offset, please explain
 

i'm a n00b. could someone on this forum please explain about offset means?

Does it really take that long to google it?

:tup:
First link:
Wheel Tech - Offset

Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offset_(wheel)

honda and front wheel driver take high offset like +42
nissan 350z+370z rear wheel driver low offset like +22 +15
the lower the number the more it sit in and you can get more lip
you should stop by my shop bro!
rick :tup:

thanks for the information.

Imagine looking at a wheel from the top down. So the wheel is standing upright (not laying flat), and you're looking down at it. Now in the middle of the wheel is the hub where you actually mount it up to the lugs on the car. If that hub is dead center, then the offset is 0. If the hub is moved outwards towards the outside of the wheel, then it has positive offset. For example, +22 means that it is 22mm to the outside of dead center. If you move it inwards, it has negative offset. -22 would be 22mm inside of dead center.

Now here's where it gets a little tricky to visualize. The smaller the offset, the more the wheel pushes out away from the car. Most people think the higher the offset, the more the wheels push out, but it's actually the opposite. Because think about it. The higher the offset, the more the center is pushed outwards, right? Well, the more the center is pushed outwards, the deeper in the wheel must go before it contacts the lugs. So if you want to push the wheels outwards (for a wider stance), you actually want to decrease the offset, not increase it.

Our stock rear wheels have an offset of +30. So if you wanted them to be pushed out by 10mm, you'd want an offset of +20. You can accomplish this by getting new wheels, or with spacers. For example, Minicobra put 15mm spacers on his rears. So his rear wheels effectively now sit where they would if they had an offset of +15 (30-15=15).

The Rays G2 fitment chart says for rears, we should get an offset of 22. So they are pushing out by 8mm relative to the stock offset.

Make sense?

okay so i'm guessing this offset on the tires could potentially change the handling of the car itself as well?

the reason i'm asking these questions is because when i do spend the hunk of change on some rims and probably new tires, i want something that gives me better handling and what nots.

Yeah, you want to widen the track a little.

Great description, tried repping you but I guess I've already gave you one before :O

also, are we suppose to try and match the offset of the car when we get rims and tires? my friend told me that you don't want to stray too far from what the stock.

No. At least with the Z, the whole point of getting new rims is that people don't like how far into the wheel wells the wheels are. i.e., the offset is too high. Are you sure your friend wasn't talking about tire diameter? Let me know if you need me to explain how tire diameter comes into play.

Semtex, that was a great answer, thanks! I am totally new to all of this myself and just learned a great deal. My Z does not have the sport package, and I'd like to get new, larger wheels for my car to at least match the sport-package look. And now I understand how spacers work. It's all good.

For the reading impaired....:tup:

http://images102.fotki.com/v400/phot.../offset-vi.jpg

Whoa... Let's backtrack. The tires too far into wheel well equals too small of offset, right? Higher offset will bring the wheel out to the lip of the fender. Personally, I love the Rays 19x10 rims and my last car was a C6 Vette with 19x10's on the back and I had 305/30/19 Bridgestone RE070a's on it and they looked perfect. I'm badly wanting 305/30/19's on those Rays Wheels!

No, you have it backwards. The offset is too high. Again, offset is the distance (in millimeters) from dead center. The higher the offset, the more the hub of the wheel moves outward away from dead center towards the outside of the wheel. The more outward the hub is, the deeper you have to push the entire wheel into the wheel well before the hub meets up with the wheel studs and brake disc, etc. So if you want the wheels to sit outwards more, you have to decrease the offset. That means the hub of the wheel will move away from the outside edge of the wheel and more towards center. Or to put it another way, it will move away from the outside edge towards the inside edge of the wheel. The more the hub is moved inwards, the less you have to push the entire wheel in before it hooks up with the wheel studs. The end result is that the wheel sits more outwards from the center of the car.

Make sense? Look at the graphic that Modshack provided above. The more you decrease the offset, the more the hub (shown on the right side labeled "Front") moves towards the center dotted line. Now imagine that the brake disc and wheel studs are right where that dotted line is. What happens if you don't move the offset and leave the hub of the wheel right where it is, as shown in that graphic? You have to push the entire wheel in before it'll make contact with the studs, right? And when you do that, what happens to the outside edge? It gets shifted over to the left, which in this graphic would represent being pushed inwards towards the center of the car, sinking into the wheel well. Capiche? ;)

Ben is right! If you want a wider stance/track go with a lower offset.

We have TONS & TONS of room in the 370z for low offsets! VIP-Status has done some great work to prove that to us. I myself will be running 10.5 et-7 or lower offsets in the rear!!! Good luck and if you have any hard questions feel free to PM me I live for low offsets hehe you should of seen my s2k! I had Mad lippage on 18's with that car!