Why you should use these tires with NISMO Wheels: 285/35R19 (F), 325/30R19 (R)

VinceThe1

I am really happy with my new tire setup on my OEM Nismo wheels. I wanted a meatier looking tire while still maintaining the overall diameter of the factory tires.

Reasons to install wider tires:

-They last longer; The more rubber you have contacting the road, the less
weight per square inch on the tire compound, meaning less heat/less wearing.

-They look better; This is an opinion I know, and some people like stretched
looking tires, some with their drops and camber angles don't have a choice,
but for stock ride height, I really like to look.

-They ride smoother; This could be a bad thing for some people, but I really
like the fact that running over reflectors on the road or manhole covers
doesn't bother me anymore, no loud noise and no harsh jerk in the steering
wheel. This setup is much wider than a factory 370Z, and much, much wider
than a regular car, meaning all the small potholes on the roads you can
now hover over without your tire digging into them as it does on a
normal 215 or so sized tire. Also, I have not noticed a road noise increase at
all.

-An inexpensive mod, since you are not required to buy four tires, but just two
rears; I moved my rear 285/35R19s to the front wheels, I was getting
a lot of camber wear on them and needed to change them soon, but instead
of replacing them, I decided to put them in the front where factory height and
alignment has virtually no camber, this meant that now I can start running on
the outside edge of my rear tires where I still had plenty of rubber to wear. I
can now get at least another year out of the otherwise worn out tires, this
made my total MOD cost under $500, and with brand new 325s in the back, I
can't complain.

Possible Cons:

-The biggest one people talk about is gas mileage, first, this is a sports car
and I'm sure a very slight increase in fuel consumption won't bother most
people on this forum, and second, I really have not noticed a difference in
MPG.

-More road noise; honestly, I felt like my car got quieter with my new setup
but I definitely believe that road noise has more to do with the type of tire
(Manufacturer, compound material, tread pattern, tread depth, air pressure,
type of road you drive on, ect.) than it's size. Road noise has not increased
for me.

-More cost; sure in general larger tires cost more money but our cars already
take pretty large tires and the price difference isn't so big. In many cases it
depends on the deal you are going to find more than the tires size per say. I
for example got really lucky with size 325/30R19 because I found that size tire
for much less than any tire from 275 and up. Discount tire had Cooper Zeon
RS-3Ss for $181 a piece, every other tire that size was nearly double.
(Discount Tire doesn't have it on their site, but in the store they can lookup
tons more tires than the ones on their website). So again, it depends on what
deal you find but sometimes they could end up costing even less, like in my
case.

-Steering Response/Handling; Response is still sharp and the car behaves
much the same as it did with factory sizes. I do feel a slight bit more
floatiness over large bumps/humps in the road but it does take them much
smoother, which I really like. Steering response however is still just as sharp.

As you will see from the pictures, I have no spacers anywhere and the rear tire is completely flush with the fender, the fronts have about 5mm to go in order to be flush but overall it's a very flush look without any modifications. I have absolutely no rubbing issues whatsoever, not when hitting bumps, not when turning full lock to full lock.

I would recommend this mod for Sport Package Wheels as well, moving the 275s in the front and getting 305s for the rear (Discount tire says that according to their system, even the sport package Z can take 325s in the back, although I don't know if that will be going too far or not). Base model wheels can also have their 245s moved to the front and 275/40R18s installed in the rear.

Attached with the pictures are also results from a tire size calculator, comparing old front tire size with new tire size, and old rear tire size with new rear tire size. As you can see, those tires are the closes to OEM diameter you can get, staying within less than 1% of the original overall diameter.

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2011 Nismo#91

Interesting to know didn't think that large front tire would work properly when doing sharp turns. One thing "The more rubber you have contacting the road" size doesn't affect contact patch, weight and psi does.

VinceThe1

At first I thought it might not clear the knuckle because it felt like there was only about half an inch of gap between it amd the tire, so I thought I'll need a 5mm spacer or so, but then I tried to fit the wheel with the 285 on it without a spacer and it fit, I stuck my finger between the tire and knuckle and it seemed like the gap hasn't even gotten smaller. Even when cornering hard the car still tends to oversteer rather tham understeer, like before. I have no drivability issues with the 285s up front, I know that my 9.5" wide front wheel may be slightly too narrow for a 285 but it still seems to work out really well.

Also, you are correct that with a wider tire, since there is less weight per area width-wise, that you loose more contact patch length-wise, because the wider tire becomes "more round" and therefore reduces it's contact patch, so it pretty much balances out.

With that being said, there is another factor (out of many more like camber angle, compound stiffness, road hardness, ect) and it is the fact that the more surface area your tire has, the less air pressure it requires to hold the weight desired. This means that you can run this tire with less pressure to acheive the same result that a narrower tire will give you with more air pressure...and this is what causes the wider tire to have more surface area in the end, I can run at 32-34 psi instead of the 36-38 I used to run.

kenchan

almost bubbling sidewalls.. wat tires are those? if you want to just keep the nice square sidewalls i'd stick with the yok sports in the nismo stock sizes, or run RE11's.

VinceThe1

I like a little bubble, since it's a low profile bubble, looks more cartoonish/muscular/nascar-ish even, I definitely like the look, and when you get used to it all the other tires look too narrow/stretched lol. My 245s on the 9.5" wheel in the front always looked too narrow to me, I could see the entire lip of the wheel sticking out, didn't like that at all.

The front (formerly rear) 285s are Hankook Ventus V12 Evo, while the rear 325s are Cooper Zeon RS3-S

Shotta

I prefer the bubble look (aka performance car look) as well but do you notice any squirm when taking high speed corners with the added sidewall buldge?

You should add your info in the first post to the "meaty tires" thread.

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cigarclifford

A little bubble will not get a man in trouble.....what was that movie with
John Travolta.....The boy in the plastic bubble....

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-Clifford

Hotrodz

No...more like Big Booty Trudy from Miami Vice, if you are old enough to remember the series!

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VinceThe1

I don't notice anything significant, there is a feel of floaty-ness sometimes when cornering under braking but I think that that's mainly because my front 285s used to be my rears, and they are almost bald on the inside from camber wear. I decided to put them in the front because that way I can get the fat tire setup I wanted and use up the non-worn side of the tire to get quite a bit more life out of them since the front tires don't get any camber wear. This however causes a strange feel when braking, since the tires are barely touching on the inside. I'm sure that as they wear more on the outside, this will dissipate.

Some cars come with 285s on 9.5" wheels from the factory (in the rear however), like the 1993-1996 Corvette, so I'm sure that 285 is a safe and suitable size for a 9.5" wheel. I am overall really happy with my tire setup, it feels awesome and the ride is so much smoother on the highway and in city. I've seen atleast one member with 285s on stock front Nismos that track it, I'm sure it'll be fine overall, I sure recommend it lol. The 325s on the rear 10.5s feel and look awesome too.

I did post a link to this thread in the meaty tire thread

VinceThe1

Haha I guess I'm not old enough at 27? but both sound appropriate for the subject lol

cigarclifford

Do you plan on lowering your Z....What about the serious tire to fender gap showing...

__________________
-Clifford

kenchan

oh i see... my stock size nismo Re11's will most likely still stick bertter than those wide hancocks.

cigarclifford

Sorta have to like the NASCAR look............stock oem RE11's are more
of refined look....I have never seen a Porsche here in Nor Cali will bubbles..
Even a GT-2 or GT-3 they all run on OEM tire sizes...

__________________
-Clifford

VinceThe1

Hancocks lol. I agree, I didn't do it for better grip, grip depends on tire compound and temperature...so I'm not really getting better grip.

The reason I wanted to widen my tires was mainly because of looks, but other "benefits" are that it lengthens tire life, gives a smoother ride over annoying reflectors/bumps/dips...and the reflectors don't make that loud grrrrt noise at highway speeds anymore. Also, laying as much rubber on the road as most supercars is haha

VinceThe1

I'm not a fan of really lowered cars with their tires hiding behind their fendets, I do agree that a small drop would make it look better but I still like the stock ride height look as well. Main reason is that I hate it when I go up a driveway and I start scraping. Unfortunately, city roads are not a track so there is a lot of places where I already scrape, lowering it makes no sence...I was actually thinking of putting higher profile tires lol, that would get rid of some fender-tire gap and give me more ground clearance, although I won't do that haha