hills, drive through there, and yes, I can say they do pay for road care, among other things. If you are a car lover it's a fun place to be. They have 6 car dealers within miles of each other that have brand new Lambo's, Jag XJ220's, New Ferraris ect. Tons of Convert. Bents. Anyway the thing is the Z will still look sweet./ With 17;s, or 19s

BrianZ

You're talking down on Wilshire right?

I go through there periodically. Its a nice part of town, but way overpriced. Too many movie stars with too much discretionary income! Come on people! Julia Roberts aint all THAT good looking!

rai

As long as you get light weight 19" wheels you should be OK for acceleration. The larger the wheel the more it will weigh for the same style, but if you go for forged lightweights, you may be able to get some that weigh around the same as the performance non-lightweight wheels and thus you would be good. The lower sidewll will hurt the ride compared to the 17"ers, but not much wore than the 18". I think any larger than 19" is too much and will looh "sick" in a bad way

mdouvris

Brian...my man...Julia Roberts IS SICK!!!!

Pork Chop

Well, looks are purely a matter of opinion, so if you feel that 19"s do it for you, then go for it.

As already pointed out, as you increase wheel size, you also increase the weight (check out wheelspecs.com to see how heavy some of the wheels are!). You can, however, get some lightweight 19's, but those will cost A LOT!

Regardless, the Z does have a lot of power and torque, so it wont be slowed down as much as your average econobox with heavy wheels.

My main worry would be potholes and such. You'll probably end up with a 30-35 series tire if you switch to 19's. That's not much sidewall protection IMO.

BrianZ

Uh, is that "sick" in a good way?

Without any flames, somebody please help me out here:

I just don't understand. We have a perfectly serviceable language with many adjectives: good, bad, beautiful, etc. We even have nuance, connotation and denotation. Why muddy the waters with non-descriptive terms? Is it pure adolescent rebellion? I guess I could understand that. First "bad" was good. Then "dope" was good. Then "bomb" was good. Now "sick" is good. Why not "good" is good?

Color me confused.

z350z

I think using the same word all the time gets boring, so we got "swell" in the (40s or 50s?) then things like "awesome", "gnarly", "wicked", and eventually "bad", "dope", "phat", "sick", and the latest favorite with my kids is "tight" (spoken with the right inflection so that it's drawn out like "t-i-i-i-i-ght").

But I stick with the tried and true "cool" which never seems to go out of style. Anything that gets overused loses its meaning and people use new adjectives. I used to make up my own a lot, and some of them even spread around: "domax" was a favorite.

Let's make up a new one for something that is exceptionally great, cool, new, fun and the best: "Zee", as in "Whoa, Dude, that was a Zee movie we just saw.", or "Zee ride, man." (There, now at least this post is on-topic.)

ToddLuc

So if someone says "man, you're one sick puppy," ...that's good?

BrianZ

Apparently that would mean: "sir, you are a good dog."

I don't if that would be a compliment or an insult. If one has a certain affinity for playing fetch, I suppose it would be considered a compliment.

ZON

iTrader: (2)

In the language of my son, "aight, those Rays' wheels on that tight Zee look SICK, chode"!! Cept he don't know what Rays' wheels are, heh heh!

A quote from my father years ago when I was detailing my 240Z one day, "You know Mike, I used to paint white stripes around the sidewalls of my Model A". "Oh, gee dad, I'm so sorry".

Oh ya, the Rays' wheels in my language. "MAN, those Rays wheels on that new 350z are SO BITCHEN. If only the Touring model had those as an option I would have gotten them, they'er SO COOL looking. Oh DUDE, are they NOT WICKED or what"?

"DUDE, YA, they are SO THE ****, MAN"!!



I want those Rays'!!