Lee Bourgoin

Hi guys.
New owner of a 03 350z here so I'll be snooping around here trying to get some good info from experienced folks like you guys.

I'm looking to get some wheel spacers to get a better wheel fitment and would like some tips and tricks beforehand.

Some info you may need.
Car has stock suspension from what I can tell from wheel gap. No plans on lowering it further.
Front tire is 225/45/18 and rear is 245/45/18

MicVelo

Assuming stock wheels (8"F and 8 or 8.5"R depending which 18" OE wheels); those come with +30mm F and +30 or +33mm R offsets). Easy fitment would be to use 15mm spacers all around bringing "final" (effective) offsets to +15F and +15 or +18 rears.

With that "narrow" of a wheel, you could even go to 20mm spacers but 15 is adequate.

Make sure you get hubcentric (66.1mm), 5x114.3 PCD, 12x1.25 thread pitch.

dboyzalter

iTrader: (3)

If your going to use spacers change out the studs for some arp's and get a slip on hubconcentric.

Z1 sells a kit for like $120 for 2 spacers and 10 studs. So $240 and then some open ended lug nuts so say $300 and your good...

Then again you could put that $300 towards a set of wheels that fit without spacers.

Lee Bourgoin

I agree smart decision would be put that towards a nice set of wide wheels, but I'm looking at a hefty investment with wheels/tires.
I have fairly new tires on the wheels now so maybe once the tires are worn out it would be time to entertain that option. I would really like a nice set of deep dish wheels obviously but $$$ lol.

I spoke to the previous owner and here's what he said about the wheels that are on the car.
He believes that wheels are 8" front and 9" back and 35mm offset. So he claims
Would there be a way for me to verify this information?

Currently I'm looking at buying 4 66.1 Hubcentric 5 x 114.3 20MM wheel spacers. 12x1.25 studs and new lug nuts.

Now as far as price / quality of these spacers. Does it matter? Are more expensive ones better?

Previous owner said he had fit 1.5" spacers front and back (how he got that to fit beats me) and he said that over 100mph there was a vibration in the car. Something I obviously don't want.
Currently I've hit 230km/hr and there was absolutely no vibration or rattling nothing so I'm happy with how solid it is. I would like to be able to maintain this as much as possible. Although I do wish to have a better stance also.

I appreciate the comments and suggestions. As always I'm here to learn how to do things right, and who better than you guys to look for advice !

terrasmak

iTrader: (8)

https://www.z1motorsports.com/z1-pro...mm-p-5392.html

Order a set of these in 25mm and your done

MicVelo

If they're not OE Z wheels, here's how to measure width and offset:

https://my350z.com/forum/wheels-and-...t-novices.html

Lee Bourgoin

Man I got so lost in that thread lol I'll have to re-read it a few times with a wheel in front of me
Thanks for the info!
So lets say for theoretical purposes. Lets say the previous owner is right the wheels are indeed 35mm offset or close too.
What would the recommended spacer size be front/back? Just for proper wheel fitment nothing too extreme that will throw rocks at the side of my car.

dboyzalter

iTrader: (3)

If they are 9 inches wide with a 35mm offset 20or 25 mm spacers would work fine.

Their is a tire and wheel calculator in the tools section on top of the forum. Post a picture of your car we will have a better idea about what wheels you are talking about.

It's amazing how many people have no idea what their wheels specs are and if the previous owner didn't have a confident reply when you asked about the wheels chances are he was guessing.

No_name

Answered above, re-read Mic's response if going spacers. dboy provided the correct answer, setup correctly to begin with.

dboyzalter

iTrader: (3)

Im just going to put this here.

MicVelo

Ew.

But it doesn't appear that that mishap was from spacer failure (unless the threads stripped). Looks like a simple case of "We don't need no steenkin' torque wrench!"

dboyzalter

iTrader: (3)

I think it was a matter of 370 wheels with tuner style small lug nuts.

But it also had slip on spacers with stock sized studs so who knows, a dude I work with sent me the picture. He said it wasn't fun loading into the truck.

MicVelo

Ahh, got it. Not enough thread and wrong non-shank lugs. Ouch. That's a double bad joss maneuver beggin' for a Lucille!!

Interesting... car looks level, like BOTH front wheels took a flyer!!

SQuaLZ

So it was just a moron...

OP, don't let this deter you from spacers. If you do it right, you will be fine.

In my opinion, I do not like slip on spacers unless they are under 5mm. I would go with bolt-on spacers.

I have had my Z1 spacers for about 6-7 years now with 0 issues. 20mm front and 25mm rear. Just make sure they are torqued properly and you are using the correct lugs. I went with Gorilla lugs and they have been perfect.

terrasmak

iTrader: (8)

Just the opposite here, I like slip on spacers up to 20mm paired with ARP studs.

My Jeep on the other hand has 25mm bolt on spacers

SQuaLZ

I see your point. I am not opposed to slip on spacers, as long as longer studs are installed. Only problem is that many people do not install longer studs, and then you have something happen like in the picture posted.

My only experience with spacers is my bolt-on Z1 and they have been perfect for me. Super easy to install and virtually no maintenance.

terrasmak

iTrader: (8)

My 2wd Jeep that is a daily driver and not offroaded actually snapped 5 studs last Aug. right now they are removed until I replace all 20 studs. Not taking that chance again, new fender and paint was not cheap. I got off lucky.

Happened 30 feet after I got home from a 900 mile trip running a chase crew for Vegas to Reno off-road race. My wife took the Jeep to the gym and it failed right out of the driveway. All 5 studs snapped, none were cross threaded. I removed the snapped parts out of the lugs, removed the spacer , bolted the wheel back on without the spacer. Moved it back to the driveway and removed the other spacers in the morning.

franknstn

I have had garage-line spacers on my daily for 25k miles. I have had garage-line spacers on my Z for 15k miles. I might be lucky or they're built well.

350zchad

iTrader: (1)

get hub centric and torque them down with locktite.. also anti seize where they touch the rotors. Re torque after a few hundred miles and check periodically.

I've had 25mm spacers on for years and no issues.