Ok. So my first question is this..

Purpose of questions.... I am trying to get some rubber under my Z for Auto Xing. and need to figure out a couple of things before dropping coin.

I have found some good tires however I am slightly worried about the size.

1. Will 16 x 8 wheels fit on a 06 Z ?

2. Will 265/45/16 fit ok on a 16 x 8 wheel?

If the answer to both of these questions is Yes then

3. what offset should the wheel have?

Thanks
BP

 

what brakes do you have - brembo or not?


...If you don't have Brembos, I thin some ppl have fit 16's on the Z, but I'm not sure if ALL 16's will fit.

 

Why go to a wheel that is narrower than stock? Also, 265 is WAY too wide for an 8" wheel, if you go by what the tire manufacturers recommend.

I would go with at least an 8.5" wheel, something like 17x9" would be good and you can fit 275's on there.

 

You gotta be sacrificing tire sizes by going with a 16" wheel. How much shorter is that combo versus its 17/18" counterpart? What do you hope to achieve by going with a 16"? 2nd gear will probably be rendered useless and a third gear shift may become a must with that kind of tire size.. not sure if that's the right quote to take in an autox set up.

265 is not WAY too wide for an 8" wheel..

 

a 265 can fit onto an 8" rim...I've seen a 285 on an OE 8" 350Z rim - it took a couple of weeks for the installers to get it to fit and seal, but it has been done. Needless to say, it cost extra to get it mounted.

**that was done for someone running BS...so he was limited to rims. Since you're going aftermarket, I would agree that something wider would make more sense.

 

+1

I'd go with stock-sized wheels and some good street tires. For autocrossing, unless you're running at the national level, you'll probably only need one set of tires every couple of years anyway.

And 285s Kumho V710s fit on 8" wide wheels. You just need to REALLY make sure to keep your tire mounter happy! 275/35R18 (or even 285/30R18) Hoosiers are no problem, because of the offset tire bead. Even the local tire mounters can deal with mounting Hoosier DOT-R tires in minutes.

 

Thanks for the input. I have stock brakes...
The reason I am considering 16's is that on most of my other SCCA race cars that I run have an inch smaller wheel and it helps out tremendously with the gearing.

I will most likely be leaning towards a 17" x 8" or 9" wheel on the Z and use some 265's 45 koumo/ faulken / or hoosiers depending on what kind of deal I get.

Thanks
BP

 

We put a brand new set of Hoosiers (285s) on the Z for the Toledo Pro and it took the tire guys an hour to mount 4 of them...

They are used to mounting very lightly used 285s and once they have been mounted once it is very easy to mount them so a set of new ones was a surprise for our tire guys.

K

 

It may fit, but its way over the safety margin for the bead on the tire to sit properly. 235 is the recommended size for 8 inch wide wheels. 245 you can use but not recommended, and definitely not 265.

 

You can run a 235 if you want, I'll be fine with my 275s on 8" thanks!

 

In this case, I have to say a 16" is definitely not helping your case in regards to gearing. I know guys that run 18 for better gearing versus 17s. But I think 16s versus 17s is a step backwards.

Go with the 17xX". Don't limit yourself to a 265 though, there are many options out there (besides I don't even know if a 265 in 17 exists in r's) that you can choose from.

 

I'm not sure where you're getting your info, but each tire maker has different parameters for *recommended* wheel sizes.

Run 235s or 245s if you want.

I'll stick with my 275s and 285s.

 

I got my info directly from the manufactures websites. Yes NOT ONE manufacture will recommend or allow anything higher than a 245 size tire on a 8 inch rim.

Prove me wrong otherwise.

 

http://www.yokohamatire.com/utperf.asp This might teach you some.....good info.


Read the anything lower than a 50 area. For example, For tires that have an aspect ratio lower than a 50-series, the measuring rim is 85% of the tire's section design width. Therefore, a 255/40ZR17 tire with the same 10.04" section width would be measured on an 8.5" wide wheel. The measuring rims for Yokohama tires are listed with their dimensional data in this guide.

Rim and Tire width guide...

http://www.yokohamatire.com/utrimwidth.asp

Amazing, needs 9+ width wheel to fit a 275 safely.

 

Autocrossers will stuff as much tire as possible onto rims, especially if they're trying to stay in stock class. With street tires, you probably want to stay within the manufacturers recommended range, but R-comps are stiff enough that they can be mounted on less than ideal width rims.

I've seen 225's on 6" rims, 285's on 7.5" rims, etc, all with no ill effect. You may lose some response with the bulging sidewall, but the gain in ultimate grip is usually worth the sacrifice.

 

Actually, the stiff is the problem. That is why the tires with taller sidewalls are allowed to be wider. Usually when racers get the tires, they usually get race tires that aren't so low profile.

Tires like these that go way past the size of the rim, give slower response on a track, and less feedback. It's better to have a tire that has less sidewall, for faster feedback and response when on the track.

 

Yes we all know what manu websites say, thank you.

Real world experience proves, however, atleast in the world of autox, that the trade off for feedback and response for linear grip is worth it.

And honestly, would YOU notice the difference between the feedback of the 245 and 275? After driving a car with the wider tires, you'd probably prefer that one if there was a blind test done. The difference is remarkable.

And what if you don't get that instantaneous response? As you get accustomed to your car, you just adapt to turning .0025s earlier than before.

I do not know one autocrosser who would say go with a 245 versus a 275 on a 8" wheel for the 350z.

PDX_racer and I already tried that.

 

https://my350z.com/forum/showpost.ph...99&postcount=5 would seem to suggest otherwise if I understand you correctly.

 

Russ, I mounted 275/40/17s on 17x8 OEM rims without any issues. The tires are new (Hankook Ventus Z211) & I'm still trying to heat cycle them to prepare for this weekend's autocross (they were slippery the 1st time I used them last month). Until they're broken in, they still feel slower than my used RA-1s (245s on track rims).

 

I can post acquisition traces showing higher lateral G loads and faster response on the 285s than I get on the 245s -- or even the Hoosier 275s that I used to run.

And Jim and Carter were right -- 285s on the '05 track model ('06 enthusiast) are the "ticket." I didn't even get halfway through my first run on them before I was giggling because there was SO much grip and SO much faster transition time (not that the transition time on the 245s was slow...).