Wondering if 265/45R16 on say 10" wide rims would fit under front and rear. The fender lips would be rolled and coilovers fitted but the main concern at this time is the actual space available in the wheel wells.

Other clearance issues are not a concern right now, the suspension and steering may be revised anyway and wheel offset is yet to be decided. Any pics or web sites around that are relevant?

 

Check out the sticky at the top of the wheels, susp. and chassis forum. It has the answers you're looking for.

 

I don't think it states the maximums specifically.

245 width fits easily in the rear. My guess is that 265 should fit fine. 10" wide does fit in the rear but only 8.5" in the front. You will need to measure your own offsets. The 280ZX springs fit above the wheels usually so coilovers do not give you additional room. 265/45/16 will be oversize though so you might need the added room. Try 265/40/16 if that tire even exists. 16" tire selection is very limited.

Offsets will be slightly positive. I'd make a guess of 16x8.5 front +12 and 16x10 rear +20
With rolled fenders it may be possible to fit 9 inch but you'd be cutting it pretty close. You might run into issues when turning.

 

you can fit 10" on the back!!! DAYAM!!
can i get 10 " if i widen the stock 6 spoke...thats what i wanna do...

 

Thanks Bleach, thats exactly the info needed, good one.

 

Whoa. Someone makes 16" tires? I had no idea

 

Ya those 16 inch tires are pretty rare. As in, low profile tires. You've all seen those 4x4 Chevys with the common 16" wheels. 235/75/16 but those don't look all that hot on a Z.

Ya, I test fitted my 16x10 wheels on my Z. The offet is about zero. The lip was even with the outter edge of the fender and I had a good inch or more between the inside lip and the strut. 280ZX fenders are monsterous inside.

Oh, and no you can't fit 14x10(r) or 14x9(f) on the car. 16 looks to be the minimum. My 16x9 up front clear with just enough room to fit my finger between the wheel and the strut. If you bring the wheel lip inward (smaller diameter wheel), it would probably hit the strut with a 15x9. The reason is the strut, tension rods, lower a-arms all angle outward from the wheel hub. The further away from the wheel center you are the further away from the wheel each suspension part gets. The rear lower a-arm is the closest item to the wheel with my 16's.

 

Are you lowering your car at all Bleach, or are you keeping the stock ride height?
Just wondering because if you lower it even a little bit with those big fat wide tires, it's going to be all over the road unless you put some BumpSteer spacers on it. I wish I would have known about them before I lowered my car and put the 17 inch wheels on it. It was not a fun thing to be on uneven pavement with that car before I got them and hard braking was a crap shoot as far as what direction I would be facing when the car came to a stop. Anybody planning on lowering their Z needs to install them.

Rod.

 

I'm planning to lower the car a little. I have a second rear suspension to slot. (to correct toe and camber) and I do already have bump steer spacers for the front.

 

whaat get outa here...you mean to tell me i cant take it to machine shop and have them cut and weld in a 3" ring on the outside to make my wheel 10"? how is it going to rub if i add onto the outside...?

 

The 265/45R16 tyres I quoted are a size made by Kumho in their R tyre range, 245/45R, 205/45R and 225/50R in 16" as well. In a hard compound they might be a decent road use option.

Any pics coming up soon Bleach? The ZX cries out for a fill and dump

 

Oh Skully, if you add to just the outside then you'll screw up the hubs. Plus it will be sticking out of the fender too far. You have to add as much to the outside as you do to the inside... or at least pretty close. If its a 6 inch width, then add 2.5 to the outside and 1.5 to the inside.
Just buy 3-piece wheels and have them made to your specs.

260DET: My thread in the main 280ZX section (Turbo swap) has pics on page 4 or 5 of my wheels. No pics of them on the car yet. They are Simmons Austrailian Racing wheels. Very rare over here. but they're local for you! They are true 3-piece forged aluminum. Their website has specs on the style that I have. They only come in 16" diameter and widths from 6 inch to 12 inch.

 

i hate you, you spoil my plans....i hate you!!!

 

be careful what you say. I may post negative comments on your CarDomain site! so there!

 

Ah the Simmons B4, with polished centers too, very nice.

 

put up a pic when you talk about something wer lazy to look up...



Bleach you wanna get personal with me here?! be carefull im good with the shovel...remember i shovel snow 8 months outa the year....the other 4 i rake leaves...so...

 

Alright lazy, here's some pics.

 

damn those are sweet

 

What I think would be killer is having the stock wheel made in a 17" and a couple inches wider. But still maintain that look so it takes a trained eye to catch it. I'm talking about the OEM wheels that came on my 81.



Those, but with polished spokes in 17". Oh yeah baby

Or maybe, 18"

 

i had a plan on doing that when i worked in the machine shop...
i even made a drawing and measurements and all that in AutoCad....but when i asked my empoyer if i could make them for myself....he said sure we will get you a quote...since i was a MACHINIST there, and they valued me highly, I tought i would get some discount off it...NOPE full customer price...and you DONT want to know how much it was....no YOU DONT!!!

 

Dirty Bastiges!

Rod.

 

I heard custom CNC'ing can cost quite the pretty penny. But it would still look sic. I figure I'll order a billet of aluminum and get me a chisel and hammer and get to work. I calculated that in approximately 4 years I'd be ready to bust out the dremel and start cleaning up the crude shaping. Then it's on to final shaping and polishing. That should only take another 4 years or so. So it should only take about 32 years to get the whole set of four done. Unless I hire a team of little people to help me out in a factory in Taiwan. Then I could get it done in like 4 hours.

 

I've got Kathy Lee's phone number if you need help finding those employee's for your overseas sweatshop...

Rod.

 

lol you guys are brutal...

well with our shop most of our customers were in oilfield...we made huge mud pumps, made pump assemblers, also we did ALOT for mining industries, since these industries are very BIG in canada, our hourly rate also went up due to them being able to afford it....long story short...most shops here charge 80-100 an hour CNC and about 60-80 for manual ....ours was 80-100 manual and 120-140 cnc.....There wouldnt be much lathe work involved in the rim (i used to run CNC lathe for over a year) and i was going to write my own program and machine the lathe work on weekends since my lathe wasnt buisy....but i have no milling experience, and thats where most work would have went...so i said screw it i wasnt prepared to get analed....oh and i also quit from the palce since i was making them over 100 bucks an hour and was getting 11.50....i was training new guys they just hired and they were getting more pay then me (im talkin guys just outa school!!!)

this is why i said no thanks...maybe someday when i get my own lathe and a mill ill make it myself...

 

Here is an old scanned pic taken when my 260Z had Simmons wheels, ended up selling them to get bigger ones.