Extreme Nissan 280zx Turbo page
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Wheels and Tires

Well I have finally gotten this page to do for the car,(Just for you Donna LOL) I worked on getting a set of wheels for a number of years, yes a number of years, trying to get a combination of wheel/tires that would also accept a large brake kit as well. I looked at everything from pana sports to Simmons modular wheels but could not find a set I felt would look good on the car and still be able to run meats on the back for racing, along with a 12" rotor and caliper setup on the front.



Here is the standard configuration of a wheel. Note the backspace measurement. The wheel manufacturer will want to know what the backspace is on your wheel. Also if you are making wheel spacers, this information is handy to have when deciding the thickness of the spacer.


Here is a picture of my car with the Centerline type wheels. I think it looks good with this type wheel, at least on my car. These wheels are 7" wide, a little shy of running a drag slick, and a little shy of running a wide tire in the 9" widths like I wanted.


Here is a picture of the car with the Convo Pro's installed and I think these wheels look good also. This is the wheel of my choice for looks and racing. The rear wheels are 8.5" and the fronts are 7.5" widths. I wanted to go with the 7" wheel on the front, but when I called centerline to order them, I found I could not get the 7" wheel in a 5" backspace. So I did like all knowledgeable people do, and took a chance and got the 7.5" wheel. I was fairly sure I would be able to install the wheel and get the spacing correct with wheel spacers, but I was not totally sure about it. I did know the wheel with the 3.3/8" back space would not work without rubbing the fenders. I got lucky this time and they fit the car perfect with a 1/4" spacer on the hub. The rear wheels bolted right up to the car and that was very lucky. I cracked open a Moosehead over that one.

These are beefy meats on this car. I think I have lost some of my stock zcar look he he.

The tires I selected are Dunlop SP 8000 series tires. The fronts are 225X55X15's and the rear tires are 245X50X15's. The diameter of the tires are within 3/4" of each other, so the car stays level, in fact a little better for me because I have lowered the car in the rear when I installed the new springs. Note the color of the inside of the tail pipes are a light grey, a properly tuned engine will be this color, not the crusty black looking deposits you see on most cars, but maybe it could have something to do with the 103 octane fuel running in the car he he he.


Note the tire center on the quarter panel is a little better then the average zcar. I modified the crossmember mounts by .300" when I did the work on my rear crossmember.


The front treads hit the road at 7.2" wide and the rear tires have a 9.1" tread width to the road surface. With these wheels, I have a selection of two drag tires, M/T 8.5 slicks and Hoosier slicks. I think that is good enough for racing this car, but who knows. I do know one thing, you will not get a wider tire under the fenders of these cars, so if you need more, count on fender flares and hacking your fenders to get a fit.



When I took the car out the first time to show it off, one of the local wrenches could not believe they fit the car and had to inspect the install to make sure I didn't do anything wrong. I said sure, got her seal of approval and was on my way. Never hurts to get a second opinion you know! LOL

NOTE!

Centerline wheels in a four lug bolt pattern are special order. They say 2-3 weeks for special order wheels, and they charged me an extra $30.00 per wheel to drill them for four lug. The wheels ended up costing me about $190.00 each. Not too bad when you compare them to the cost of Simmons wheels, and other wheels that are popular.




The ZX is a little different then the Z in that the wheels that look good on the Z look like crap on the ZX in my opinion. Here is a couple of pictures of my car with Simmons wheels on it. The black looks a little off for the color, and the silver looks a little wrong also. At the tune of $2800.00 for the set without tires, I decided it was a little to much to take a chance on how they looked. I got my dad to do a cut and paste on my picture to get an idea of how they would look on the car. I was right, they looked like crap.

Here is a picture of the same type wheel on the Z car and they look excellent. I dont remember who sent me this picture. The car looks excellent, very nice, thanks for the photo.

I did not want to go with 16" or 17" wheels if I did not have to, it would look like rice for me, the styling would make the car look stupid. I needed a very strong wheel I could race on, and a wheel I could feel comfotrable driving the car with. I look at some of these wheels out there today and it scares me to think of trying to race them. I guess I am just chicken, maybe it's because I have lost a rear wheel two times before and it was not to fun. I could have killed myself so fast, and at 18 years old, look at all the cool stuff I would have missed. Spending a years wages on my car for one LOL meeting all the other people that are interested in cars. BEER! you get the idea.

That is about it for the wheels, I am glad to have completed this upgrade FINALLY.