I love the NISMO wheels, however i dont want them if im not gaining any sort of performance, if anyone could offer info to compare and contrast these 2 wheels would be much appreciated.

 

rear wheels are 9.5 inches wide, so you'll be able to mount some wider tires (275/40/18 as opposed to the stock 245/45/18)

you'll get more traction off the line as a result, and should theoretically get higher 60' times at the strip

as for weight, they're about the same, but since the nismos have a higher percentage of weight at the outer most edge (the rim), they'll have a slightly higher rotational mass... but this increase should be negligable

imo, go w/ the nismos... they look great and are probably the most performance oriented of any aftermarket 18" rim you can get for the Z

 

oops forgot to mention

the caveat to all this is if all you're looking for is performance at the track, then my advice would just be to stick w/ the stock rays (if you have them) and mount some better tires than the potenzas

 

Thanks for the info! I still have my stock Track wheels on the car, but i think they stand out on my Lemans Z, i want the Bronze NISMO wheels, i think they look amazing.

 

One other advantage (to me) of the Nismo rims over the Rays is that with the offset of the Nismo wheels along with the wider tires, they "flush out" all four tires more 'smoothly' to the sides of the car. In other words, once you have these wheels on for a while and get used to the way they look, putting the OEM Track Ray's wheels make them look like they are "sunken" too far into the wheel wells. I think Nismo has the perfect offset combination, as they flush out to the sides of the car while not requiring any kind of fender rolling or making ridiculous camber angles!
HTH

 

more rubber...

more aggressive offset so you will have a wider stance... and get more speed in corners...

 

To be the devils advocate here...

Mjedens proved that 275/40/18 Kumho MXs fit BEAUTIFULLY on the rear of the stock track wheels.

 

but is he doing alot of hard cornering driving?

might be a lil wabbly my guess...

 

there is a guy on these boards and motoring selling brand new sets of nismo wheels. He sold both silver sets (one to me, other to a member of this board) Brand new in box and very cheap. My total came out to 1649 SHIPPED thats with everything needed including lugs centercaps etc

here is the post https://my350z.com/forum/showthread....threadid=94286

 

For what it's worth, Kumho's specs for that tire call for a *minimum* rim width of 9".

http://www.kumhousa.com/Products/Ptn...=1&PtnID=KU-15

Call me a wimp, but there's a part of me that thinks it's a good idea to stay within the tire manufacturer's specs.

 

One of my roadcourse "homies" runs 245/40 and 275/40 Kumho MX on the 8" wide Touring rims. He's tracked his 350 many times w/o any probs.

Michael.

 

If you want better performance at the track get some 17s and some r- comps I like the kumho 710's. Only reason I say 17s is because alot more tires are offered in that size.

 

I sure do grip and turn better in my nismos and toyos

 

And to those who don't know, the Nismo rims are also made by Ray's Engineering...

 

For those who want alot of performance out of their NISMO LMGT4's I also offer a RA1 package

 

Fantastic summer tires... stickier than anything I've driven on the street before. Just don't get them wet!

 

Go hang out in the Racing forum, 275s on the stock 17" 7.5 and 8" wheels are pretty much standard. Surely a 9" wheel might be ideal, but the contact patch is bigger and you're going to get longer tire life regardless. You could run 255s & 265s on the Track wheels, or 255/265s all the way around if you really wanted.

If you're track driving your car a lot (on roadcourses) then sure, the Nismo wheels are nice because they are bigger and you can run bigger tires if needed. But then again, if your goal is to have better handling at the track, you might as well buy some 17x10 5Zigen FN01RCs with 275 Kumhos or Hoosiers.

On the street, it's probably 30% performance and 70% looks. Tough call, but can't hurt. Bottom line is if you want better performance, going with a better tire like the Potenza S03 or BF Goodrich KD is gonna get more result than going to the Nismo wheels with an average tire.