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What Size Wheel/Tire?


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Back when the S30's were built wheels & tires were 13", 14" & 15". When I decided to do an upgrade on my 280Z in 1997 16" was the hot ticket with a smattering of 17" available.  Now it's getting difficult to find a good 16" tire to fit the car.  In another 5 years it may be impossible.

So here is the question:

What size wheels,with correspondingly appropriate tires, do y'all think will Pioneer on into the foreseeable future?  Are 17" going to stick with us or am I going to eventually have to go to 18"?  Bigger than that is really not an option for a car with a stock body/wheel well.

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For street tires, I would lean toward 17s.  For drag tires, stay with 15s.  For autocross/roadrace tires, go to 18s if you have a V8, so that you can use used Corvette cast-off used tires.  If L6, stay with 15s so you can use Miata used cast-off race rubber.  So, in my opinion, it depends on your use.

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I currently have the 16 x 7 with 225/50-16 tires, which will become the "track wheels & tires" for running Sebring, etc.  I am working on a set of 17 x 8 wheels with 245/40-17 for the street.  Both of those tire sizes are pretty plentiful and not too expensive. 

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Gary, Yeah - I have 16x7 wheels too.  I can still get tires for them but they are becoming harder to find.  Seems to be a good assortment still for race tires but ultra high performance summer street radial options are becoming fewer.  Probably have at least 5 times the selection in the 235/40-17 or 245/40-17 sizes. What are you looking at running for an offset for the 17" wheels? I'm running "0" offset on my 16" wheels and my 225/50-16 tires just barely clear the fenders with a little massaging.  I got them when I had the stock suspension but now I have Eibach coilovers so I need to move toward the center of the car to allow for wider tires. 

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If anything there will be more 15" and 16" options in a couple years. It seems there is a increase in the Japanese nostalgic market for the tuner crowd especially with some of the late 80's early 90's cars now being almost considered "classics". If you notice in the past year there are a lot more small wheel companies making 15" and 16" wheels in near 0 offset which compliments the Z nicely as long as they make a 4x114.3 (most have universal 8 lug)

 

Tires though, now that one is a bit more limited if your using any wheel wider than 9 inches.

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rooger82 - I'm not as worried about the wheels as I am the tires.  I can get wheels in literally any size I want but the tires are a different story.  That is what initiated this discussion. I'm running a 1977 280Z with TTT coilovers and no flares so I'm pretty much limited to a 245 max width on tires.

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Hmm I think it will stay 17 for a while, then maybe up to 18 in 5 or so years, but I don't think much larger. Even accords and camrys come with 16's with optional 18's from the factory, but to get bigger then 18 would mean a change in some lower end shops tire changing equipment without much benefit to ride comfort. I mean I've been in a normalish car with 20's, it really amplifies divots in the road. So unless they make the roads a lot smoother or make a breakthrough in tire compound, I can't see them going much above 18's.

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Yeah - my quandary right now is 17 vs 18.  I'm also wondering if I need to make the leap to 5-lug to make it easier to find a set of wheels.  That would be an expensive move, though, so may just stick with 17's and the 4x4.5" pattern.  Since the biggest tire I can probably runs a 245 cross-section with coil-overs and stock fenders that again may point me toward 17's.  I just don't want to go to 17's and then have them go south like the 16's have and have 18's be the thing.  Also not too excited about having a 30 series sidewall.  Just not enough sidewall for curbs, RR tracks, etc.

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If you are going 18's I would suggest going to 5 lug, but I believe there should be some pretty decent sizes still available at 4x114 in 17"

Tires are plentiful and inexpensive in this size also. I have been debating going bigger myself but I just cant make up my mind on a set of wheels.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Plenty of street tires options for 15's/16's imo.. at least for semi grippy / performance settings. Don't be afraid to 'stretch', which on paper looks wrong, but lot of times you can get the overall circumference similar and reduce the stretched look with a taller sidewall.

 

Though I've never seen an 18" set up that didn't look horridly wrong on a s30 chassis.

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No way I would run stretched  tires on my car.  First they are not stable enough on the rim to survive performance driving and, secondly, they don't protect the rims from curb rash. Other than a type of show car I think they are just a bad idea all around.  I like the cross-section of my tire to be 1-2" wider than the wheel width.

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Let's not get carried away with the term 'stretched', you guys are probably thinking in terms of extremes. I'm running 225 width tires on a 9" wheel, which has a mild stretch but no issues on years or race days (in fact had a 10" wide set up before on same profile). As for protecting the rim, you're not supposed to run your wheels/tires into anything, period.

 

The ridiculous scenarios where the sidewalls aren't even seated is a different story, but given the choices for 15" where semi performance tires only comes in 225/45 and r comp for anything wider, you have to be willing to stretch an .5 or 1" for decent tire choices.

 

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Running wider wheels than necessary for the tread width seems like it would perform worse due to the extra weight of the wheel.  For a 225 width (I looked at 225/50/15), an 8" wheel is the widest recommended for most tires, presumably because any wider the bead stability gets worse...

Edited by SleeperZ
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Again, more hypotheticals vs. real world applications. Even with rotational mass, for most people here the weight of the wheel between an 8" to 9" is not going to perform worse to a point where you're noticing a difference. On my current set of BFG Rivals, and I would bet any microscopic/measurable loss in bead seating is offset by the stiffer sidewall, compared to non performance tires.

 

Also 225/50/15 only typically comes in either 300+ tw (passable for street/cruise conditions at most), or R compound/ slicks. My point is following the text book guide on tires size/wheel width isn't always the best or suitable option.

 

Going back to the OP's concern, I think worrying about tire sizes phasing out in 17's is silly. There are lot of combinations for 15/16's that you can make work, we're not the only ones running these diameters. With Miatas, BMW e30's, and the growing vintage scene, I just don't see this as a problem.

Edited by Kennymonster
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We seem to have drifted off from the original intent of this thread. In 1997 when I bought my wheels there was a lot of selection in 225/50-16 tires. That was the largest cross-section tire that fit both my wheels AND my fender wells. Today that selection seems to have narrowed, especially in the higher performance tires. In the meantime selections have improved in 17" and 18" tire sizes. I really don't give a rats behind what is available today. My original question was asking if there is any truly knowledgable person out there that has an idea where tire/wheel sizes will be 10 years from now.

I'm contemplating getting another set of wheels and I don't want to pick a set that i'll have difficulty finding ultra high performance summer or all season tires for. As it is, my current set of Dunlop Direzzas will probably last another 5 years so maybe I'll just wait and check again when they finally wear out.

Edited by Phantom
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lol you've got to be kidding.. are you really asking for someone to predict the tire trends and supply met a decade from now? It doesn't matter if the newer vehicles are equipped with progressively bigger wheels, even if the mainstream becomes 20" wheels as factory option, it's not like that's going to fit on the s30's. Do you realize how many vehicles on the road now days are running on 17"/18" wheels, especially coming from the z32 scene, no one is worried about diminishing tires sizes (z32's came with 16"s and are 25 yrs old now, most run on 17"/18")

 

If you're on stock body without flares, and are running 7 to 8" width but move up the diameter to 17" / 18", all you're going to find are harsher / stiffer ride by having to compensate with smaller sidewall to keep the overall circumference in check. There's lot more to it then just diameter size, you haven't given information on rest of the wheel specs, or what can fit on your set up.

 

Also I wouldn't get caught up on 'ultra high performance summer' term and label, 300 treadwear on those dunlops are anything but high performance even for street.

 

Since you only shop every 5 years for tires, you're better off dealing with this at that time based on what's out there, than trying to gamble on the impossible.

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I really don't give a rats behind what is available today. My original question was asking if there is any truly knowledgable person out there that has an idea where tire/wheel sizes will be 10 years from now.

Your question by definition has no right or wrong answer; its subjective to what people think and what you want to believe. Nobody truly knows where the manufactures (which is what drives a lot of the tire availability)  will be in 10 years. We could be at mega cars running 24's from the factory based on the current trend that everyday cars like accords can come with 17's/18's from the factory. Or we could be at micro cars running 14's because gas goes up to $10 a gallon in 10 years. 

 

What I'm trying to get at is nobody can tell you a "this is where it will be 100%". It will only be guesses. You are asking someone to predict the future.

 

Making an educated guess, go to 18's if you're worried about the future. This is based on how large modern cars are and how they have grown since the same model in the 90's. 18's are common place now. Google a 90's accord on 18's and a 2000's accord on 18's. You can see the size difference in the car. I see "stanced" 350Z's tucking 20's now. So my advice (and I'm no expert (so my advice may not classify as knowledgeable here) but I'm not oblivious to trends) go 18's. If you dont want your Z to look like a donk go 17's. They may be the new 15's in 10 years.

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