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So, i am having this dilemma as well.  I really want to put ZG type flares on my car and want to go to the deep dish wheel that make the Z look so low and wide but i am not into the stanced out tire stretch thing.  I have Rota 16x8's on my car now with Direzza Star-Spec 225/50/16 on it and they handle great.

 

I was ready to pony up for a set of real Watanabe RS wheels in 16x 9 and 16x9.5 but i found there are NO tires out there  unless you are planning to run full on racing tires.  so, now i am researching 17" wheels.  Seems like CCW's are the way to go there as you can spec your backspacing.  

 

Does anyone have some advice on this?

 

 

 

post-14396-0-29679700-1392082949_thumb.jpg

Edited by fastfloyd
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You're not going to find anything larger than 245 (for those awesome 100 treadwear semi slicks) in 16. You need to go with 17's if you don't want to stretch. the standard for 17's are 17x9 front and 17x9.5 rear from the Rota group buy thread. Offsets are negative. 

 

If you don't want rotas, then CCW, Volk, SSR and a few other pricey companies make pretty much any offset you want. I was quoted at $2400 for a full set of SSR SP1's from a friend who is a dealer for them.

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  • 1 month later...

Hey sorry to thread jack a bit but I figured it would be smarter to post here then waste a new thread with my question. I want to get some new wheels for my z but I wasn't sure what I would have to do to make them fit or if they would look stupid or anything of the sort. 

 

I wanted to get 16x8 0 offset for the front and 16x9 0 offset for the rear and I wanted to run regular fender flares with (for the moment) stock suspension.

 

Is there anything I need to do to them to get them to fit good without rubbing or being too sunk in with the flares? and whats the recommended tire setup for something like that?

 

Thanks again.

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You should look around and see what looks good to you and find out what the offset they are running as looks are kind of up to the individual. 

 

16x9 + 0 may not fit depending on the rim I want to say a 16x8.5 +4 is right about where you are touching the strut/spring perch with the rim with certain makes. You could almost fit a 16x9 wheel without the zg flare at the +0 offset so adding in a 1.5 inch zg flares are going to leave you with a very sunken in look. Same as the fronts. It will also be difficult to mount the flares in the rightish position with stock style suspension as you would be running pretty close to the bump stop, unless you decided to mount the flares lower which wouldn't look quite right especially if you have bumpers. Personally I think it looks a bit silly to have anything thinner than 9.5 with the flare, to fill our the flare you would end up pushing the wheel out and from the rear of the car it looks like the wheels are sitting outside the body.

 

datsun-240z-camber-poke.jpg

Edited by seattlejester
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BluDestiny - evidently we think a lot alike. I've been running 225/50-16 tires with 16x7" 0 offset wheels on my car since 1997. knowing what I know today I would have 17" wheels as there is much more tire availability in that size and they frequently are less expensive than a 16. I would also have a 5mm offset to center them in the wheel well a bit better with a stock suspension. With coil overs I'd look at a 10-15mm offset and probably be running 245/40-17 tires. I am currently running the Dunlop Direzzas and they are definitely the stickiest tire I've had on my car. I actually can hit it harder in 1st than I used to and have them hold.

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That car looks like it is squatting to drop a turd.

 

i just joined, so i could quote this. that was funny, and I agree.   I've had my 77 280 for 2 months now. messed up and ordered drilled/slotted rotors and wheel bearings for the stock 4 lug hubs.  They'll do for now.   Mine still has the inline 6 for now.   Plan on doing a lot of reading here, and a LS swap.  However, I dont want to do fender flares / body modification.  Phantom, you are saying 17" will fit on a stock suspension, without flares.  I know I'm talking out my azz, at this point without research.  Wouldn't I have to convert to 5 lug, if I do a LSD rearend, with the CV joints?  Seems like I've read the stock U-joint rear end wont hold up????????????  not to hijack a tire thread on my first post.  Because I would like to know the best wheel/tire size I can run, but dont want to pony up for 4 lugs now, to find out I'll have to get 5 lug later.  I'm running the stock steels with stock hubcaps right now. 

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Wannab - You can easily run 17x7 wheels, maybe even 17x8 wheels with 0 to 5mm offset and 225/40-17 tires with a stock suspension. If your engine is developing less than 450 ftlbs of torque you can run an R200 LSD with CV joints and 4-lug wheels. The Z bolt pattern is very common for a lot of tuner cars that have a huge aftermarket offering in wheels. The problem is they generally have about a 38mm offset so you'll need spacers to center the wheels properly in your wheel well. I'm currently running an R200 LSD with u-joint half shafts with my 320 RWHP/326 ftlbs torque LS1. And, yes, I broke one of the u-joints at the track but the one I broke had 200,000 miles on it. If you have the option for 5 lug at this point then I would go that route and ensure you won't have a problem in that area.

If you're looking at an LSX that puts out more than 450 ftlbs of torque then you need to pony up some large and put in an R230 LSD with splined half shafts.

Edited by Phantom
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If you are just now starting, it is a good time to decide: "am I going 4-lug or 5-lug. I think I would like to have gone 5-lug, but I have invested in so many 4-lug wheels that I'm kinda stuck, unless I want to sell and re-buy. If I build a second Z in the future, it will be a drag race only car, so one of the first mods I did to it would be a 5-lug conversion to be able to access all the cool 15-inch wheels made for drag racing American cars. I agree with everything the poster above me said in terms of advice.

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Wannab - You can easily run 17x7 wheels, maybe even 17x8 wheels with 0 to 5mm offset and 225/40-17 tires with a stock suspension. If your engine is developing less than 450 ftlbs of torque you can run an R200 LSD with CV joints and 4-lug wheels. The Z bolt pattern is very common for a lot of tuner cars that have a huge aftermarket offering in wheels. The problem is they generally have about a 38mm offset so you'll need spacers to center the wheels properly in your wheel well. I'm currently running an R200 LSD with u-joint half shafts with my 320 RWHP/326 ftlbs torque LS1. And, yes, I broke one of the u-joints at the track but the one I broke had 200,000 miles on it. If you have the option for 5 lug at this point then I would go that route and ensure you won't have a problem in that area.

If you're looking at an LSX that puts out more than 450 ftlbs of torque then you need to pony up some large and put in an R230 LSD with splined half shafts.

This really is a side track, but I'm not convinced that the R230 is any stronger than the R200, and it comes with all the headaches associated (CV shafts have to be pieced together, etc). Get an R200, run turbo shafts from Z31 or S130. If you break that, do a Ford 8.8 would be my suggestion. Nobody has a bolt in option for the Ford, but that's where it's at IMO. R230 is a waste of time/money. My $.02...

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You should look around and see what looks good to you and find out what the offset they are running as looks are kind of up to the individual. 

 

16x9 + 0 may not fit depending on the rim I want to say a 16x8.5 +4 is right about where you are touching the strut/spring perch with the rim with certain makes. You could almost fit a 16x9 wheel without the zg flare at the +0 offset so adding in a 1.5 inch zg flares are going to leave you with a very sunken in look. Same as the fronts. It will also be difficult to mount the flares in the rightish position with stock style suspension as you would be running pretty close to the bump stop, unless you decided to mount the flares lower which wouldn't look quite right especially if you have bumpers. Personally I think it looks a bit silly to have anything thinner than 9.5 with the flare, to fill our the flare you would end up pushing the wheel out and from the rear of the car it looks like the wheels are sitting outside the body.

 

 

 

Ok thank you very much for the information, I do have a few questions pertaining things you said that I've never heard before in my "e-travels".

 

Why would it be difficult to mount the flares? Isn't their mounting position based off of location on the body? Or am I missing something? What would be close to the bump stops? And I understand where you are coming from with the "sitting outside the body" thing, and that makes sense. But does that mean that everyone that doesn't have crazy big wheels looks like that? Everyone with flares can't all possibly have super wide rims I think.

 

I apologize for the super noob questions and I do feel silly asking them. I just feel like fitment and coilovers, no matter how many times I read about it here, I still can't fully grasp without a hit on the head.

 

But thank you for being patient with me.  :)

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Difficult to mount in the rightish position with the stock suspension.

 

To elaborate, to get the look that looks right you want some of the tire to be covered by the flare while stationary.

05-1973-datsun-240Z-carbon-fiber-ZG-flarEven covering just a slight amount like that looks great. When the top tucks in it looks fantastic, but at the same time I imagine making it livable is quite difficult.

 

Notice how his flares sit pretty much on the crease near the bottom of the car. And the front lines up with the front bumper, the rear I've seen it done the way above and lining it up with the rear bumper, so the location the flares go is kind of set in that ball park. That is about where you are "supposed" to mount them. With stock suspension, to get that look you are towards the bottom of your suspension travel (near the bump stops).

 

Alternatively, you can save your suspension travel and your tire will have a gap between flare and itself, looking like a monster truck to some.

datsun-240z-zg-fender-flares.jpg

Honestly it doesn't look bad, but you get the drift.

 

You could mount the flares lower on the body and keep your suspension travel, but that ends up looking awkward in my opinion.

 

This is with the presumption that you are staying with the stock spring/perch setup.  Most people go with an adjustable height suspension with firmer springs to keep the car from moving too much through the suspension stroke.

 

 

 

 

Regarding the rear floating tire look, it just kind of ends up that way, even stock.

subtlez-rear.jpg

The rear end curves in in stock form, so you end up seeing a lot of the tire. If you move a thinner wheel and you move it out, it ends up looking like the wheels are outside the body, even more apparent when you add camber. Keep in mind it looks fine from the side view, but when you walk around to the back, you notice how awkward it can look.

 

(Can't find a picture at the moment)

 

This car below for example has pretty wide wheels, but even so, it can look floaty from the rear.

If the tires were thinner and pushed out, it would definitely give the illusion that the wheels were sitting outside the body.

240.2.jpg

 

Also keep in mind this is all aesthetics and more of a personal observation of mine then any general consensus.

Edited by seattlejester
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