Question about stretched tire setups
 

I have a two part question. I'm currently running a staggered 19X9.5 +22 F, 19X10.5 +12 R setup, with 265/35/19 and 295/30/19 tires, respectively. I'd like to move to more of a stretched tire setup. Nothing crazy, probably more mild. I'll post some pictures (attached) below of a side profile of my current setup and then two photos of more of the look I'm going for, which was from a previous forum member (Calvin, who many of you know, he had a great build thread). My first question is: based on my current setup, what tire size(s) should I go to for a mild stretch, like the yellow one in the photos? My second questions is more in regards to performance. I've read that with a stretched tire setup you lose some performance handling and are not able to be as aggressive, say if you're running mountain roads. But is that case for ALL stretched tire setups, even something mild? I don't really plan to do much Mountain touring or auto X'ing, but I'd like to be able to take some fast turns and hit a mountain road every once in a while. Is there really that much performance lost? Sorry for the long post. Appreciate the info.

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We may be arguing semantics here but I wouldn't call what's going on with the yellow z mild at all. I'm pretty conservative with my taste in tires and feel that even the stock sport set-up is too narrow for the wheels provided, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

As for performance, so long as we are talking mild not extreme stretching, its more about preference than simply better over worse.

A slight stretch will give the tread a more flat profile for more steering response, but can make the break away characteristics more abrupt. Essentially one second you will have grip, the next second you don't.

A pinched tire will have more progressive break away characteristics. Its more forgiving, but you lose a bit of steering response.

:iagree:

Thanks for the quick responses. So if I was going for more of a look like Calvin had in his yellow 370, based on my current wheel specs any idea on what tire size I should be looking at? 275 rear, 245 front? I realize this is opinion, just trying to get a close idea.

I'd say the rear has to be somewhere 225-245 range... maybe less
I had 275/35 on my Advan's and they were not nearly as stretched

http://www.the370z.com/members/fairl...e34845-047.jpg

Wow. Yeah you're setup doesn't look stretched at all really so yeah, probably going to have to go quite a bit narrower. Thanks for the feedback. Your car is sick, by the way. Great setup.

Your wheels are not wide or aggressive enough to pull off the stretched look correctly

That yellow Z has a very aggressive and wide wheel with a low offset which will make stretching both necessary and functional (to run that low)

Your wheels will just look like you're on a thin tire if you try to stretch as you have it today.

Before anything you need to lower your ride. Those wheels don't fit right.

:facepalm:

Z starts to become cheap and this is the stupid type of thread that pops up. lovely.

stretched tires are fuckin stupid. also you lose any hopes of performance and make the car unsafe.

Ill fitting tires are dangerous. Period.

People have been stretching tire on the Z34 since 2009, because of the backlash and ignorance on this forum they just choose not to post their setups publicly

To each their own, I like the look when done properly but would never do it myself

sooooo they have been hiding in shame. makes sense. :bowrofl:

there's no "proper" way to stretch tires. its just an unsafe way to look like a douche.

Not going to argue with you, it's pointless because you have shown time and time again how little you know about this topic and I don't care to defend stretching tires beyond my previous statement

Strecthing is not dangerous when done correctly. The Cyber Evo team won the GTA for numerous years on slightly stretched tires (look it up)

I get that but the point is that no one that I've battled on here was stretching for performance reason as the cyber evo team did.

these people are stretching for a stupid look, to clear fenders because they have terrible offset wheels and want to lower to where the car can't perform at all, or because they think a unsafe non performing sports car is cool.....but it's not.

I know plenty on the topic so let's just move along.

The problem I think is the misconception of thinking you can have the look and keep the performance. You can't have both. If you want to go with the pizza cutter size tires on fairly wide wheels you are going to be sacrificing quite a bit of grip. I mean the whole concept is like shooting yourself in the foot. If you want grip, or more of it, then get wider tires. When you start limiting your tire size to the opposite side of the spectrum then you limit the functionality of the vehicle itself. To each their own. If you want to stretch go right ahead but please just limp back and forth to the car show. Otherwise I might suggest getting two sets of wheels. One for show and one for go. :twocents:

There is a line between slightly stretched and ridiculous wouldn't you agree? When you can see the barrel of the wheel I believe we have crossed that line.

Herra frush kills the game.

David, you and I both know these guys are more concerned with looks than performance. No argument from me about that

But to argue that the car is suddenly dangerous or undriveable is just plain false

<-Can't believe he is the voice of reason for stretched tire setups

I understand this is a very debatable topic. I'm not trying to ruffle any feathers, just get some info. My car is getting lowered in the next couple of weeks, already on it. Was trying to decide on the possibility of changing the tire setup before I did that. The more research I'm doing the more I am reading about the potential dangers of going with stretched tires. Again, I'm not looking for what I would call an extreme stretch, like this. I do not find this appealing nor what I consider this safe even looking at it.
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I'm looking more for something like this, which in my opinion is tasteful, really exemplifies the lip of the wheel.
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My 370 is a weekend toy, not a daily driver. I don't ever plan to race it, but if I decided to take a run up into the mountains and I want to open it up I would like the peace of mind to know the tire setup I'm running is not going to kill me.

The top would be probably the equivalent of a 235 on your rear wheel. The bottom would be a 265 by my guess.

Why do you want to go to a stretched tire? Just like the look? Or are you going to lower it to the point where you are tucking the tires/wheels?

as soon as you lower your car you will see that it will completely change the look and fitment of those wheels. you may just end up keeping the tires as is.

as far as clean dressup, my G is about that pict you posted. very mildly stretched sidewall and lowered for a nice clean and fluid look with the arches.

btw, if you want that clean looking sidewall, get the S04's. stay away from DW and PSS with their rounded sidewalls, it wont look as clean.

I think there are many different setups for a Z that can look good. But I really like the look of a mild stretch. As I mentioned above I think it really brings out the entire lip on the wheel. I would never move to that setup if I felt it was going to be unsafe or cause an extreme loss in performance. I don't have any plans to lower to the point of tucking tire, just enough to get rid of that wheel gap. I agree, I think a 265 is probably what I'd be looking for. Just have to figure out if I want to do it or not. Thanks for the input :tup:

Ha, I was just starting to look at other tires for sidewall appearance. Thanks for throwing that out. I'll checkout the S04's.

yah, for some reason 275/35/19 is very narrow for S04, so go with 285/35/19 for the rears. they look :yum:

but then RE11's look even :yum:-er

OP's question still hasn't been answered. I would agree; stretched tires on most (especially a sports car platform) is silly but when talking a very mild amount, it won't be a huge deal.

I had a 255/35 on a 20x10 with a previous car. It was not to the ridiculous and awful looking, tire inside the lip of the wheel because it's so stretched look.. the sidewall of the tire was just simply stretched outwards to fit on the lip of the wheel. 255 was very conservative on the 10" wide wheel in terms of "fitment" or "stretch".

On your 10.5" wheel, you will be fine with a 255/35 but I'd advise taking your front tires and moving them to the rear for the 265 on the 10.5" wheel, if you must go this route. As for the 9.5, I wouldn't want to go any smaller than 235/35 but that is just a mild stretch, as you were looking for.

Sounds like a solid idea. Thanks for your input.

On a separate note... Does anyone here running a wider setup have issues getting pulled all over the road? With my stock setup I didn't have any issues, but as soon as I threw on the 295 R/265 F setup I started getting pulled all over by every little disparity in the road. Feel like I'm fighting the car half the time, which definitely is not as enjoyable to drive. Anyone else have these issues?