Hey guys, new to this whole rims thing. I was wondering what performance differences different width rims would make. I see that my stock sedan has 215/55/17s. I was thinking about 19s for the car so I would go with something like 35 or 40/19s. Now the question is width. I've seen widths from about 215 to 255 as around normal and I've seen people do something like 255s in the rear wheels and 230s on the front wheels. Is it better to have wider wheels in the back for more traction?

What I want to ask is, besides from the whole looks thing (which is a big part of getting rims), what kinds of performance implications are wider rims? I know that with thinner side wall tires will be louder, you'll feel more of the road. But what will they do for you performance wise? Might be a stupid question but I'm new at this.

Andrew

 

wider rims means more friction to the ground which means more traction control...
also think of it this way, wider rims means better handling because the car has more to lean on on turns!

im not an expert, but i think this is right, someone correct me if im wrong! : )

04/BO/G/aero/splash/prem/perf/cc/22%tint

 

The bigger the rim, the more weight it will have unless of course you get an ultralight type of rim like the nismos. The more weight, less performance. Simple as that.

 

In addition to wider tires giving you more traction, shorter sidewalls don't flex as much in hard cornering. Though that can be countered by a rim that weighs too much. Officially, Infiniti says 225's are the widest that will fit the front and clear the suspension. Nobody seems to be having trouble with 235's or 245's, though.

As for different sizes front to rear, there are two things going on here. If you have wider tires in back, you'll have a greater tendency to understeer than if you have same-size tires front and back. The G35 already tends to understeer just a touch at limit, so if you're not doing some suspension/sway-bar upgrades, then that may not be desireable. Also, if the diameter of the tires front-to-back is not kept nearly the same, the VDC system will get confused and think that the smaller tire is "slipping" because it'll be spinning faster. You can use thisTire Size Calculator to find pairs that are the same size. Plus, you want them to be within +/- 3.0% of the stock 215/55R17 size, so your speedometer won't be way off.

 

Thanks for all the info. Also, I've read that lowering your car (like 1" - 1.5" with Teins) can/will change the camber angle of your wheels and may cause uneven tire wear. Do you guys know if lowering it about 1" or so would affect it that much? At what lowering height do I have to start worrying about this? Thanks.

Andrew