Wider tires on base 18's
 

Well as my first mod for my Z I decided to go with wider tires for the factory 18's.
I plan on moving the 245/45/18 tires to the front and buying 275/40/18 for the rears.

I tried searching but I couldn't find any pictures of wider tires installed on the base 18's.
I know there will be a slight bulge because of the wider tires -- just wondering if anyone else has done this and has pics of how the set up looks like. Thanks.

I don't have any pictures specifically, but 275 will certainly fit just fine on a 9" rim. I might go with a 265 personally.

I need new front tires and was thinking of getting something meatier and better than the stock advans. Haven't decided on anything. What size would be good for the fronts?

Also this thread should be moved to the wheels and tires section :)

The stock advans are actually a pretty good tire. Hard to find others with such a low treadwear.

OP, I did exactly what you are proposing. Looks great.

http://www.the370z.com/attachment.ph...1&d=1301084844

The Advan sports are actually a pretty solid tire.

I've been thinking some more about tires, and after doing some research it looks like 245 in the front and 275 in the back would be an ideal size for some wider tires on the base 18's. Thoughts Dan?

Here are some options from just looking at tire rack:
1) Yokohama ADVAN Sport (Max Summer)
245/45R18 96W $288.00 (ea.) / 245/45ZR18 (100Y) $213.00 (ea.)
275/40ZR18 (103Y) $248.00 (ea.)
Total Cost = $1072 / $922
What's up with the Z in the tire size?

2) Potenza RE050A Pole Position (Max Summer)
245/45R18 100W = $236.00 (ea.)
275/40R18 99Y = $277.00 (ea.)
Total Cost = $1026

3) Potenza RE-11 (Extreme Summer)
245/45R18 100W $276.00 (ea.)
275/40R18 99W $301.00 (ea.)
Total Cost = $1154

4) Potenza RE960AS Pole Position (Ultra All Season)
245/45R18 100W $216.00 (ea.)
275/40R18 99W $264.00 (ea.)
Total Cost = $960

5) Hankook Ventus V12 evo K110 (Extreme Summer)
245/45ZR18 100Y $158.00 (ea.)
275/40ZR18 103Y $176.00 (ea.)
Total Cost = $668

While compiling this I've realized that I'm not gonna be hitting the track anytime soon so I don't need all out track level performance yet. I left the info there for other people to use. I'm trying to save money for now and once I have a permanent job, I can start looking at track performance tires.

I've narrowed it down to 4 or 5. The all seasons would help since the Z is my only car, rain or snow. Do you know how the RE960A's perform vs the Advan Sport's? The Hankooks are by far the cheapest option and would save me a significant amount of money. I'm definitely not going to buy a separate set of winter tires, I don't have the money to do that. This is why I'm leaning towards the all seasons. Help please?

I think the V12 will last you a while, but they will grip worse than the stock RE050a

The base 18" wheels come with the Yokohama Advan Sport tires. How do the V12's compare with the RE960A All Seasons? I'm trying to decide between saving a couple hundred dollars with the V12's or getting better wet/snow performance with the All Seasons. Both are cheaper than the Advans.

Never used Advan Sport sorry. I have the V12 for my Prius, I am not a big fan of it. They are great street touring tire, but track performance is completely overrated. If you are trying to save money, there is nothing wrong with the V12s. They just have marginal grip, soft sidewall. I do have to admit they are a very quiet tire!

I personally would not go with the V12's, and I'd honestly go with all seasons over the V12's if I were you, simply because it simplifies things. The soft sidewall of the V12's combined with the sidewall profile you are dealing with on a set of 18's is really going to be a pretty uninspiring ride.

Both Pole Position options are pretty solid. They're a good tire with good grip, and they hold up well even on the 18's.

I would probably skip the RE11's for your use, you just won't see enough life out of them, and if you aren't driving hard, they are not worth the extra cost.

The Advan sports are a pretty decent tire, but you've already run them and you know how they are.

One other options you may want to look at (though I'm not sure they have them in your size) is the Star Specs. They are one of my favorite tires for tall sidewall use, and they are a pretty inexpensive tire that offers some great performance. They were my absolute favorite tire I ever ran on my s2k.

Thanks man, I knew you could help me out :tup:

The Star Specs come in 275/35ZR18, but I was thinking that 35 profile might be too small. Here are the prices from tire rack

Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec
245/40ZR18 93W $209.00 (ea.)
275/35ZR18 95W $263.00 (ea.)
Total Cost = $944

Not bad at all. I think I'm gonna go with the all seasons. I know I'm gonna be driving in snow eventually, so it's better to spend a few hundred more on tires (vs the V12's) than to risk something worse happening. Only getting fronts this summer, rears will be put on when needed. For this tire cycle (and maybe the next one) I'll stick with all seasons. After that I'll probably switch over to RE11's or the Star Specs. :tup:

Makes sense. I wouldn't mix all seasons up front with the current tires out back though, especially since the car understeers so badly as it is.

How would it affect my everyday driving? Just using it for DD, no track use. The cruise will be the most performance oriented use. I don't really ever push the car and I drive pretty calmly most of the time. Buying a whole set at once might be tough money-wise.

It will mess with the balance of the car quite a bit. I didn't participate in the last cruise, but I'm pretty sure it was intense enough driving that it would probably cause a problem if you're mixing and matching tires.

Grrrr, this is not good. I'm gonna try it out and see how it goes. If there's a problem in daily driving, I'll buy the rears too. If daily driving is fine, then I will just not go to the cruise for the summer and buy rears when I can. For the cost of these freaking tires I could have gotten HFC's this summer :shakes head:

How much more time you have left on the fronts? I'm trying to pick up another set of rims for my summer setup in the near future, and I'll cut you a deal on my Advans if you want them.

I don't really know or know how to tell. I have some pics of them though.

Front Right:
http://www.the370z.com/members/b1ade...right-tire.jpg

Front Left:
http://www.the370z.com/members/b1ade...-left-tire.jpg

http://www.the370z.com/members/b1ade...front-tire.jpg

I'm also trying to swap my base wheels + cash for some sport wheels if you know someone who is looking for them. Trying to do local only though MD/NoVA/DC.

They won't blow out on you, but the useful life is probably gone

Yeah they drive OK in dry weather. In wet it's decent, but it does slip if I'm taking an entrance/exit ramp a bit too quickly. That's where VDC helps me out :D

After a year of waiting for the Advans to wear down. I finally bought a set of "Continental ExtremeContact DWS" [UHPAS] in 245/45-18 front, 275/40-18 rear. These will be installed next Tuesday at a Nissan dealer I trust ... along with a full alignment.

The Advans lasted 18.5K, but were starting to hydroplane. The Continentals have a treadwear rating of 540 and are asymmetrical / bidirectional. So I'll be able to swap tires left-to-right every 5K to balance out the wear.

Can you please post pics of your wheels after you get the tires installed? I'm interested in seeing how those size tires will look with the base 18" rims. Thanks :tup:

blades I will be putting my stock advans up for sale within this month, Id prefer to sell them to someone local for obvious reasons and yes they will be for cheap.

Will do, Tues or Weds next week. It's not going to be noticeable -- the fronts are +20mm over stock, so on the outside +10mm. The backs are +30mm, so the outside is +15mm. No spacers needed.

I hope the extra width will increase the contact patch enough to make up some for going to all-seasons versus a stickier summer compound. But even if it didn't, I'd want A/S because of the coastal rains we get and, I like to extend the driving season into the cold weather as much as possible. But I'm under no pretensions about snow and ice driving -- wider rubber is the opposite of what you want (which is a narrower/longer contact patch).

Let me know. Send me a PM when you're ready to sell them. I have another option for getting the tires but I don't know if that will happen or not. My uncle in NY said he'd buy me some because a did a huge favor for him. I don't think he realizes how expensive these tires are though, but he said he knows a guy with a tire shop. If he does end up buying them for me, I will just go that route, but I will let you know once I find out.

OK, these are the best shots (2 of the OEM Advans, then 2 of the new Conti DWS). The wider tires fill the wheel well better, and don't stick out (if that's what you're worried about).

See: Nissan 370Z Forum - jginnane's Album: jginnane Plus-Sizing 18s

It was about 45 miles back from this Nissan dealer on a 65mph highway. I didn't feel the tire noise was drastically reduced, but had changed frequency. (So I was able to hear the bass in deadmau5 better :).

The rubber felt smoother, about like when we went from worn Bridgestones to RE960s on my wife's Acura, and may just have been that "new rubber" feel. The wider track reduced tramlining, which is what happens when your tires get caught in the lane rut worn in heavily-traveled asphalt or concrete surfaces.

On the few curves I took, I was able to sense the wider stance of the car. But I won't be able to fully evaluate traction until we get a couple gullywashers, the kind of weather that was makinig the worn Advans hydroplane.

Finally -- I asked for zero toe-in on the alignment. There was no perceived difference in gas mileage; 26.0 mpg going with Advans, and 26.1 mpg returning with the Contis. But it felt as if the car had some reduced rolling resistance coasting up to a few traffic lights, which more than offset the drag of the wider contact patch.

It will be interesting to see if these initial observations bear out in the next few weeks. A 1% gas mileage change is inconsequential, but a 3-5% improvement (@ $4+ premium gas) would be nice if it happens.

Awesome! I was just worried that they might stick out, but everything looks good :tup: