Haven't seen much posted about what seems to be a relatively rare model. Has big brakes, sport shifters, sport suspension, 19x8.5 (front) and 19x9 (rear). Recently purchased and was looking to upgrade wheels first. Found some volk time attacks online for a great price, but I'm wondering 4 things about the numbers on the wheels I'm looking to buy, which are:

19x9.5 +22offset (front)
19x10.5 +22offset (rear)

1. Will they be in danger of rubbing fenders on driveways, or on bumps?

2. Will they wear very unevenly?

3. Will they mess with the all wheel drive system? (sorry those fitment calculators don't make much sense to me, as I haven't found an easy one to use/understand)

4. tires would be? 245/35/19 (front)? 285/35/19 or 275/35/19 (rear)? Trying to go fat as possible.


I want to go aggressive, as I hate the tucked look, but I don't want to rub. I wont be lowering.


Thanks all,

 

1. You're most likely gonna rub going over bumps and curbs because your wheels will poke out at least an inch in the front and back.
2. They will not wear unevenly since you're not lowering the car.
3. I've never had an all wheel drive car soI can't answer that for you. I would assume the ride quality will be different since AWD generally requires you to run a squared setup.
4. I suggest you lower the car cuz it's gonna look hella dumb with those wheel gaps all around especially on an AWD, the wheel gaps will look even worst. I can guarantee you will rub in the front when you turn since you're going stock height and having such a low offset and a wide wheel. I had that same setup in the front prior to lowering the car and I could not do sharp turns without rubbing the the hell out of my fenders. If you don't want to rub I suggest you lower the car and get camber kits.

 

I have a 2012 xS coupe. In the same boat. I've been in the process of figuring all of this out.

What I'm in the process of right now.

Going to a squared setup. for several reasons. 1) easier tire rotations, 2) less work and money to things to fit. although I have a set of GT-R CBA wheels (staggered) sitting in a spare room, I'm trying to locate another 2 fronts to replace the rears to go squared. Been looking for months... I've got a set of swift lowering springs also waiting to go on. if i decide just to mount em based on some other posts here with a similar setup. a 265/35/20 allows for more (sidewall) meat than 275/30/20, on the rears, but either way, i think it will require a rear camber kit, and a fender roll.

this tool may help. https://www.1010tires.com/Tools/Tire-Size-Calculator

when you have an AWD car its important to keep the wheel diameter between the fronts and rears especially if staggered lower than 3% or it may throw off the AWD system. my understanding is it may trick it to thinking your spinning out when you are not.

when i put in the fronts you want 245/35/19. the 275/35/19 are not within 3%. ... 275/30/19 are. but going that wide i think will require some lowering and rear camber beyond the OEM adjustability.

but again im a newbie

 

I have a 13xS coupe and have played around a good bit with my car with respect to modifications in wheels and suspension... so hopefully I can give you some insight. You mentioned that you currently have 19x8.5 and 19x9, are your wheels OEM or have they already been changed? The xS coupe has 19x8.5 all the way around on 225/45/19.... the RWD coupe has the staggered wheels.

The Volk wheels you mentioned will likely both will look very strange and have clearance issues without modification to both your suspension and likely rolling the fenders. The AWD coupe rides pretty high at OEM height, the OEM wheel specs visually are pretty ideal for that ride height, once you start going significantly wider it'll start to look like a a jeep or a truck that needs fender flares. For reference I run 19x8.5 +20 in the front and 19x9.5 +30 in the rear. I am lowered with almost 0 gap between fender and tire. I have 225/45/19 front and 255/40/19 in the rear. This tire size is virtually identical and perfect for the AWD. The next best combo, which I will be changing to next is 245/40/19 front and 285/35/19 rear. I will have just enough room to run these and be perfectly flush.

If you go with the Volks and don't do anything else, you'll likely be in danger of beating on your fenders when you hit bumps at speed. Driveways and speed bumps may rub too but that'll likely be the least of of your concern. It will also depend on how much life is left in your dampers and how much suspension travel you have. You could do a quick test by just jouncing your suspension and see if at any point the wheel tucks under the fender, if it does a signficantly wider wheel/tire would hit the fender.

Here's what you need to know about staggered tires and AWD. The AWD system is constantly looking to make sure all your tires are rotating at the same rate via speed sensors. If it detects a difference at any given wheel it will try and correct by reallocating power. There is a degree of wiggle room to work in, and in our case the rule of thumb is to keep it within 1% variance. I'll do my best to explain what those tire calculators are telling you. If you change the size of your tire you may impacting the overall circumference (distance around). For instance the diameter of a 225/45/19 is 27" in diameter, has a width of 8.9" and circumference of 84.7". Over the course of one mile it will rotate 748 times. A 255/40/19 tire is also 27" in diameter, but is 10" wide, and has a circumference of 84.9". It rotates 746 times over the course of a mile. That makes this staggered pair about as good as it gets as they are nearly identical and the AWD system is fine.

Just for comparison sake... in your example, a 245/35/19 would give you a 25.8" diameter, 9.6" width, and 80.9" circumference, rotating 784 times in a mile. A 285/35/19 would give you a 26.9" diameter, 11.2" width, 84.3" circumference, rotating 751 times per mile. That essentially means the front wheels are rotating 33 times more per mile than the rear or almost 4.3% more... that will almost certainly make the AWD system mad.

Also one last consideration is that if one of the tires needs to be "taller", then the rear is the best choice as they will wear faster. Example: 245/40/19 front with 275/35/19 and 285/35/19 both present about 0.5% difference however the 275/35 is 0.5% shorter while the 285/35 is 0.5% taller... over time as the tire wears down it will get closer in circumference to the front (i.e. get closer to 0%) whereas the 275/35 variance will keep growing. They are both fine... one is just more ideal from the AWD standpoint.

The key is keeping the overall circumference of the wheel and tire as close as possible. Hope that helps you out some. It's hard to visualize how much of an impact changing wheel/tire size or ride height makes until you see it in person. Modifying one without the other, especially if its dramatic will create a visual disconnect at the very least.

 

Kid's explanation is much more detailed than mine. Thank you Kid.

 

My wheels are OEM. I just assumed they were 8.5x19 and 9x19 based on the S specs. I actually will go look right now, to see if you're right bout ll of them being 8.5 width, but I'm almost positive they front wheels are slightly thinner based on eyeballing it.

 

This is the spoke design

https://www.ebay.com/i/132990112188?...iABEgKP6fD_BwE

 

Yep those are the OEM sport wheels... the RWD came staggered 8.5 & 9 while the AWD were square 8.5 all around. I’ve had my G for going on 5 years, for the first couple years it was my daily driver and the last few years its just been my project...have fun on nice days car.

I will say this about running staggered... if it were still my daily driver I’d keep it square, at most I’d change tire size from 225/45 to 245/40. Running all your tires the same size allows you to rotate them regularly and they then last longer. The aforementioned sizes are also widely available and less expensive. The wider sizes start to get more expensive and as I said the rear will wear faster so those will be replaced more frequently... and if your hard on your car VERY frequently. If you have the cash for that... then have at it... if keeping costs down is important your much much much better off getting a good tire and running square then running cheaper tires that you replace frequently on a stagger.

 

You're right. They are 19x8.5 front and back. Quite surprised. This is what happens when you produce a model with so little written about it. I mean, the thing isn't even on bluebook

 

It’s on blue book, its just listed awkwardly. Essentially they way it is looked at by dealerships and the car pricing community is that it is a G37x with the Sport package. That kinda sucks because the G37x is the bottom tier of pricing whereas the RWD G37S is near the top. AWD has its pros and cons. The aftermarket support for the RWD is much greater as most components are the same as the 370Z. Since the G37x was a more specific and smaller market we lose out in mass variety and ability easily modify certain aspects of the car but there is still plenty to keep us occupied.