As soon as I sell my "other" car, my plan is to buy my Z a few presents. I'm definitely doing the S-Tune suspension and I want new wheels and tires, too. I'm in love with the Volks TE-37s (big surprise, right?) and I want at least a 9 inch wide wheel.

Here's where the question comes in...Hubby says I should get 19s but I think I want to stick with my 18s. I'm going to track this car occasionally so I definitely don't want anything heavy, but I want to know is will 19s hurt or help my handling performance?

 

You ever notice how 19" race rubber is basically non-existent? Are you keeping your Track rims? If so, just get the 19s for the bling, but I would NOT have only the 19s available for the track. Believe me, you will get some dings on your wheels from debris when you hit the road course. Do you really want to bang up a new set of TE-37s? One thing that bothers me about the Z's rear wheels is if you look at the contact patch, only 75-80% of the rubber is ever in touch with the pavement. What's the point of a 275 if it doesn't utilize all of the contact patch? There's something weird going on with the Z's rear suspension that limits tire to road contact. Hopefully the S-Tune will address this.

I'm getting 17s wrapped in R compounds next spring once I get a few more sessions under my belt.

 

No doubt you need 19's, you dont go buy new rims the same size as your old ones, always gotta move to bigger and better

 

Hey Brad, what I was planning on doing is selling my current wheels and maybe buying someone's 17s off them for the track. I could probably swap out with someone and still have a decent deal going on. And that worries me about the contact patch--I want to be able to push this car hard, so I need the rubber to back me up. Would you let me know what changes when you get your S-Tune installed?

 

And Hubby gave me a good idea. I still need to decide on a color! Any good photoshoppers out there wanna put some pics together of a Datona Blue with the Gunmetal, Silver, and Bronze ones? Pretty please?

 

Christi,

I recently (as in last weekend) picked up a set of the Track RAYS that you have on your car and installed them after I put my StopTechs on. I now honestly believe in that whole rotational mass discussion with regards to lighter wheels because the handling of the car has changed significantly, enough to make me notice in all kinds of turns and transitions. The RAYS shaved 10 lbs. off each front corner and 9 lbs. off each rear corner vs. the stock 18s with the same tires.

All that being said, I wouldn't look into the stock 17s if I were you because IMO, they are on the heavy side at ~25-26 lbs. each. The Enkie RPO2-J is 17.7 lbs. in a 17x9 +35 offset size and the cost is only $200 each.

 

Damn! The TE-37 19s are only 17 lbs each! (At least that's what they calim on their site) That's ridiculous how much those stock 17s weigh! Maybe I won't sell my 18s right away and do a little searching for some lightweight race wheels.

BTW, do you like Michael's wheels? He told me you wanted 'em bad.

 

My .02, having had the stock Rays, and 18" enkeis, both with stock tires, plus having 17" enkeis with race rubber (255/40-17 x 4) and 19" iforged with S-03s (245/35-19 and 275/35-19).

If you really like performance, which you seem to, go with 18s. My iforged are only about 4 lbs heavier than both sets of 18s that I had, but with rubber, are about 10lbs heavier. Their is a huge performance difference between the 18s and 19s, and between my 17s and 19s its even bigger. If feels much heavier on 19s, and takes more steering effort, plus the car wanders a little more and the slight pull to the right due to road crowning is more evident.

btw, a 275/35-19 S-03 on a 22 lb wheel weighs in at 60lbs!

 

Yes. He wanted my money bad. Even delivered them to my house.

 

If you want a set of wheels for track use (or normal use)... I've heard recommendations to visit to www.wheelchoice.com for used rims.

They are first come first serve and their inventory is kinda depending on the weather (so to speak).

I would get 19's for everyday then get a smaller set of wheels for tracking if you can afford it. Droid is right... you don't want to get your $3500 19" rims (wheels+tires) getting all messed up.

 

Hello droidekaus

Please explain. What part of the tire on your rear tires is not getting used? Inside or outside edge? Is it on the track or street you have noticed this?

I would like to solve this.

Scott

P.S. Great points on the light weight wheels. Light wheels and tires is an excellent performance mod.

 

outside edge on regular use, too much negative camber, there are kits out to fix that, but they are quite expensive.

you should also be sure that the adjustment you do have is maxed out, it wont likely bring it to 0 but for handling, you dont want 0.

the idea is that when you corner, your outside tire will tilt, impossible to keep it from doing it, nothing is rock solid, and the car bends. this means under full weight on the outside tire, its now got 100% of the patch on the ground, rather than it rolling out onto its outside edge when you really need the traction.

downside is straight line traction, and wear. its just that on the typical street drive, youd be hard pressed to push the car so far that the tire rolls down, to hit the road.

 

Thanks for the link! I'll have to check them out when I get home. I'll probably let hubby talk me into the 19s--they do look super sweet!--but I do want to find some light weight 17s for the track. Now I need to hurry up and sell my other car!

 

and yes, that's my ride!!!

https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....threadid=28042

 

As nissan350z said, "AWWW SOOKY SOOKY NOW!" Looks amazing! Ugh! Now I REALLY want to sell that car! (I'm so patient when it comes to these things--LOL! )

 

I had lowered the car as well. I think just getting the rims and tires will fill up the wheel well very well. Good luck!!

 

I think white or gold te-37's on blue would look dope

 

White is out of the question--looks too "ricey" IMO. I would like to see what the bronze ones look like, along with the gunmetal before I make a decision. The silver looks awesome, but I wanna see if I can get away with something a little different.

 

I think the Blue with Bronze wheels will look somewhat similar to Subaru's traditional color scheme (like the STI).

Personally I think it looks good.

 

I love the bronze, its gunmetal gold. best way to put it. they are dark, just like gunmetal, but they arent silver....

check out 3rd page of the wheel forum for pictures of mine, its on a black Z tho, but close...