Time for more noob questions!

I should be getting my new wheels/tires put on probably Wednesday. Is there anything I should look out for or be careful of? For instance:

- Enkei PF01 18" 9.5/10.5 +15 - no problem with stock lugs and wheel locks?
- I've seen people comment about having the tires reverse mounted to help avoid scratches on the face?

 

What tires and sizes are you getting?

 

If the PF01 are anything like the RPF1s, there's no way stock lug nuts are going to fit.

Face up or down means nothing - it's all about a "touchless" mounting machine and a careful operator who knows how to use it. Find a shop that deals in high end wheels and cars. If you go to Wal-Mart, Sears, Firestone, etc. - you'll get what you pay for.

Post in your Regional forum and your local guys can probably recommend a shop to use.

 

"If the PF01 are anything like the RPF1s, there's no way stock lug nuts are going to fit"

That. Get spline drive lugs. Other than the color peeling off after repeated use, I've had good luck with Mutekis. Post pictures!

 

yea spline drive lugs ftw.. i dont think i will ever own a differnt set for after market wheels

 

Tires: AD08 265/35/18 (front) and 295/30/18 (rear)

The tire shop I'm using was listed as one of Yoko's "Advan Premium Service Retailer" and one of the AutoX guys at my work uses them and likes them, so I'm assuming they're good. I'm kind of stuck now because I ordered the tires through them (they were only like $40 more overall than Tirerack + shipping + mounting/balancing)...I didn't even think of posting in the regional forum here.

Spline lugs...looks like that is a type of lug more than a brand? I'm assuming the local tire shop would have something like this?

I'll post pics for sure once everything's mounted up!

 

Your car will hate you with those size tires.

 

Why?

 

actually if you have a base model you'll be fine but if you have tcs or vdc, your car will freak out because your front tires are taller than your rear tires.

265/30/18 with a 295/30/18 or 265/35 with a 295/35

 

Ask this guy what his opinion is, he's running the 265/35 295/30 setup:
https://my350z.com/forum/8278611-post219.html

 

I see what you're saying, makes sense. The reason for the odd sizes is purely because of what's available. I was going to go with Starspecs in 255/35 and 275/35, but in the end decided on the Yoko's. I'd prefer 265/35 and 295/35, but the 295/35 just isn't available in the Yoko's.

Also, I do have a base model, but with the Nismo LSD

Actually, I'm sort of copying that guy with my whole setup (except PF01's instead of RFP1's)....

He ran the Starspecs I mentioned earlier and said that he likes the Yoko's a lot better. So thats the direction I decided to go too...

 

ABS also goes off the wheels speed detectors, and the computer rely's on the height stagger for ABS too.

 

At this point, I'm not too worried about funky things happening because of the 35 front/30 backs. If rpZ33 hadn't done this ahead of me, I might be, but he hasn't had any problems (that he told me about anyway...). I guess we'll see how things go later today when I get the wheels and tires on.

The new wheels did get successfully delivered yesterday (early), so I took one of my rears off and put one of the new rears on just to check a few things.

The PF01's (at least the +15 offset ones) come with a super deep socket to get into the super deep hub well. I wrapped this in tape and using it, I was able to use my stock lug nuts no problem. Even the stock wheel locks fit fine (once I wraped the lock adapter in tape ) My normal 4-way tire iron that I have didn't fit in the PF01 lug wells, but with the supplied socket it was no problem. Also, surprisingly, I got one of these sockets with each wheel. So now I have 4 super deep sockets...

 

terrasmak is correct. Your rear tires are too short (overall diameter), and that will eventually and occasionally cause problems. That rear tire overall diameter would cause immediate problems with VDC, continual problems with TCS, and occasional problems with ABS.

You may not have VDC or TCS (and if you do, you can turn these features OFF), but you do have ABS.

Things may seem OK today when you get the tires mounted, but you will eventually experience problems with this setup (overall diameter shorter in the rear than the front). Here are a couple of scenarios:

• You are on a long sweeping turn, and for one reason or another, you need to apply moderate to hard braking. What will happen? You hear and feel the grind of your ABS since it’s “confused.”
  
• You do a tight turn, and apply the brakes hard. Same thing here… you hear and feel a momentary grinding from the car’s ABS.

If this doesn’t happen with [EDITED HERE] taller fronts than rears, you’re driving like your grandma…. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

I suggest going with the correctly sized tires.

Spike

 

^^^well said spike.

Hope you got some hub-centric rings.

 

The tires are already purchased and actually on the car. If things don't work well, it isn't a huge deal...tires like this won't last that long anyway and would a lesson learned for my noob self.

Again, I decided on this purchase based on feedback from another member, not from speculation. I wouldn't have even tried this if it weren't for his positive feedback.

I haven't. Yet.

 

Seems like another person who didn't do his research. Copying someone else's specs doesn't make it right. Listen to the people who tell you it's wrong. They know what they are saying. You may not think it's a problem to have your ABS and other sensors freaking out, but your car was designed like this for a reason.

 

Actually, I did do my research. Didn't even think about this aspect of it (shorter rear tires by 1.2%, per Yoko's specs) would make an impact on anything. Also, unless I just missed it (which is totally possible), the other gentleman running this setup has posted about the setup, and nobody pointed these potential issues out to him like this. So I asked for his feedback, he gave it, I made my decision based on that and other information I had found.

I NEVER said that the people pointing out the potential issues were wrong. I actually agreed that had 295/35 (or 265/30) been an option for the Yoko's I chose, I would have went that route. But it wasn't. Neither was 265/30. So I compromised because I wanted to try these tires. I wanted to try these tires BECAUSE OF THE RESEARCH I DID.

And case in point, the people on this thread that are in the know (obviously a lot more than me) have stated the only sensors that MIGHT have issues would be the ABS sensors. I don't know that I'm planning to track the car this year or not, so that may or may not be a concern for me. We'll see. And if it is, I'll switch to some different tires at that point...sticky tires don't last that long anyway.



BTW, Spike, thanks for the concise and informational explanation. These forums could use more responses like that.

 

With the 1.3% difference, you are off about a 1/3” (taller in the front).

Since you have the Base model (and therefore, not VDC/TCS), you won’t have a problem with the electronics cutting power under hard acceleration. …So far so good.

The only problem you might experience is unwanted ABS activation. I run an all-square winter wheel/tire setup, and I hit this problem occasionally. It happens when doing a long sweeping turn that gradually tightens forcing some braking if I enter too fast and must slow the car by braking. In this case, I occasionally get a momentary grind from unwanted ABS activation. I’ve also experienced this when driving hard on the all-square setup, and doing a quick maneuver (a lane change, for example), and then applying the brakes for one reason or another. It’s a little disconcerting, but not dangerous.

Something I’ve done to mitigate the problem with my all-square setup is adjusting the front and rear tire psi’s. I cheat a little… pumping up the rear tire just a little, and slightly lowering the pressure in the front tire. I find this is necessary to compensate for faster wear on the rears with an all-square setup.

You probably won’t need to do this because your rears are wider than the fronts, and will still maintain good grip during normal wear on the rears.

Please post back to your thread once you have the opportunity to drive on your setup. Your new information helps us learn. I suspect it will work OK for your driving.

Thanks for posting information on my350z.com.

--Spike

 

Based on Yoko's specs and my own measurements, Spike's pretty much right on about the difference.

I've had a chance to beat the car up a little since I got the new wheels/tires and it seems okay so far. The level of grip compared to the stock wheels with Toyo T1R's on them is ridiculous...so much more stable, very noticeable when accelerating out of a corner.

A side note, the noisy LSD is slightly less noisy with the new wheels/tires in slow parking lot type maneuvers. Still not quiet enough to keep new passengers from asking what's wrong with my car their first time in it, so I still have to explain the whole LSD thing, but oh well.

I haven't noticed the ABS grind yet (except when would have been expected with a normal setup), but I need to pound the brakes a bit more to play with it. Its supposed to be raining here a bit this week, so hopefully I can play later this week/weekend and will post back with more feedback.