phenolic

anyone want to opine on 40/42 mm offset on a set of 18x8" wheels?
looks?
handling?

is this way dumb, slightly dumb, perfect?

Kolia

iTrader: (2)

Why do you feel the need to tuck yours wheels more to the inside?

zillinois

iTrader: (6)

40 offset will work with 1" spacers just perfect.

Hey Kolia, I found some video of you at Mid-Ohio yesterday. It looked like you were instructing perhaps. I found it on a cobra site. http://www.ohiocobraclub.com/06track-event.html

Did you see the Redline Time Attack event is coming to MidO at the end of this month? Are you going? PM me.

Kolia

iTrader: (2)

It is me, but I'm the one being instructed. It was my second stint ever at MidOhio.

I haven't followed the time attack thread. I'll check it out...

phenolic

would this offset tuck the wheels inside the wells noticably? if a 1" spacer is used how would that affect the set-up (is this considered a jerry-rigged, less-than-ideal way to go). what might you say would be the ideal offset for these size wheels for aggressive street/occassional track days on a Z.

thanks in advance, and nice racing pic of the cobra...

zillinois

iTrader: (6)

Our stock offset is 30 or so. A 40 offset would move the wheel in by about 3/8 of an inch. The problem is that the Z's rear wheel well swallows rims and tires. As a point of note, the new Z comes with 19's on the back and 18's on front. So if you make the rim go in more with a 40 offset, it will just look worse.

And the problem with running spacers is that not only do you have to buy the spacers (~$150-$200) then you have to run longer wheel studs ($110) or get special spacers ($250) which will add tons of weight and look less than ideal. You will literally spend $100's of extra dollars just to fit the poor offset on. I would rather spend the extra money on better quality rims or rims that have a better offset. You have a pretty good range of of offsets to choose from 30-19. Anywhere in that range and you will be alright. Good luck, wheel selection is one of the hardest things to get right. Do your research until you are sure, don't just take what someone else says. Its expensive to buy rims twice, get it right the first time.

Just to let you know, I did all of the above with spacers and I eventually just broke down and bought some good rims with the correct offsets.

phenolic

thanks zillinois. do you recommend staggered offset front/rear? for auto x-ing i'm sure you might want a higher offset in the rear for decreased understear, but what about track use. any specific recommendations appreciated. the reason i was asking about 40 is that i saw a set of the wheels i want for a great price with that offset. it did sound high to me. specifics appreciated...

cheers

Kolia

iTrader: (2)

Don't play with offset just yet. Stay close to OEM values (+30 front and +33 rear).

Staggering is being used for a lot of things here. Shouldn't it be for tire diameter only?

Try to get wheels wider than 8" as these are stock sizes. It wouldn't be much of an upgrade...

zillinois

iTrader: (6)

Like Kolia said, if you are autocrossing, you will likely want to keep the stock offset and the stock rims sizes unless you are going up a class. I believe you can reduce offset by like 5mm from stock and still be ok. Check with your local regulations.

If you are just looking for appearance/traction upgrade without concern for autox, then the standard upgrade is 8.5"/9.5" rims with a 25/30 offset and 245/40/18 and 275/40/18 tires. You can't go wrong with these offsets. It will give your car a little more aggressive appearance and won't rub.

You can get wilder however, I ran 9"/10.5" with a 25/30 offset and it was perfect for me. I was able to bring the camber back to spec and it looked nearly flush with the wheel well without rubbing. This is not the outer limit however, if you are willing to roll fenders or live with -4 camber you can get crazier.