Wheel & Tyre Upgrades

[Gary1]

Got 18 x 8's on my wagon they look similar to the 34 GTR wheel alot of people have told me.... I don't know but they look good to me.

Cheers

Gary

[Guest]

I have New R34 GTR seats coming with Stagea rails and copy R34 GTR wheels are avialable it is just like everything out of Japan the price.

[Brazen]

OK - found the right thread to post my wheel question - thanks for patience while i find my feet in these forums...

My question - is there any offset that will allow 18x9s to fit at the front of Stagea RS Four without rolling guards??

I dunno much about offsets - but found some nice rims 18x9 +45offset 5x114.3...

any of u fellas in the know able to confirm if any chance with 18x9s at front on Stageas??

Thanks,

Adam

[tigerleo62]

Stagea offset is around +33 - but that's all I know - I have 18x8s on my car

[Gary1]

i think tigerleo62 is right, i have 18x9's on my stagea and i have not had any rubbing problems at all.

Cheers

Gary

[Brazen]

Thanks guys

Gary you run 18x9s up front as well? What offset are those rims mate - LOVE to know so I can look for that offset???? (as long as they are within +27 to +39)

I have been trying to research this offset shite all day and think Ive finally worked it out...

There are lots of car owners out there that are able to FIT just about anything... but the common conclusion by wheel people (found some posts by aussie rim manufacturersand others) is that you should wherever possible stick within about 6mm of stock rim offset either way as that is the general range within which the suspension structure and everything is manufactured as being able to balance and run properly. Outside of that you really start to experience unusual and uneven loading and wear on joints, suspension, etc etc because too great a proportion of the rim width and weight is outside of the intended line and all the angles and suspension tuning and design is put out. This is in line with the previous posts in this thread that had offsets between that range from the stock offset of +33 (+27 to +39). Manufacturers or wheel manfacurers recommend the varying offsets when there is more room on either the inside or outside of the rim of a particular car make when fitting wider rims (and also why spacrs are used sometimes when people score a cheap wide rim that has an incorrect offset rubbing in the INSIDE structure or suspension but theyhaveroom on the outside - the spaer push the rim away from inside). So yeah the other guy from SWAT running +45 offset is either happy risking added wear/damage, or has had his entire suspension and joints etc modded to deal with the new load shift. So while you might be able to fit 17x7 +16s, or 18x9 +45s on the car - be ready for possibly weird handling and unusual wear and damage.

Thats basically what I gathered from an entire days reading!! So while it would have been nice to whack on the second hand Volk F-Zero 18x9+45s that I found on there - Id be compromising the car (and possible legality) by doing so

But then again its late - and I could have comprehended it all wrong :Oops:

[tigerleo62]

But then again its late - and  I could have comprehended it all wrong  :Oops:

Made sense to me last night when I read it and still makes sense this morning...

The idea of spending a few thousand on rims that don't fit the car, then having the guards rolled so that they do fit while adding a structural risk to the handling of the car just sounds silly and expensive to me...

Of course you see young kids who have done it - nothing looks funnier than a civic with big rolled guards and covered in 'rice' stickers with the standard steel rims on as they have no doubt been sent over the pits... just silly, expensive and fugly if you can't even keep the rims on legally...

[Brazen]

Just phoned a couple of the bigger import wheel and tyre companies that do skyline fittings for a straight plain english answer and all concurred with the info i found above that those wheel manufacturers had posted...

TO AVOID WEAR AND DAMAGE TO SUSPENSION/JOINTS/ETC STAY WITHIN 7mm ABSOLUTE MAX VARIATION (6mm and under better)... so assuming you guys are right and the stock 16" rim offset is +33 (does it say on the rims - can anyone double check?)... that means

BETWEEN +26 and +40... and the LESS positive (towards +26) the wider out the wheel will sit; the MORE positive (towards +40) the further in the wheel will sit from the guard. So if you are running narrower rims (eg 17x7s) but want the look to be wider out near the guard - get your 17x7s with a lower offset (+26).

They said that 8" to 8.5" wide rims SHOULD fit easily within that offset range, but with 18x9s you can get them in but its starts to get more and more precise as to what offset you need as to whether they need to move more positive (away from gaurd) or less positive (out toward the gaurd) to avoid either inside or guard rubbing depending which side there's more room. Which is why itd be nice to know exactly what offset your 18x9s are Gary so we know for sure what offset doesnt rub!??

They also confirmed that they advise NOT to fit different width rims front and back on 4WD Atezza system as the system will misinterpret that slight difference in traction (however on this point id still like some more opinions from tuning specialists).

[jake32]

Thanks guys

I have been trying to research this offset shite all day and think Ive finally worked it out...

There  are lots of car owners out there that are able to FIT just about anything...

But then again its late - and  I could have comprehended it all wrong  :Oops:

its the best explantion iv`e come across.....write a book ."wheel offset shite for dummys"..it becoming a bit clearer for me ..i have different offset front +30/ rear +20 and clearance needed for brembo calipers...bit of a headache really but + or _6/7 is something to start with..thankx for your research Brazen

[Sydneykid]

Hi guys, I have heard this stuff about "damaging suspension because of different wheel offsets" for years. But I have never seen any evidence of it, so it warrants some investigation.....

The basis of this "damaging" claim is the that the centre of contact of the tyre is in a different position to that intended by the designer of the car. So the the first thing to do is find out all of the different ofsets of wheels used with that suspension system. That means what are all of the standard offssets for GTS, GTST, GTR, GTS4 in each model range and for all std wheel sizes, 15" 16 " 17" etc. Looking at the R33 standard offsets I have seen, I can say 30 mm to 42 mm was available. Add the 6 mm tolerance to that and you have 24 mm to 48 mm.

Then we have the issue of camber, if I add negative camber I move the contact patch inwards. This means I can run wheels with more positive offset. A quick measurement shows about 3 mm for 1 degree negative, so that means I can go to 51 mm offset if I run 1.5 degrees negative (my usual road amount).

Now we have caster, if I add 2 degrees of positive caster that means I have say another 2 degrees of negative camber on the outside wheel when I am going around corners. That means another 6 mm of offset, so I can go to 57 mm offset if I run that extra caster.

Now I could get into scrub radius and SAI, but I think I have made the point.

If the wheel fits inside the standard guard and doesn't rub on anything, I don't believe for one instant it would cause one micron of extra suspension wear.

Heavier wheels, lower profile tyres, stiffer springs, stickier tyres, upgraded stabiliser bars. more camber, more caster etc etc would have a much larger effect than wheel offset.

My 20 cents worth:cheers:

[Gary1]

I agrre with SK, but your wheels should be all the same if the vehicle is 4wd. The damage is not to suspension but to the gearbox.

Cheers

Gary

P.S. The wheels are coming off in a couple of days for the brake upgrade so i will try and measure the offset then....

[Sydneykid]

There is absolutely no doubt that the circumference of the tyres should be very close to the same front and rear. I say "very close" because there has to be some allowance for wear, otherwise it would be necessary to buy 4 tyres all at once, alll of the time. This applies equally to cars with LSD's, the tyres on the same axle should have the same circumference. But it don't think the width of the tyres makes any difference to the ATTESSA system. Nor do I think wheel offsett is relevant either.

It is worth noting that the same size tyre from different tyre manufacturers can have differing circumferences ie; a 245/40/17 from Yokohama is different to a 245/40/17 from Hancook.

[poita]

what is the stock rim and trye sizes on a Stagea? Im in SA, so we are only allowed to go 2" bigger in rim size legally. Only reason I ask is that I dont want to buy one with nice mags and then have to sell them cause they are illegal, as Ive seen a few advertised with 18-19" rims.

Is the standard 15" or 16"?

[Terminal]

It depends on which model you get. the RS4 has stock rims at 15" and the RS4 V has 16". my tyre chart thingy on my door says it came with 2 tyre sizes, 205/16/55 and 225/16/50

[Brazen]

Thanks Gary - be great to know... thats the one bit of info I am hanging out for most...

I would be most greatful to ANYONE who can confirm what offset ranges can fit 18 x 9 inch rims inside the Stagea front wheelarch!!!!!!!

If we can confirm that we will know if GTR rims fit in, or any brandname 18x9 we'll know what offset we need exactly Someone must have a mate with a GTR that can do a quick test of fit at the front by swapping a wheel over

[PranK]

i just put R34 GTT rims on my stag, looks so much better and fits beautifully.

[PranK]

If we can confirm that we will know if GTR rims fit in, or any brandname 18x9 we'll know what offset we need exactly  Someone must have a mate with a GTR that can do a quick test of fit at the front by swapping a wheel over

GTR wheels *will* fit on a Gtst, so they *should* fit on a stag - i might try it with my mates GTR before he sells it.

[Jay95R33]

i just put R34 GTT rims on my stag, looks so much better and fits beautifully.

Looks good Prank. I put a set of GTT rims on mine when I got it (I had them sitting in the shed to go on the R33 before it went to heaven ).

I think if we had both our cars side by side we'd have problems telling who's is who's !!

[PranK]

yeah, i think so too mate!

your poor R33... lets have a moment of silence.

[Terminal]

Stagea's with R34 GTR rims look awesome. if they weren't $3500 a set i'd be getting them right away.