18" preferred wheels and offsets? Post opinions
 

Tt has been well documented and illustrated that there are many 19" and 20" wheels that look and feel great on our Z. However, I want lighter wheels, the sports wheels are pretty light and most aftermarket 19" and 20" wheels short of AMT, HRE, etc. don't offer a significant weight loss compared to the Sports wheels.

I figured 18" would be the way to go. Sure it may limit my options on a BBK but DBA makes a 2 piece slotted rotor that is 14" and thus should fit with 18" wheels.

Just wanted to get an idea of what 18" wheel/tire combo you guys would get for street and track use and what offset. I figure for at least this summer I would keep the stock brakes and purchase a second hand set of 18" wheels but I'm not sure what offset would be best.

My question might be to vague but hopefully its enough to get a few members to post their choices.

I think 18'' are awesome :3
btw i want your exhaust xd

I'm assuming you want a fatty tire right?

yeah I'm looking for something in the 18x10-10.5 range that way I can still run 275-305's in the rear.

are you still putting on that huge CF wing? it's gonna look pretty ridiculous with the 18s

what tracks do you plan on going to?

Its still early and damn cold in NY, hell we're getting more snow tonight. To be honest, I've only autocrosed a few times. Since I got the Z and began modding my extra time has been dedicated to law school, work and the wife. This spring and summer I plan on tracking her every chance I get.

Yes, I'm still putting on my Kognition wing, it won't be on often and one of the reasons why I went with Kognition was because it can be taken off in a matter of minutes.

yea i meant in spring/summer.

so are you doing like total track prep? new pads/lines/etc and oil cooler as well?

I put on the larger GTM oil cooler last summer, with the oil temp issues it was a must do. I figured if I was going to get an oil cooler might as well pay a bit more for the larger one so I wouldn't have to worry about it later. I'll probably keep stock sport brakes, the car has pretty low mileage with most of the miles comprised of easy un-aggressive driving. Once I get familiar with driving on official tracks and more experience I'll change out pads rotors etc. I plan on swapping out clutch and brake lines to stainless steel for peace of mind.

It's a slow build, I only want quality parts add that to my limited earning potential while in school it'll take time. BTW Jeff how do you like your BC coilovers? Are they to hard for the street?

i like them, i wouldn't say they are too hard for the street. I've driven with other people and they all said it wasn't too bad. definitely way stiffer than stock, but still comfortable. i have my dampers set to 20 (0=soft, 32=hardest)

i'm sure they'll be some meets coming up, if we're at the same one you can take a ride to see how they feel.

you have the 34 row oil cooler or the 25 row?

sorry cant help you on the wheels, but when you do the SS brake and clutch lines, switch the fluids too!

Also the stock brakes are def good enough, but I would ddefinitely change the pads! I made the mistake of not changing the pads..

I believe the HD oil cooler is the 25 row? I can't remember but if that's the case I went with the bigger 34, after talking to Sam who at the time assured me that the lines would fail I found that the HD cooler wouldn't hold up to track duty so I went bigger.

Any recommendations on pads and fluids??

i'm planning to do goodrich ss lines and new fluid when i swap my calipers after they are pc'd by Mike. how hard is the install of new lines?

On topic: after asking Mike he recommended a 20-25 offset for the front and as low as a 0 for the rears. I thought I could get a set of older 350z wheels but the front offsets are all to low.