My first time modding a car so I have many questions I hope I can get some help here.

Got in an accident where I slid onto a curb because of rainy conditions. My OEM 18" base model rims are all scratched up. I live in Boston and winter is coming. I'm afraid that if I get aftermarket rims now, they will be scratched up from gravel, salt, and ice. What would everybody recommend I do?

As far as I can tell, my options are as follows:

1. Get snow tires for the winter and keep my scratched up rims until spring.

2. Get aftermarket rims with snow tires now and be careful driving over the wintertime.

With the Z being FR, I'm also concerned about daily driving over the winter time. How do other east coast drivers deal with this?


If I choose to get new rims now, what is the best site to order from?

Which rims does everybody recommend?

I'm leaning towards the RH J8s right now.

Thanks for the help in advance.

 

I know it's tough to resist the wheel bug, but wait until after winter if you can't garage it. Snows on your stockers would help if you must drive.

 

Hey those are the rims I want. As for the winter, I'm parking the Z in the garage and buying a beater to drive in the snow. For about the price you pay for snow tires and wheels you can buy a piece of junk to drive to drive.

 

So the general concensus right now is that i just shelve the car over the winter and put new rims on?

o yea my friend has a g35 and he has vdc. we were going the same speed and he didnt slide like i did. i have a base model z. what upgrades can i do to improve high speed turning? would an aftermarket lsd like nismo or kaaz help?

if so i will probably do those mods next.

 

best mods for "high speed turning" would be, do a nice coilover setup. the nismo's are nice but i wanted something stiffer and cheaper. so i sold my nismo sways,which are non-adjustable, and my g-attack spring and shock combo in favor for the hotchkis sway bars which are cheaper, adjustable, lighter and better IMO. also bought a set of Teins, basic. great improvement over stock and noticeable improvement over the nismos.

now the nismo are nice, but in order to retain the nissan warrenty im pretty sure you have to have a nissan tech install both and then receive an alignment, all of which costs way more at a dealership.

since i work at a shop locally here i did all my work including my alignment. a new LSd would be good since you base model lacks anyhting like that.

as for your friend, probably what saved him from sliding like you was the VDC. it does wonders on wet of icey roads. since your model lacks the VDC and LSD i can see how you slammed into the curb.

now i have one question, does the base model come with 17s or 18s? my touring came with 18s and i thought the base came with 17s. either way, drive slower in wether conditions that dont favor high speed turns. in the end the suspension will fail and so will ur tires and when they do, something bad might happen. be safe.

john