I was contemplating either Gunmetal or Bronze wheels for my car.
I have the Le Mans Sunset and I am doing the whole black and orange combo going on. Just wondering what others think of those two choices, and also, what is a good brand name of wheels to get that are reasonable (i.e under $1000).


Thanks

 

For under $1000 I think your best bet would be Racing Hart. Regardless of the brand, the only way to keep your cost that low and still get a decent product is to keep your stock tires and get wheels to match.

IMHO I think you would be better off putting in an extra half a G or so to get some Volk GT-C or GT-7's. I don't know what part of Florida you're in, but I'm having Racing Zone in Tampa do my GT-7's for $1600.

I wish I could help you out with the finish, but I having the same delema right now (see my poll on this board!)

 

Im actually in the Tampa Bay area, Clearwater actually, but I go to Tampa a lot... I could shell out another half grand if I found something I really wanted and I know how to save (ie. This car).
Volks are good ahh? Ive seen them around on the thread and people seem to get those. Im just so torn up btwn gunmetal and bronze. I wanna see how bronze looks on the car before getting them so I dont buy them, put them on and then don't like them.
Waste of time and money.

If anyone knows how to photochop the wheels on the a le mans that would be awesome.

Thanks

 

Oh yeah, i forgot to mention, I want 17'' on my car, no bigger, no smaller. I like the size and its not too flashy... plus 18'' wouldn't fit on the my stock tires. How would I also find out what size wheels I need? Just look on the inside of the compartment in the car for the size of the tires?

 

The stock 17" wheels are 7.5" on the front and 8" on the rear. It's tough to find wheels manufactured to these specs but they do exist. A lot of manufacturers stop at 7" for 17's. The 225's on the front should be fine on a 7" wheel but I think you'd be pushin' it with the 235's on the rear. I'm no expert but I believe that a smaller wheel will soften the ride but reduce cornering.

Not to sound like a broken record but... Volk GT-C's are available in the sizes you want

 

gunmetal, bronze isnt gonna match your car, but its gonna be close, meaning clash. I love bronze, think itd look good on almost any car, but not lemans, too much gold colors.

as for rims, whatever floats your boat. find a rim you like and come on back to hear what we have to say about it. Id say try looking at a few websites with lots of brands and see em all. could also try the gallery here, lots of different rims, tho many of them are 500$ a rim since volk, HRE, and iforged are pretty popular on this forum. 17" you can get some serious performance rims, because their small. but they will be more than 1000$.1700 atleast as an offhand estimate. and remember you gotta buy new tread eventually... IMO buying rims to fit 4 tires that you have now saves money here, but 6000miles down the road, your replacing them anyway. and suddenly you might decide, ooo but 265s are nice. but you cant fit them, and your not gonna ever replace the rims...

you can sell your rims and tread, get some cash for em. put it towards your new rims and tires, maybe 600 for the rims and tires? spend 1500, with the 600, 2100$ for tires and rims, with some shopping you can get alot of nice rim/tire combos in 17" sizes.

 

So, do you think I should change my rims when I get new Tires then and do it all at the same time? Or should I get new rims now and then buy the tires? Which would you guys do, and would I save money in the long run if I do what you told me Ares, buy them now the rims, and when I want to change my treads, I could sell the other tires and rims and use that money to buy others? but could I still just buy the same exact tires that I have now and now have to worry about the rims. Or could I also find some tires that fit the rims but are another brand name, instead of Potenza?

Oh question queen has arrived

 

why are you sticking with 17s? if its for performance purposes, you should only get a lightweight rims made by volk. however if you sell the stock nissan rims, you won't be able to get that much for them. and as for color or rim finish, you should stick with silver for the lemans. the bronze will clash and the gunmetal in a 17" size will look too small for the z. with your budget situation, i'd just wait until the stock tires need changing and then get the aftermarket rims. just my opinion, good luck with your search.

 

yeah all Im sayin is that by choosing your rims size based on your stock tires, your forever limiting your tire potential based on the width of a tire that will only last 15-20,000miles at best. after that you could buy whatever size tire you want, but you cant cause you bought the rim based on that size.

you could either sell the rims and tires now, get some extra money for having the tires with it(how much depends on condition of the tires, how many miles). or you wait till the tires are bald, sell the rims, and get new rims and tires. only thing about the second, is that you need to take care to keep them perfect, if you scrape a rim or something in those 15000miles, your gonna kill your resale value, but on the other hand, better to scrape the rims your selling then the new pretty rims.

of course wider tires are more expensive, thats a given, but the 17" size will help alot. probably 100-150$ more for wider tires vs stock sizes. thats for all 4. exact difference depends on what tires you get.

figure out your plans for the car, I personally have aspirations of keeping the car forever, making it a race car, thus when I buy something, I will wait till I can buy the best, something that I will NEVER need to replace or upgrade. but if I planned on selling the car in 3 years, its unlikely that I would have spent 3000$ on rims and tires just to lose money on them when I sell it off in a few years.

 

So, if I wanted to get rims in the next few months, since i'll have the money, I could sell my rims and tires now, and add that money to the rims and new tires... I like the tire size I have now... is there another size that is better, ie turning and handling?

Quoted: after that you could buy whatever size tire you want, but you cant cause you bought the rim based on that size.

So, that means I shouldnt buy rims to fit a specific tire, or I shouldnt pick a specific tire for a rim?

 

what type of racing are you doing? i have a lemans also, i was contemplating on getting volks, but to get them up here in Canada is ridiculous...i settled for a set of 5Zigen- Black Racing -pro N1's....in black. i was opting for 17" also, but was told that 18's will improve cornering and the biggest break kits will fit no problem...also the correct tire size for the 17's is impossible to find. .. i only came up with bridgestone, and those are quite pricey. the specs on my incoming wheels are.. 18x9 in the back, and 18x8 in the front ...they also come in 17x8 and 17x9 and in bronze, silver, or black.



if budget is an issue, look at somethin like this, if it isnt an issue volk all the way!