Has anyone heard of 9" wheels being fitted to the front of a 300zx? I can't find anyone whose done this, but I was poking around today and I thought it didn't look to difficult to create a bit more space under the wings. Am I just being stupid? If it was that easy to modify surely everyone would be doing it wouldn't they?

Y'know.. I thought you meant 9" diameter for a minute :rofl: Apparently this heat has damaged my few remaining fragile braincells..

 

IMHO 9" fronts would be overkill, unless you're pushing hard on a track and getting a lot of understeer..

 

But anyway - I think your main problem would be catching on the suspension (spring & damper) rather than on the arch itself - you could perhaps do it by putting on a wide arch kit and running a different offset to push the wheel outboard a little further..

 

But like I say, I think 9" width is overkill on the fronts - they're only turning & stopping you, unlike the rears which are the ones trying to plant 300+bhp down :) (I don't remember the 300ZX having bad understeer - more like the opposite :D )

I had 9" all round with 235/40/18 front and 265/35/18 rear but that was only because the wheels i had 8.5" fronts would not clear the calipers.

 

Baz

I had 9" all round with 235/40/18 front and 265/35/18 rear but that was only because the wheels i had 8.5" fronts would not clear the calipers.

 

Baz

 

What make/model rims were you using? with what kind of offset, spacers etc. I ask because I saw a GTR skyline the other day that had been properly Nismo'd, one look at the wheels told me that they were the rims I HAD to have on my car. Only problem is I think the LM GT4's only look good when they're 9" wide otherwise you don't get the concave 'dish' look and they end up looking like any other alloy wheel.

I don't know what offset they were, they were mille miglia wheels and didn't use spacers, i sold them to markyb300, you could try sending him a PM and he may be able to tell you the offset.

 

HTH

Baz

Most people seem to go for 8.5" fronts at most.

The wider you go at the front, the worse the steering becomes and you'll have a lot more problems with tramlining - following white lines on the road etc.

Most people seem to go for 8.5" fronts at most.

The wider you go at the front, the worse the steering becomes and you'll have a lot more problems with tramlining - following white lines on the road etc.

 

I have 9.5" fronts, 10" rears. Volk TE37 wheels (255/40/17) - F:17x9.5+12 offset; R:17x10,+18. Lowered HKS suspension, neg camber. No probs, precise steering, no tramlining.

 

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Cheers.

BTW ChrisC: Got ready to weep, but opened your spec sheet only to find a blank page. Should we weep because you have no mods?

I have 9.5" fronts, 10" rears. Volk TE37 wheels (255/40/17) - F:17x9.5+12 offset; R:17x10,+18. Lowered HKS suspension, neg camber. No probs, precise steering, no tramlining.

 

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Cheers.

 

I have 235 x 17" on the front and 255 x 17" on the rear, running neg camber and my steering is perfect too!!

maybe you dont know, but Chris's car pulled 396RWHP at billing last year, its amongst the most powerful on here, when its working that it ;)

I have 9.5" fronts, 10" rears. Volk TE37 wheels (255/40/17) - F:17x9.5+12 offset; R:17x10,+18. Lowered HKS suspension, neg camber. No probs, precise steering, no tramlining.

 

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Cheers.

 

I was just saying most people don't bother going over 8.5" - there's no real point and just becomes harder to fit and costs a fortune in tyres etc.

I've got 18x8.5"F 10"R on mine and i've never noticed a lack of grip at the front and I drive like a lunatic!

 

You WILL get the effects I described as you get wider front wheels - not necessarily a massive amount just by going the extra inch but it's certainly more noticeable than on standard wheels. All the best handling sports cars have relatively narrow tyres - Lotus, Caterham etc etc.

 

How many cars are there with front wheels that size?

 

McLaren F1 (600BHP) = 9.0"F 11.5"R

Ferrari Enzo (660BHP) = 9.0"F 13.0"R

Koenigsegg CCR (806BHP) = 9.0"F 12.5"R

 

How many of us Z owners need the kind of rubber that these cars need?! LOL

If it's just for looks then I don't see the point either - you can't even see the fronts unlike a nice fat set of rears.

 

And yes the link to my spec sheet has gone!

Hoping for a fair bit more power now as the car is in getting forged internals fitted at long last :D

.....You WILL get the effects I described as you get wider front wheels - not necessarily a massive amount just by going the extra inch but it's certainly more noticeable than on standard wheels. All the best handling sports cars have relatively narrow tyres - Lotus, Caterham etc etc.

 

Agreed when it's a matter of simply bolting on the wheels. The whole geometry is altered, so camber, caster, toe-in, track etc need to be addressed. I've noticed horrid tramlining in a shopping trolley hatch that simply had some bigger diameter wheels bolted up, without touching anything else.

 

I only responded to his post because 'Coldeyes' seemed unaware of anyone running 9" wheels, when in fact there are plenty of us with even wider.

 

With a weight distribution of 55:45 (approx) front to rear, the stock 2-seater tends to understeer a lot, so in cornering benefits from having a similar sized contact patch on each paw. At 1500kg it is considerably heavier than some of the cars you mentioned, (especially the Caterham!!), another reason for a bigger contact area.

 

I don't think your Lotus and Caterham 7 were very good examples. You need to do the math. A featherweight car like the Caterham with extremely wide tyres will have a reduced weight per sq. inch acting at each contact patch, so will have less grip than if it had narrower tyres. Too narrow and the weight per sq. inch exceeds the friction coefficient of the rubber, losing grip. And so on...

 

Most members here are probably only after 'looks' anyway, so I shan't bore them any longer.

 

I'm happy with my car as it is. Quite neutral through fast corners (until power is applied), so is easy to balance on the throttle.

Yeah I agree with all that and yes the caterham example was a bit crap LOL

 

The biggest difference to the handling of my Z was fitting the wide arch kit.

It's SO much better with the extra width.

wow- thanks for the info fellas