Guest comeandzpa Posted August 16, 2002 Share Posted August 16, 2002 OK. I FINALLY convinced my dad to let me get new wheels. However, he is not convinced that I can't throw any old wheels on my car. We are both a little confused as to what offset is, and how it affects the wheels you buy. In other words, the Z (1981 280ZX)has an offset of what, 10? If I were to buy a wheel w/ a different offset, what would happen? I do not have a specific wheel in mind, this is more of a general tech. question. I know that Ross sells the adaptor kits, but I am not looking forward to spending that much, since I can get the wheels for only $50 more than the adaptors. Tires are not a problem, as we already have tires from my moms old car. I am looking to go 15X6.5 or 15X7. Any input to any of these questions would be much appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest greimann Posted August 16, 2002 Share Posted August 16, 2002 Aftermarket wheel choices for 70 - 83 Z and ZX's are very limited. If you are looking for 15" wheels that fit and are cheap, you might want to look at Stock Datsun Turbo, or "swastica" wheels like the ones that are on my car. Otherwise Centerline makes a wheel that will bolt right up too. Look in a Summit catalog for a nice table on Centerlines. Motorsport also sells compatible wheels too. The reason that selection is so limited is what you have noted about offset. Most aftermarket wheels that have a 4 bolt pattern are made for front wheel drive cars that have a significant amount of positive offset, that is the mounting face is offset from the centerline towards the outside. If you were to attempt to mount up one of these wheels, the inside rim would interfere with the struts and suspension. That is where Ross's adapters come into play. The adapter provides the extra "meat" for the mounting face to offset the wheel back to the correct position. Here is a link to wheel terminology: http://www.tirerack.com/wheels/tech/offset.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dsommer Posted August 16, 2002 Share Posted August 16, 2002 Ok question... With the adaptors what wheel can you run? I'm thinking any wheel that would fit a honda civic? If so the selection is infinite. David Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cody 82 ZXT Posted August 16, 2002 Share Posted August 16, 2002 If you think that you might want something bigger in the furture you might as well go ahead and do it now. As far as 15 inch rims are conserned there is a limited selection nowdays for rims that are the right offset. I had the Centerline Stars for several years on my car and the look is a little dated in my opinion. But, then again we're not talking about new cars here are we. If you step up to a larger diameter rim you will have a much better selection of rims and tire choices. I know the adapters add to the cost of the set up but, they really open you up to the world of modern rim sizes and styles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cody 82 ZXT Posted August 16, 2002 Share Posted August 16, 2002 As far as what wheel you can run I guess the answer is really what ever will fit in the wheel wells. There are some guidelines that you really need to follow though. I think the biggest thing is to try and keep the center line of the new rims as close to the orginal center line as possible. I have 17 x 7.5's on my ZX and they fit better than the stock rims did. They can make the adapters to fit what ever lug pattern you would need. I think they try and stay away from going from 4 lug to 5 lug though. If you need a 5 lug pattern then it is really best to swap the hub out with one from a 300ZX. Theres proubly more to it then just swapping the hubs out but, since I've never done it I'm not sure of the particlars on the matter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest comeandzpa Posted August 17, 2002 Share Posted August 17, 2002 so heres another question: one of my friends is a welder. could i conceivably just have him make me a piece of metal, say, 30 mm thick (that would be appropriate for civics, right?) and put those between the wheels and the rotors? Or am I missing some key fact that doesnt allow me to do this? It seems to me as though this wouldnt be too difficult, but then again my technical knowledge stops at adding gas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest potterma Posted August 17, 2002 Share Posted August 17, 2002 A recent thread featering the wisdom of Pete Paraska indicated that spacers were OK as long as the contact patch was about where the stock location was. BUT, I seem to recall that through-hole spacers were only good up to about 1/2" (12.5mm). If you want to go with a larger spacer than that, you need to use the spacer style that bolts to the hub. An offset pattern then allows you to bolt the wheel to the spacer, as if it were the wheel hub. Pro's jump in and correct me where I'm wrong. I'm just parroting what I've read here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted August 17, 2002 Share Posted August 17, 2002 A wheel spacer or wheel adapter will never be a hub. The hub has bearings and the further you get the wheel away from the hub bearings the more leverage stress is placed on these suspension parts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted August 17, 2002 Share Posted August 17, 2002 Tomahawk Z, please, go read this thread: http://www.hybridz.org/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=6;t=001578 Which features this thread: http://www.240z.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=14862#post14862 It debunks your blanket statement: "The hub has bearings and the further you get the wheel away from the hub bearings the more leverage stress is placed on these suspension parts." That'd only be true if you moved the tire contact patch center away from the stock location to a large degree, ignoring differences in tire width. Potterma is correct - adding thick slip on spacers is a bad idea, but that has nothing to do with the bearings of the TOTAL wheel/spacer offset issue in those threads - it has to do with bending stresses being imparted to the wheel studs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted August 17, 2002 Share Posted August 17, 2002 Pete, I was talking about moving the tire contact patch center away from the the stock location. Yes, there is a very good possibility that you can take a front wheel drive wheel such as a Honda. and successfully mount it on the rear wheel drive Datsun hubs with adapters and spacers to obtain a very safe and comfortable offset compararble to the stock Datsun wheel off set.Yes there is a problem of stressing lug studs with spacers. For my applications, I do not consider FWD wheels or a diameter over 15 inches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest scca Posted August 17, 2002 Share Posted August 17, 2002 i never read the lug/spacer thread as i think its all BS. whilst the engineer types will debate it all day long the simple fact is that with ARP or similar long studs and a 2" spacer i think its totally safe. GT2 porsches come with studs and spacers (afaik factory) MANY GT SCCA race cars run studs and spacers. i myself ran 3"studs with up to 1.75" spacers on my dime (510 for those not in the know) for 10+ years road racing which has the hardest forces possible on a car. and this was with the scrub radius moved out not with different offset wheels-- not once have i seen a car fail at or near the stud or due to spacers . (if they use proper arp studs or similar) why did BRE use long studs in the early 70"s? for more track width and they raced that way too. never heard of one of them crashing due to spacers. i know i drive the car hard - to attest to this fact in a very tight corner at a local track i snapped a lower ball joint in half. the wheel buckled out and i bent the rim and tc rod but nothing happened to the studs/spacers. so if i can snap a lower balljoint then logic would seem to state that the forces outside on the studs are far more and if they were going to fail they would have already over the course of time or show signs of it. so for those on the street how can someone say they will ever get to the point of what a race car is pushed to> ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cody 82 ZXT Posted August 18, 2002 Share Posted August 18, 2002 Mike's got some good pionts here. Nothing put more stress on an item than hard racing. Mike is in the buisness of selling quality race parts and I find it hard to believe he would endorse an item that would fail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest comeandzpa Posted August 18, 2002 Share Posted August 18, 2002 so do I go and get a set of spacers made? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted August 18, 2002 Share Posted August 18, 2002 All this spacer logic just makes my head hurt between my ears. LOL I do no want to use them unless I have to. Mike that is the longest post I ever saw you make. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted August 18, 2002 Share Posted August 18, 2002 Well, I'm not going to refute any of that, Mike. But I just hate it when somebody starts going nuts about wheel bearing wear because someone used spacers, regardless of where the contact patch goes. My comments about needing a bolt on spacer instead of a slip on have to do with OE type studs. I agree, put large (7/16" or 1/2") ARP studs in and you've probably got a factor of safety in the 3-5 range for most apps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest comeandzpa Posted August 19, 2002 Share Posted August 19, 2002 OK, here is an update: The wheels that I am looking at right now are 15X6.5 motegi racings, (7 spoke), and they have an offset of +38. Do I go w/ longer lugs and spacers? I do not have coilovers or any other suspension mods, everything on the car is stock except for the air filter. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest greimann Posted August 20, 2002 Share Posted August 20, 2002 I would just spring for Ross C's adapters. Longer lugs and spacers will effectively achieve the same thing, but you have to dismount the hubs and unpress / press 16 lugs. Adapters are plug and play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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