MY77Z Posted April 29, 2007 Share Posted April 29, 2007 hi guys, i've been reading alot about wheels/tires and offsets. i wanna buy a new set of drag lites, after all the reading, a 15*8 with 4.5 BS fitted with 235/60-15s should fit with stock suspension without problems?? and what about slicks? what size would fit? About the fronts, i have no idea if i should go with 15*6.5 or 15*3.5, and what tire size to match and what BS to use. please guys, your help is needed because i'm buying the set from the states and ship it to kuwait, i'll pay alot of many and would love to have a set that fits without problems. thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gearheadstik Posted April 29, 2007 Share Posted April 29, 2007 http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=109196&highlight=draglites Read this one and look at my pics...I show a 8in with 8.5 slicks and 4.5bs, I have coilovers and no spacers in the pics on a 240z...I think you will have to have less bs to run stock suspen....just my .02 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MY77Z Posted April 29, 2007 Author Share Posted April 29, 2007 4'' BS would be fine ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nullbound Posted April 30, 2007 Share Posted April 30, 2007 4" backspacing would work for a 7" rim, but you wouldn't want that with an 8" rim, otherwise you would have some problems with your fender lips. An 8" rim with 4.5" backspacing is ok with stock suspension, but you will have to roll your inner fender lips. With 280 suspension, the spring perch is out of the way. I'm using stock style suspension with suspension techniques lowering springs on both my 240 and 280, both with 8" wide wheels on the rear. More details of my setup are in the thread referenced above by gearheadstik. For the fronts, a 5" or 6" rim is good (and would look good on your car), but IMO a 3.5" or 4" rim is really too skinny for a car you're going to drive on the street. Also, the available offsets for the smaller rims is limited. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MY77Z Posted April 30, 2007 Author Share Posted April 30, 2007 thanks Ryan, what do you mean by Rolling the inner fender lips?? what size tires i can use? is 235/60-15s are the widest i can go? and what size slicks to use? 26/8.5 15 will work or can i go wider than 8.5? about the fronts? if i'll go with 15*5, what do you recomend for tire size and wheel BS ?? i'm sorry that i'm asking so many questions but you have to know that i will not have any fitting trials, when thery are shipped to kuwait, they have to fit, plus, shipping is expensive as hell, i'll pay around 500 bucks just to ship the wheels/tires to kuwait. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nullbound Posted May 1, 2007 Share Posted May 1, 2007 No worries on the questions and I hope my advice is helpful. Rolling fender lips is done to add clearance for the tires in the rear. You can do this carefully with a hammer or the end of a baseball bat, or with a pricey tool like the following: http://www.tirerack.com/accessories/tools/fenderlip.jsp. I prefer the baseball bat/hammer route myself (I'm cheap that way), but the image in the link to tirerack should give you an idea of what it's doing. There's a roller on the top of the tool that is used to compress the lip of the fender in against the fender so that you don't end up taking chunks out of your tires on bumps or uneven pavement. You can also use a rolling pin like a cook uses. For a 280 with stock suspension, I would stick with a 235/60-15 on an 7" rim with 4" backspacing to be safe. Without seeing your car in person and being able to view the ride height and clearance, I can't recommend an 8" rim, especially given what you'll have to go through to get your wheels. While I think it would work with an 8" rim, I don't want you to end up with something you'll be disappointed with. However, if you were planning to go with coilovers, I would say go for the 8" rim. For slicks, look for something in the 26x8" or 26x8.5" range for the rears. That's in the same size range as a 235/60-15 will be. I have 6" front wheels and would purchase the same size again if I were to do it over. So, IMO go with 6" wheels on the front with a 205/60-15 or a 215/60-15 for street tires. Those tire sizes are pretty close to the stock diameter. If you want something to match with slicks, I like (and am currently using) Mickey Thompson Sportsman Fronts (26x7.5-15). While the size seems like it's close to the rears, it's really not. They look skinny, even on a 6" rim (that's what's on my car in my signature): http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=MTT%2D1572&N=700+4294923107+4294921520+4294793325+115&autoview=sku I'm being a little conservative on this, but just trying to make sure you get something that will work rather than something that might work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meaty69Maro Posted May 1, 2007 Share Posted May 1, 2007 Can't help you with fitment, BUT I do know that JEGS offers an exact replica of WELD Draglites, for a considerably cheaper price. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MY77Z Posted May 1, 2007 Author Share Posted May 1, 2007 Ryan, your advice is more than helpful and thanks alot for all the info, about changing to coilovers, i'm not sure if i will do that since i'm thinkin about getting a ford 8.8 shortend Diff in the future. for now, i'll stick with the stock suspension or maybe get the Tokicos HP (blue ones) just to improve the ride, i have tokico red springs, i bought the car with those installed. so you think i should go with 7'' wide instead of 8''?? about the front, i was thinking more like a 175 or 185/60-15 tire. what do you think? are those too skinny for the street? Meaty69Maro: thanks for the info, haven't checked them yet but do they weight the same as the welds? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MY77Z Posted May 1, 2007 Author Share Posted May 1, 2007 checked the jeg's wheels, they dont have anything in 4-4.5 bolt pattern Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nullbound Posted May 1, 2007 Share Posted May 1, 2007 Can't help you with fitment, BUT I do know that JEGS offers an exact replica of WELD Draglites, for a considerably cheaper price. They're not exact replicas. They look the same, but Jeg's wheels are cast aluminum, whereas Weld wheels are cold forged aluminum. I'll stick with Weld wheels. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nullbound Posted May 1, 2007 Share Posted May 1, 2007 Ryan, your advice is more than helpful and thanks alot for all the info, about changing to coilovers, i'm not sure if i will do that since i'm thinkin about getting a ford 8.8 shortend Diff in the future. for now, i'll stick with the stock suspension or maybe get the Tokicos HP (blue ones) just to improve the ride, i have tokico red springs, i bought the car with those installed. so you think i should go with 7'' wide instead of 8''?? If you're willing to go with Tokico Illuminas (set on 4 or 5) for the rear, you can do the 8" wheel on the rear with those tokico springs and otherwise stock suspension. Going to an 8" wheel without changing the cartridge to an illumina will more-than-likely cause you to scrub your tires on the inner fender lip (even after rolling). If you're going to use Tokico HP blues (or whatever cartridge is currently installed), then go with the 7" wheel. For the 8.8 swap in the future, however, the 8" wheel seems like a better choice for that change. If it were me, I would get the illuminas and 8" wheels now. about the front, i was thinking more like a 175 or 185/60-15 tire. what do you think? are those too skinny for the street? That's very skinny and very short for street use... And those sizes are more appropriate for a 4" wheel. Remember that your front brakes handle a higher percentage of your braking. Personally, I wouldn't go smaller than a 205/60-15 for the fronts for street use. That being said, you've mentioned slicks in this thread... Is the car primarily a street car with occasional runs at the drag strip? If it's a mixed-use car, you might go with a set of drag radials on the rear and use the mickey thompsons I mentioned above on the front. That's what I have for mine, but I only drive mine on the street on weekends. And the problem with this route is it's not the best in rainy weather... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MY77Z Posted May 3, 2007 Author Share Posted May 3, 2007 hi Ryan, well it's a weekend car and a drag strip too, i think i'm gonna get the illuminas and 8" wide with 235/60-15. as for the front, i'll go with what you told me, 6'' wide with M/Ts 26x7.5-15. thanks alot for helping me here, one more thing, do you think i need to get front struts?? or only the rear one would be enough? if its better for drag racing to get all of them, than i'll do it....knowing that even if i drive the car on public streets, i'm drag racing it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briann510 Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 Here is our 240z with Weld Draglite 15x8's with 4.5" backspacing running 235-60 drag radials and 15x5's with 180-60's with stock suspension (altho lowered 1.5" front/back). Rear fender lips were rolled as the sharp edge could cut into top edge of tire if they hit very hard but suspension is pretty stiff and so far for a couple hundred street miles on the tires all is well. but if the car wasnt lowered it wouldnt be a problem at all. Last couple pics show the rear suspension in full squat position with 2 250 lbs people sitting on rear hatch opening. My son might be willing to sell the new rims/tires as the car will be down for a couple years for the V8 transformation. I think $1300 for all 4 wheels/tires was total cost. No spacers at all. I dont think it did, but maybe when the rear disc conversion was done it moved the rotor surface a tad further out than the drum setup thats why we have a little more clearance than some people with same stock spring perches? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nullbound Posted May 3, 2007 Share Posted May 3, 2007 hi Ryan, well it's a weekend car and a drag strip too, i think i'm gonna get the illuminas and 8" wide with 235/60-15. as for the front, i'll go with what you told me, 6'' wide with M/Ts 26x7.5-15. thanks alot for helping me here, one more thing, do you think i need to get front struts?? or only the rear one would be enough? if its better for drag racing to get all of them, than i'll do it....knowing that even if i drive the car on public streets, i'm drag racing it Sounds good! For the fronts, it depends on what cartridges you have. Your ride height looks good right now, so I probably wouldn't mess with them. If, however, you're not sure about the condition of the front cartridges and want to replace them (while you're at it), tokico hp's are sufficient on the front unless you get a good deal on a complete set of illuminas. There's usually really good deals on complete sets of illuminas on ebay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gearheadstik Posted May 4, 2007 Share Posted May 4, 2007 MY77Z be warned that I think if you run a true slick you are going to rub with stock suspension because of the sidewalls on the slicks are not like the radials ...I talked to my buddy Rip and he says he ran no spacer w MT radials and has to run a spacer w the MT drag slicks so think about which tire you'll end up using... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MY77Z Posted May 4, 2007 Author Share Posted May 4, 2007 briann510 thanks for photos and how is the current condition of the wheels/tires? and how much would you sell them for? what is the total shipping weight? i live in Kuwait and i pay 60 bucks for each 10Lbs Ryan...... i have to check my fronts first and then i'll let you know what i'm gonna do. gearheadstik thanks for the warning, i didnt know that. well, if the M/T drag radials hook good enough on the track, then i'm gonna stick with them, if not, i have to get real slicks. how thick the spacer your buddy used? and is it really safe to use spacers when launching hard at the track? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gearheadstik Posted May 5, 2007 Share Posted May 5, 2007 Yes, the Zebra and JNJ car both use a 1/4 in spacer, if I'm not mistaken and are making 800+hp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ULISES Posted May 7, 2007 Share Posted May 7, 2007 Hi, Maybe I'm late to reply. Here is another option for you, I am running a 15 x 8 with a 5'' back spacing on stock lowered suspencion..I am running the blue tokiko's with eibach lowering springs..The slick is a Hoosier dot approved (quik time pro) 26 x 9.5 x 15, I did not rolled the fenders and it does rub when I hit big pot holes...It is minimun and I dont use this for street much, when @ the strip we dont have any problems with the tires rubbing.If the fenders were rolled there would be no rubbing @ all.. Here is the actual thread, If you want to check out the pics to see the clearance.. http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=115467&highlight=26+9.5 Thank's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cable Posted August 9, 2007 Share Posted August 9, 2007 Okay, I am about to order my Draglites for my 280z. I am going to run a 235/60/15 rear tire. I currently running stock suspension and I am prepared to roll the fender lips as needed. Draglites from Summit in 15x8 come in either 4.5" or 5.5" backspacing. Should I buy the 5.5" BS and space them out as needed or should I just stick with the 4.5" BS and play it safe? Thanks guys!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briann510 Posted August 9, 2007 Share Posted August 9, 2007 Our 15x8 with 4.5" BS fit just fine without coilovers but you will have to still roll the fender lip if car is lowered and the edge of tire might hit depending on how much lowered. If you go with 5.5" BS you will have to play with spacers without coilovers. My son was thinking about selling his 15x8 rear and 15x5 front rims/tires while the car is down for the v8 conversion. I'm not sure if he is still wanting to though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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