Tires: How wide can you go on stock ray wheels??

Neo187H

After reading this thread I got a bit curious and started looking into this, it seems max for the 10" rear is 295 and for the 9" front would be a 265. So to agree With Cossie I wouldn't go over those sizes.

Personally I think I'm going to go with the Bridgestone. RE11s 265/35 for the front and 285/30 on the rear, it seems that will be the best combination of getting more contact in the rear while also reducing understeer. Any thoughts on that logicc? I'm far from a pro in this area.

Cmike2780

I retract my previous comment.
I thought the sport wheels were 10-1/2", but after doing a search, it turns out thats only for the Nismo. with the above, 285 series is the max for a 10" wheel without risk of failure or premature wear. Too wide a tire on a narrow wheel will put stress on the shoulders of the tire wall, which could result in excess heat build-up.

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cossie1600

I think I have 285 35 in the back, not 285 30. The speedo is more accurate now than with stock tires. I have 265/35 in the front. (RE11)

Next year, I will do 285/35/19 all around. I will stretch the tire in the front, but my car is mostly used for track and autox. I don't have to use the car for commute. I can tell you there is plenty of understeer with the 265/285 setup, you are better off with 265 all around or 285 all around if you plan to race the car and want the car to handle better. God, I get all pi$$ed just thinking about the understeer.

Oh yeah, tire compound is way more important than tire sizing. A little RE11 can still do circles around big V12s. I have both tires on the two cars I own.

I just saw the specs on the RE11, the 275 they have are 30 series, so it might be a little small. I guess 275/30 all around isn't too bad either. Matter of fact, the extra gearing might help it pull off the corner.

I know it is hard to see, but I was struggling a lot harder with the 265/285 RE11 on my 370 vs 235 RA1 all around on my 350 at the same track.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTu3E66mydE 370z
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtASpcAAxZI 350z

Of course as much as I love the RE11s, they are expensive and probably wont last more than 15K.

Neo187H

You are correct on the sizing, they are 265/35 and 285/35. As far as expense I'll only be driving a max of 6-8k miles a year so two years out of them would be plenty for me, also the 285/35 are actually $70 cheaper a tire than the 305/30s at "only" $281 a tire according to tirerack.

Rhinetom

Nissan engineers have spent countless hours testing proper tire sizes for the stock set up. Any deviation is pointless and may cause negative handling issues. But, what do I know.

Neo187H

And they spent countless hours determining the amount of power the car will make, the spring rates, the ride height, the swaybar stiffness yet they can all be improved upon, why not tires too?

Though you make it sound like you have some knowledge in the area so please share as thats the whole point of the thread.

Mr_Z

Sorry to say that I don't agree because they have cost limitation... Even more, by default all companies make their car on purpose to understeer a little, easier in case of slippage for the average driver.

I am an engineer with design and race experience... There is always room for improvement, trust me! When you design a car for road use, it is different from track use. It always a question of compromise. Also from a handling point of view, most of the time the more rubber the better ( if you have the power for it that is...)

And I agree with Cossie1600, on a track, I would put some more rubber up front for sure! But on the roads, it’s another story. Having wide tires in front would cause my car to swing left and right on roads where trucks have distorted the road with their tires.

Anyways, the point of this discussion was to figure out how wide we can go on stock wheels without any issues.

Seems like so far the answer is:

REAR:

• 305’s will fit in the back (but not recommended because tires are wider than wheels specs)
• 295’s Would fit on rims... but no tire has a good enough diameter compare to stock.
• 285’s Would fit on rims too and better diameter available... but there is not much difference with stock in width.

FRONT:

• 255's to 275’s will fit in the front (It’s a question of personal choice as long as you find a good diameter.)

Let me know if you disagree with anything

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Chriz

Running 305's on stock rims is fine, plenty of members here are running this setup. The mustang and camaro guys run fat tires all around all the time with no problem. Ive even seen a couple 315s on 10 in rims.
Also I'm pretty sure this isnt stretching the tire, in fact its bulges out.

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cossie1600

You are stretching the sidewall beyond what it is meant to do. You are playing with words here....

Chriz

ah gotcha, when i think stretched tire, i think of this

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Neo187H

It wont cause the tire to blow out or anythign of that nature but it does change how the tire sits on the road and from what I read that can be a very bad thing.

cossie1600

enzo has the engine in the back, they are not balanced to begin with!

nissan put stagger tires to protect the guys who cant drive, not because it is fast. also are you telling me the re050a are good tires? really?

Neo187H

I THINK that 275s on the front 9" rim would be to wide just like 305s on the rear 10" would be to wide, from what I was reading 265 front is the most thats adviseable. Also increasing the tire size will give some added traction but the real increase will come from putting better rubber on it, going from say the RE05s to RE11s.

Azroadster

The sport package has 9.5" wheels on the front and 275's fit just fine. I knew I was getting new wheels for my Z when I bought the tires so I purchased 305's for the back. My new rear wheels are 10.5" and the 305's fit great on them.

AZ

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