Stock 17s drive better than the coupe 19s
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Q50 Red Sport 400 RWD
Your findings are valid. Though the coupe 19s are relatively light, 19" tires are somewhat heavy and more weight is further from the hub. Additionally, the tires are significantly wider and create more drag. The dartiness comes from the wider tire with stiffer sidewalls. It will tramline far worse. If you think it's bad in SOCAL, come to Kansas City where the temps are in the 40s and summer rubber becomes rock hard, creating even more dartiness. My G on 235/45R18 Pzeros almost feels unsafe when temps dip below 60. Traction sucks, the car is all over the place, and the tires get significantly louder.
The OEM 17s will offer a smoother ride, better acceleration, and lighter steering. As for handling, IMO, the coupe 19s with summer rated rubber will run circles around a G on all season OEM size 17s. My 18" setup is downright insane with the levels of grip it has. When I put my 17s back on, the car has no where the level of grip or confidence in the turns. Don't get me wrong, it still handles really really well, but there is huge difference.
From a looks standpoint, the 19s are the way to go. From a performance standpoint (acceleration, braking, handling), 18s with summer rubber is the way to go. You could make a really killer 17" setup with some 17X8 rims (coupe 6 spokes all around) and summer rubber, but most people would feel the setup is a bit too small.
The OEM 17s will offer a smoother ride, better acceleration, and lighter steering. As for handling, IMO, the coupe 19s with summer rated rubber will run circles around a G on all season OEM size 17s. My 18" setup is downright insane with the levels of grip it has. When I put my 17s back on, the car has no where the level of grip or confidence in the turns. Don't get me wrong, it still handles really really well, but there is huge difference.
From a looks standpoint, the 19s are the way to go. From a performance standpoint (acceleration, braking, handling), 18s with summer rubber is the way to go. You could make a really killer 17" setup with some 17X8 rims (coupe 6 spokes all around) and summer rubber, but most people would feel the setup is a bit too small.
before............................................ ...after
Last edited by Texan1; Oct 14, 2009 at 11:41 PM.
Everyone brought up some good points. I think we all in a agreeance that the coupe 19s are one of best stock wheel out there for a mainstream car. While I love the way they look to death, the over sensitivity and dartiness is starting to get annoying. I am wondering also how much the wheel offset plays a part. I guess a good test might be to compare the stock sedan 17s against the staggered setup of the stock coupe 17s. Does anyone have this setup?
Also I noticed that a lot comparisons between the 19s and 17s are based on totally different tires. Almost any mid grade summer tire would kick the stock Turanza's butt. That's a given. I would be curious to see how it would drive with the same quality summers on the 17s? Anyone tried that? It's kinda hard to do cause not too many performance tires at the OEM size. I don't think they make the RE050A in that size.
There was also a comment about the coupe and sedan being identical but if that is true why didn't they ever make that setup for the sport package? Maybe it was because they didn't think sedan owners wanted to deal with different size tires.
Based on everyone's comments I am starting to think the 18s are the way to go. But then question is which wheel. I am not that fond of the stock 18s and I want to avoid staggered setups of the coupe's.
Also I noticed that a lot comparisons between the 19s and 17s are based on totally different tires. Almost any mid grade summer tire would kick the stock Turanza's butt. That's a given. I would be curious to see how it would drive with the same quality summers on the 17s? Anyone tried that? It's kinda hard to do cause not too many performance tires at the OEM size. I don't think they make the RE050A in that size.
There was also a comment about the coupe and sedan being identical but if that is true why didn't they ever make that setup for the sport package? Maybe it was because they didn't think sedan owners wanted to deal with different size tires.
Based on everyone's comments I am starting to think the 18s are the way to go. But then question is which wheel. I am not that fond of the stock 18s and I want to avoid staggered setups of the coupe's.
If you don't want to use the forged oem 19s, then anything other than the 350z oem track edition 18s will be heavier and impart more of a weight penalty.
If you can find some aftermarket 18s like the Enkei RP-1s or something, that might be okay. But the track editions would be the way to go IMHO. They are staggered but finding a set of tires you can flip right - left vs front - back will extend the tire life the best. You could run all the same sizes on the Z track editions and flip back/front or flip directions etc.. But that would require demounting/mounting. Provided you have the right tire tread design that allows such a thing.
I've discussed all this in my own search for tires on the coupe 19s.
If you can find some aftermarket 18s like the Enkei RP-1s or something, that might be okay. But the track editions would be the way to go IMHO. They are staggered but finding a set of tires you can flip right - left vs front - back will extend the tire life the best. You could run all the same sizes on the Z track editions and flip back/front or flip directions etc.. But that would require demounting/mounting. Provided you have the right tire tread design that allows such a thing.
I've discussed all this in my own search for tires on the coupe 19s.
I thought about getting the same size tires for the 19s but I don't think that it fixes the handling issue. Part of the dartiness could possibly from the staggered fitment or the fact that the wheels are not the proper offset. Anyone have more understanding of the effects of wheel offset and suspension geometry please chime in.
People who have aftermarket 19s with the correct offset might have some useful insight.
People who have aftermarket 19s with the correct offset might have some useful insight.
The offset (essentially a wider track width) can influence some dartiness, but IMO, most of the dartiness comes from the tire width and stiffer sidewalls. The tires most of us run on these cars are 1" to 1.5" wider than stock. That's a lot more rubber on the road. Factor in they're much lower profile and stiff sidewalls and the car will be far more prone to tramlining. You can reduce some of this be reducing toe-in a bit.
As for the purpose of the stagger, it's to reduce oversteer. Staggered tires will increase rear end grip and will generally create more understeer. That's the main purpose for why Nissan choose to go staggered on the coupes and Zs. They probably felt the owners would push the cars harder, it looks cool, and the larger lower profile tires are more suspectible to oversteer.
As for the purpose of the stagger, it's to reduce oversteer. Staggered tires will increase rear end grip and will generally create more understeer. That's the main purpose for why Nissan choose to go staggered on the coupes and Zs. They probably felt the owners would push the cars harder, it looks cool, and the larger lower profile tires are more suspectible to oversteer.
Agreed since the difference in stagger is only around .5" to .6". However, you've got to agree that a lot of these G/Zs with 1"+ more stagger out back are going to plow like a FWD car if you push them really hard. I laugh when I see coupes/Z with nearly 2" more stagger out back. The overall at the limit handling of that car would be Prius-like. Now if you add significantly more power than stock (ie turbo/SC), then running a fairly aggressive stagger out back could make sense.
Yes, if that stagger and tire sizes differences are big. I run 225 and 255 and I don't see much differences in my daily commute. But I can tune via my hotchkis front/rear bars.
But in this case, it's the wheel stagger only as the op was considering using the same sized tire for all.
Some of these guys are running 235-285 or 245-305. That's pretty big
But in this case, it's the wheel stagger only as the op was considering using the same sized tire for all.
Some of these guys are running 235-285 or 245-305. That's pretty big
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