Looking to purchase my first set of wheels/tires and after a decent amount of research I'm leaning towards a staggered set up 18x9.5 in the front and 18x10.5 in the rear. But I'm stuck when it comes to tires. The car will mainly be a daily that's driven decently hard but I do want to take it drifting events once I properly learn. Can you guys give me some suggestions? I was thinking 255/35/18 in the front and 275/35 or 40/18 in the rear. Want to purchase a tire similar to th Direzza Ziii or the RE71Rs but want them to last. Any advice highly appreciated thanks!!!

 

40 series front and rear

 

Seeing as you want to drift stick to 245/275/40, that will give you better choices. For looks or width go with 19s, I'm on 275/305/30

 

Sizes have been recommended. Good recs.

Brand? I wouldn't advise going with the Dunlops or the Bridgestones. You might get 8-10k out of the Dunlop, even less for the RE71Rs, and add in "drift" and you can kiss those generous estimates out the window. (Drift is a pure waste of tires. Fun, sure, but wow...) I've run a bunch of R-compound tires over the past 45 years including a set of Star Specs on my roadster. I've put <1k miles on them and I can measure the wear already. Wasted soft compound on the street but fine for my once a month car. (And glad I bought them used. Haha!) Look at a Max Performance grade tire for street and weekend fun. You don't need any more than that.

Go here and see the wide variety of Max rubber: https://www.tirerack.com/tires/types...at.jsp?perf=MP

Or sort by sizes and category to see which actually fit.

 

Yeah I agree I decided to go the budget route and got some BF Goodrich G force comp 2s 245/40/18 front & 275/40/18 wrapped around konig hypergrams 18x9.5 +25 front & 18x10.5 +25 rear. Thoughts on the comp 2s?

 

Very nice choices. The Konigs are a great alternative to Enkei since they pioneered the roll forge technique that Enkei licensed and renamed MAT (most advanced technology). Good, lightweight, strong wheel.

The Comp 2s will serve you well. I’ve not run BFG since the 90’s but have heard good things (travlee, comments?) and specs wise, they’re pretty decent. (As long as they’re nothing like the BFG KDWs, you’re good. Those tires were so bad (no stick, dead feel, and the worst ride I’ve ever experienced!) So bad, I gave them away!

 

My suggestion would be to be-friend guys at drift events and talk to them. One of my bat-sheet-crazy drift buddies buys used ~8" tires and puts them on OEM 17" wheels (in the rear) because he goes through a few sets of tires each and every weekend.

my 2cents further
I would buy a dedicated set of drift wheels that you can put drift tires on and run at drift events. Drifting and spirited daily driving all almost at opposite ends of the tire/car/performance/style spectrum ... drifting will essentially ruin your car (you will soon see) if you like drifting enough to get in to it then buy a dedicated drift car and keep your daily driver nice and clean.

 

235/40-18 and 245/40-18 are the two most common tires used for drifting the Z in NA form. Get your daily set of wheels, then get dedicated drift wheels