due to:

1 long story
1 damaged 18" touring rim
1 check for reimbursement of the new rim for $1430 (yes, for 1)

i have the following questions.. i was looking into buying a new set of rims (volk gt-c's) most likely i was looking keep the setup as close to stock as possible.. so if i went with

18x8 in front and 18x9 in the back, could i use my stock tires that are on my touring rims now?

i was thinking of running 18's then lower the car .8 w/ the eibach springs.. if i stick w/ 18's i'll save money but after seeing some of your cars w/ 19's make me want to get the bigger rim.. any opinions at this point would help..

lastly how would 18" gt-c's look? i saw the other daytona blue car w/ 19's and i was wondering how much smaller they would look..

Thanks!

 

LBC TRD,

I have a damaged wheel also...on a Performance model...but cannot get a straight answer from my dealership...originally they said it would be $577 to replace, but now are saying they are $1430?? Isn't that the price for a replacement Track model wheel??? The RAYS??? I'd love to learn more, because I am currently in the middle of trying to get the carwash to settle up with me for the damage done. What is your long story?? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

To answer your question, in my opinion the car can use different wheels than what it came with. Something to dress it up and set it apart. This is what I plan to do, and don't want any 19" wheels which will only be MORE likely to get damaged.

 

well.. at the place i live for school there's parking enforcement.. and when i was parked in my spot they scanned the parking pass and it came up under my old vehicle.. so being the geniouses that they are they booted my 6-day old Z..well i was furious.. i had finals etc. so i called and they lowered it from $75 to $55 since i didnt re-register the car online.. i was like you've got to be kidding me.. take this **** off now! and so they came and i had my money i was beyond furious at this point.. only to find out that they had stripped the lock on the rear boot.. the front one came off fine.. so it was pouring rain and they had to call another unit to come and try to get this thing off but they couldnt.. so they radio into their headquarters and are instructed to "break" the boot off using a jack.. at this point i was like whatever gets this **** off my car w/o ruining it. of course considering the people i was dealing with, this was wishful thinking.. i watch them do it and they put an initial scratch.. i was like WTF are you doing?!?? i immediately go inside because its pouring rain and i call and talk to the owners of this company.. turns out the owner is on a waiting list for a Z and is asking me all these questions on the color, what interior, is it fast, how do i like it.. etc.. comes over the next day and looks at the damage.. he's furious at his employee and says he will reimburse me in full for the cost of the rim.. SOOO i call my dad, who owns two body shops, and tell him to get me the price of an 18" left rear touring rim.. he calls back and tells me $1430 for the rim ONLY. im stoked because they are reimbursing me that amount.. i even gave him my VIN number and thats the price.. i was shocked! he said the 17's were $577 or something to that affect.. i'll post pictures of the rim when i can get to a digital camera.. but yeah thats the story.. sorry so long but you asked for it!

 

I don't think this guy at the carwash is going to go for that price tag...even if it is accurate. ****...what the hell is the replacement cost of the Track wheels? Thanks for the info. though. Depending on how this works out on my end....we'll have to stay in touch...between the two of us we could offer four stock tires and one good set of wheels and one blemished set. See what we could get?

 

LOL!! haha we should split a set of 17" TE-37's for the track! w/ the stickiest tires on the market..

 

That's the biggest delemma for me now: do I hang on to them...maybe burn the hell out of the stock **** tires and use the wheels on the track only and get a real good set of wheels for "lookin good"...or sell the blemished ones and take what I can get to put towards the "lookin good" wheels right now and deal with the track purchases later??

 

thats kinda like my situation.. but on of our family friends who used to work for nissan, now works for HKS.. he wants them for a maxima or something.. i might trade him the rims for their LS coilover suspension or an exhaust they are making right now..

but i wanted to get 18" volk gt-c's so i can use my stock tires and save money.. i dont want 19's.. to me they dont look that much bigger.. and i dont want to run that thin of a tire.. i'd go for looks/performance first rather than straight performance..

 

In that case....do you want to save even more? Buy my stock tires for pennies on the dollar and you can fry two pair before you need to pay any notable dollars for the next set. PM me if you want to look ahead...or if you have any leads for someone that may be interested in my wheels also??? Thanks

 

I called to find out the $ of the Track Wheels for Race Tires and they said $8k for the Rays...2k each you got to be shittin me...


Bryan

 

Now that is not only insane...but poor marketing. I wonder who the brainchild is that determines some of these pricing structures. You and I both know you can buy ANY RAYS lightweight wheels for FAR less than this and not one person is going to buy the factory ones. The only market here is for insurance claims...and 9 out of 10 times the insurance company isn't going to approve this kind of money either...they will say, "the wheel can be repaired to "like new" condition and this is all we are liable for"! There are plenty of people that would actually consider the stock RAYS if they were affordable, and Nissan could be a happy middleman. I must be missing something because the company certainly has smarter people on their staff than me and yet they are doing this. Wait until the aftermarket comes out with near perfect knock offs of similar qualit and insurance companys ONLY buy these for thier insureds...Nissan won't sell another wheel.

 

they were going to try to repair my damaged rim but the boot took a "chunk" out of the spoke! the scratches im sure could be fixed even though one is very deep.. but the part they BROKE off one of the spokes cannot be fixed and if it was it probably would cost more than the $1430 w/ the paint job of the complete rim.. either way.. what was a HORRIBLE situation for me and my freaking 6-day old damaged Z, can turn out to be possitive once they reimburse me..