going square how did you like it?
 

Hello,

I am thinking of going square for handling 18x9.5s.

Did it improve feel on corners or any other things to consider.
pros
tire rotations
lower cost tires (than 19s)
better tire selections

cons
sunken rears w/o spacers

Car is not a daily driver, motorcycle is
so now trying to be safer car when rains, ice and snow

streetable decent track day car as well (work in progress)

Any suggestions on the square setup appreciated.

jb

In rain ice and snow wider isn't better
For all other times, wider is better.

That said, go 18x10

follow up on 18x10
 

Thanks yeah that is true.

But won't a 18x10 hit the wheel wells in the front?
Or is it simple to mod if they do?

I guess because stock is 18x9.5 any buddy running 18x10 with no issues road and road track?

with the right offset you can fit 18x10.5 up front on stock body

enkei pf01
 

The enkei's only go to 9.5

who goes to 10.0 for a racing wheel?

I'm running 18x10 +34 as a square setup right now, I have two sets of wheels in that size/offset. With stock camber settings, the top edge of the front tires stick out a little visually, but on aftermarket coilovers lowered a bit with about -2.5 front camber it looks fine. I'm using some thin 10mm through-hole spacers in the rear (extended studs all around anyways), but honestly it's just for looks and nobody would notice much without the rear spacers. There's no one perfect offset to be able to rotate front and rear without spacers and get perfect show-car alignment to the bodywork, but this is close enough for a track car. The upside of being able to rotate/flip tires around all 4 corners easily is pretty huge.

As for brand, I'm using Forgestar F-14s in Matte Black (hides brake dust better!). They're not the lightest wheel on the planet, but they're light enough and they've held up to abuse well. They're definitely stronger than the super-cheapo wheels out there. At ~$1400/set it's a good deal for trackday wheels. I usually order them through ModBargains and it's a 5-6 week wait as they mfg them to order (since nobody stocks 18x10+34 in them).

i have 18x10.5 Enkei's right now all around

prices on good vs low end
 

Thanks for the info on 18x 10 much appreciated.

But out of my price range by 2x at least.

Do people sell race wheels used? If so where is a good site?
I might be able to go to 2k but don't want to go over that yet.

Entry level race rims? Saw advan, forgesta and a couple others at $1k+ a rim. I'm a beginner trying to get used to a decent setup..

lol and I work for county gov. I just took a 2014 sport put ebc red, Z1 ss lines, 34 row oil cooler, hotchkiss sways, front and rear nismo brace and I am maxed but I see the use for the 18s.
How about this what is in 1.5k range for set of four for a couple track days a year and swap for snow tires? is enkei race good enough?

the feel of 9.5 vs 10s??

Right now my turn in feels like the body in the rear is slipping over the suspension by 2-3 inches on a spirited turn. Like loosing grip in back end but I dont think that is it. very funny greasy feel in rear.

enkei 10.5
 

Any issues with rubbing? turning rub, won't mind extreme parking lot turn limits lower.

How much are you lowered?

Right now I'm 1cm then plus 1/2"

Sounds like stock caster, camber toe might handle 1" which I could shoot for??

Would mod if had to but also want blizzak or other snow to fit.
what is the smallest tire that can fit 10.5? I could and will look up.

Enkei 18x10.5
 

We run Enkei RPF1 18x10.5 square lowered with no rub - we do run spacers tho. Tires are Pirelli 305s. PM me - I can do a set of these new in 18x10.5 shipped for WAY less than 2K.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.n...04933717_n.jpg

I too have 18x 10.5 Enkeis. I migt get into some rubbing issues once lowered as Mr Focus has already warned me, but I think it's about 8-10mm problem and can be solved with a simple fender roll if needed. I think my offsets are about 38 mm? Not sure, but I think PF01's are more like 25.

I havent gone with the square setup on my 370z yet, but can say when I ran a square setup on my 350z I loved it. The car was so neutral and great to drive. That said, I cant wait to have a similar feeling with my 370z.

I ran a 18x10.5 square setup, Enkei PF01, +38 front with a 10mm spacer, +15 rear (with perfect fitment, no spacer). I ended up changing the front rim to the PF01 in 18x9.5 +35 which fit perfect. Both my stock rims and Enkeis are 275 square, RS3s on my stock rims and R888 on my Enkeis. Increasing the front tire width helped a TON with understeer that I experienced in my first two autox events I did on the stock RE050's.

Oh and for reference I'm lowered on Eibach springs on these setups.

Maybe some confusion on per-wheel vs per-set here? The Forgestars I'm talking about retail at $1399 for all 4 (as in $350/wheel). And bkleeman above is saying well under $2K for a set of 18x10.5 RFP1's (which I would totally grab if I was in the market for another set of wheels right now!).

or last ditch 9.5 and 10/10.5 work.

ive said it before, my RPF1's in 9.5+45 with 20mm spacer and 10.5+15 are perfect. i just so want 295/315!! just to say i have it haha

i wanted to sell mine for a more sqaure but having second thoughts. like wstar said there is no perfect setup so i can sell these and get new RPF1's in the same wheel but all i end up doing is buying different spacers and moving them to the rear and i lose front end weight and move it to the rear so...

my wheels were like $1300 and for a RPF1 how you can beat that??!! you can get them here and there for $1000-1200 easy.

spacers???? my 18x10.5 +15 rpf1 is perfect in the back. what spacer do you need back there? also 18x10.5 +15 for the front is crazy offset anyways. am i missing something or do you have a different wheel? i only see 1 18x10.5 from enkie.:confused:

if i did a 10.5+15 on the front (again i only see 1 rpf1 in 18x10.5) where im flush now, itd be like putting a 23mm spacer on.

Same wheel front and back. We're only using spacers on one end, but I dont recall which - I'm 600 miles away from the car at the moment so I can't go look. Our rules allow for a 10.5 wheel up front and an 11 in the rear but Enkei doesn't make an 11 and that's the only offset for a 10.5 so that's what we went with. We go through a LOT of wheels so I wasn't going to switch over to a more expensive wheel just to get an 11.

The Pirellis we use have a rather tall sidewall and we can adjust ride height so we have a lot that we can play with regarding fit.

Hmm interesting. I was considering keeping on the stock sport 19's and running staggered, but a square setup would be cool. Problem is I feel like I'd want to lower the car if I started running 18's... slippery slope from that point on...

The car will be lower do to the smaller diameter size of the 18s! :rolleyes:

Wow. Well if you're 100% ill take your word. But that wheels like a 51mm spacer on the oem. I'm 23mm smaller and 1.2" lower with -1.5 camber and poke 1/8". Maybe you run -4 camber?

with a 275/35/18 up front, 18x10.5 et23 works with no issues. 285/35/18 and 295/35/18 on 18x10.5 up front work with et28 or et30 with -3 camber or more. just a FYI for everyone, and this info is all under track conditions with full suspension compression.

Best fitment? Enkei nt03 18x10.5+30 and run a rear spacer 15-20mm in rear and you can rotate all around anytime. I run 285/35/18 all around and have ran 295/35/18 square

U will be surprised how cheap i can get enkei got a hood up!

I dug through my pics...spacers on the rear, nothing up front. -3.0 to -3.5 camber on the front, -1.5 to -1.8 on the rear. Tires are 305/660 front, 305/680 rear.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.n...1583f6d126ab61

https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.n...69395504_n.jpg

https://scontent-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hpho...22655273_n.jpg

-3.5 is pretty extreme. Figures now how it might work.


Wow. Two cooler lines and they still get hot! Surprised to see oem type coils.

-3.5 isn't extreme for track use. I'm maxed at -3.2 right now and my pyrometer temps show u could benefit from a tad more negative up front. But I need SPL arms to achieve that.

Off-topic divergence here, but any chance you guys will be selling whatever you made for hooking up ducting to the front rotors? I have the Stillen ones now, but more airflow would be nice and I suck at fabricating these kinds of things :)

I suspect this is due to series rules.

O come on. You can do it. What I did was very easy! The OEM dust shield has a square whole in it. I held up my 2" pipe around it and marked a round hole and cut it out with a grinding bit. It your stillen doesn't have a hole then just get a 2" hole saw bit and punch through it. Then I cut some strips of metal and bent them 90*. Held one end to the pipe and used a self taping screw to hold it. The other side got screwed to the dust shield. I think I used 3 "brackets" on each side. Won't done just paint it us so it won't rust.

^ I meant I have the Stillen brake duct kit already, which has a single 2-inch outlet on the hub adapter. Even then not all of the pipe's diameter makes it to the inside part of the rotor. It seems tricky to fit more airflow into there; there's certainly not room to cut another hole on Stillen's plate. Certainly 2x2" sounds easier than 1x3", though. Part of their trick could also be that they're using a larger rotor hat than I am, by the looks of it, which would allow more room for outlets to get airflow to the inner edge of the rotor.

Bolt a plate to the stillen making it larger in diameter. Then bolt the 2" pipe on like I mentioned. Boom! Haha

I don't think they are. I have zero room in between my caliper and wheel as it is and we have the same wheels. From the wheel to caliper I'd say I have maybe 3/8th room.

This has a pic of the Stillen ones: Product Update: STILLEN 370Z BRAKE COOLING KIT - STILLEN : STILLEN . Yes, I could copy it and mod my copy try to fit two in tightly, but when you see where it mates on the hub and how much room there is before you hit other things or get outside the inner rotor intake area, it's kinda tricky. I have a thousand other things to work on besides trying to fab that in my spare time. Hence asking if they were selling theirs :)

Larger rotor hat != larger rotor diameter. You can make the hat wider and the outer rotor ring narrower and fit in the same diameter. Just eyeballing it from photos, I suspect their Stoptech kit is like that relative to my AP Racing one.

What about using brake cooling ducts like the Porsche gt3 uses. They attach to the lower control arm and scoop air fro under the car. They aren't that expensive online, just not sure if they could be easily adapted to the 370z.

enkei 18x10 with 38 offset
 

hello,

Anyone else running Enkie rpf1 or others with a 18x10, 38 offset and spacers?

If so what spacers? Or can anyone help with what spacers I would need?

It would be greatly appreciated. I need to go with wheels quick and need some help.

And for mostly street do not want to put 10.5s on it.

Then there is forgestar F14s as well.. as second pic

Help please!

I'd like to know as well. I wanted to sell my setup for that size but I'm 99% sure I'd have to run spacers front and rear defeating the whole purpose of the rpf1. Not only would I gain weight overall but I'd gain weight on the rear axle hurting performance.

I have been using Enkei PF01 in 18 x 9.5 ET35 and 265/35R18 R-specs for the last 2+ years, with a 25.4mm spacer on the rear and a 12.7mm spacer on the front. I'm not able to exploit a wider rim given our category rules in "Modern Sports Cars".

Spacers are machined concentric to the hub and the 75mm centre-bore of the Enkei wheel and since I used ARP 75mm extended studs I also torque-up the spacer onto the ARP studs and then the wheel also.

This does give a slight risk of a stress riser on the ARP studs with torque reversal between braking and power-down but the length of the studs exposed to torque reversal is modest because we machined the spacers to ensure that the nuts securing the spacer are only 40/thou below the spacer face that the wheel seats to.

Even so, I am not a big fan of spacers, so I've lifed the studs to 100 track days/competition events which at my rate of competition in the Z34 is 4 years.

I would actually be interested in getting a set of those double ducted backing plates as well. Group buy from the race team fab shop??? heh

BGTV8, would you mind explaining your last post a bit more?

I just ordered a set of 18x10 +34 F14s and plan on running a small spacer in the rear, perhaps 10 mil. I have not done the spacer thing before. Best option? Doing research, just looking for opinions also. I think the answer to this would be of benefit to people reading this thread so not making a new one at this point.

My :twocents:, I prefer bolt on. You don't stress out such a long stud then, arp or not.

There are 3 types of spacer:
1. Spacers that come with their own studs - use the OEM studs tro snug-down the spacer to the hub, then use the studs on the spacer to fit the wheel to the spacer. Porblem with these is that "if" the nuts securing the spacer to the OEM studs come loose, you can lose a wheel worst case, or get a bad vibration at best.

2. Spacers that are not fixed to the hub at all - there is a photo earlier in this thread showing such a spacer on one of the Doran Z34 race cars

3. My style of spacer ... spacer does not have additional studs ... simply fit the spacer to the hub over the extended studs, and use lug nuts to secure the spacer to the hub via the extended length studs (ARP 75mm long in my case), then put the wheel on and use another set of lug nuts to secure the wheel to the same stud that secures the spacer to the hub. If the spacer nuts come loose, then the wheel cannot come adrift .....

Sorry, but I don;t have any photos, and a picture would be worth 1000 words in this circumstance.

Hope this helps clarify my original post.

If you do not have extended studs, then you will have to use option 1 or 2 above.

If you use lock tight and torque the bolt on spacer tighter than the wheel, in my case 100lbs, it will never come off. That'd be like saying all wheels just secured with lugs nuts could fall off. It just doesn't happen.