So i was looking to upgrade from my stock wheels (17") to a 19 or 20".. primarily for looks. I was talking to a guy over the phone at the parts shop and he told me that 20" with a 35 sidewall would be a rough ride and that he recommended 18" front and 19" rear with a 45 sidewall.

of course, I dont know much about this so would you guys go with what he said? different size rims for the front and rear?

running a G35 coupe 2004.

 

in general a 18" wheel uses a 45 series, 19" wheel 35 series, and 20" wheel 30 series. of course it depends on tire width, but that is the typical sizes used for a coupe.

 

Tire width is different front to rear, but the factory wheels are the same (width and offset) except the wheels used at the front are indexed so they will be the only ones to fit the front hubs.

 

I have 20's the ride is rough, but not too bad...

I have 245/35/20 front, and back 275/30/20

 

I haven't seen anyonew with a G35 running 18's front and 19's rear, I know some cars run smaller diameter tires up front. Not something I would do.

But there are a lot of people here running "staggered" or different WIDTH rims front to back, 8.5" front and 9.5" rear, 9.5" front and 10.5" rear. That's pretty common.

IMO the key is running the overall diameter the same as stock regardless of the size wheel you use. You can search this site or the Internet in general for a tire size calculator, and come up with options for either 19" or 20" tires that will be roughly the same overall diameter of your stock 17's (you need that in order for your odometer and speedometer to continue to measure accurately). Most people here that run 19's run 245/35/19's front and 275/35/19's rear but there are some slight variations. I don't know the common 20 setup off the top of my head.

The diff between 19's and 20's with the same overall diameter is going to be tire sidewall height so you could say that a 20" tire setup would feel "stiffer" because there's less sidewall and less "air" between your wheels and the road.

 

yeah i thought that was strange that he said to go with 18 front and 19 rear.. i think i'll jsut go 19 all around.

 

no it's not really stange to stagger diameters as well as widths. The 350Z has a factory option for 18 front and 19 rear. I am running 19 front and 20 rear. As long as you keep the stock overall diameter the same it's all good.