Gary I suspect you misread or I missed something. No one suggested 225 on both ends.

 

Should've got a 5AT without the sport suspension if you were going to complain about the ride.

 

Most people desire at least a 19 inch rim...fits the body of the G nicely... The 17 and 18's are too small IMO

 

from 19 to 18 for a smoother ride? seriously? ...

 

Larger sidewall tires will improve the ride somewhat.

There is a nice article here that covers the topic in some detail: Effects of Upsized Wheels and Tires Tested

I run 17s (225s) with the Coupe's revised suspension (Springs plus new struts/shocks designed for the revised springs) on my 04 sedan and the ride is tight, yet very compliant and acceptable for a sedan (I ride alot of people around for work and nobody has complained). I also like that 17 inch tires are lighter and much more plentiful/cost effective than larger sizes. But yes, they do not look as aggressive, so the aesthetic appeal is not there. This is a tradeoff I am OK with myself (but if I had larger wheels to start with, I'd be ok with those as well), but others may disagree.

If you are ok with the tradeoff as well, then I would find someone here that wants to trade, or just sell your wheels/tires outright. Again, they are pretty desirable, so you will probably make out on the deal.

You may also want to just look at changing the type of tire as well. Lower cost performance tires tend to stiffen over time and degrade ride performance. Find a quality touring tire and you will notice a difference as well. You may want to think about this first as it will maintain the integrity of the Sport package on your car, which is a desirable resale item if you ever decide to sell.

 

Gary def not going 225's all around..socket thanks for the link will check it out. If I did keep the 19's I would replace all 4 tires with nice conti dws. But not sure I will keep the 19's. I think I prefer the simpler less chrome look of the 18's. Saw a sedan with 225/55/17 and the 55 sidewall just looked real bad to me. Someone noted that it would be sloppy, and thats the first thing that came to mind

 

Not sure that I would agree it looks bad, but it does look more stock and unassuming. I definitely think the 215 width that came on the car stock is too narrow. I like the stock Sport wheels because they are light, classic (5 spoke dsign is somewhat timeless) and were made by Rays for the sport version in 04.



You can actually buy them new with Nissan center-caps and Rays decals through Japanparts.com, which is kinda cool.

As unexciting as it sounds, I'm actually a fan of factory/OEM upgrades, so it's a fit for me.I just wish there were more.

 

Having a coupe, with those nice 19" wheels you could easily run 245/45X19 on all four corners and still have a comfortable ride. Which ever tires you choose make sure the UTQG rating is close to 300 so you have both traction and long wear that will get you close to 30K miles....Gary

 

I have an 05 sport and I bought 18s and put all-seasons on them for winter/i'm too lazy to change my tires fast after winter tires. The ride quality is significantly better compared to the stock 19s. But like everyone else said, it is a tradeoff in performance/looks for comfort.

I personally will never use a K&N airfilter again. You exchange filtration for flow. In my experience ('94 T-bird SC) the K&N kept things like leaves/birds/mice from being sucked into the engine...but stopped there. My oil went from being perfectly clear to BLACK in a 3000 mile oil change. I suggest WIX filters.

 

Love my Rays....

 

You can go 245 on all four tires. I went 245 front and 255 rear with my stock 18's and i had no problems and reduced the understeer a bit from stock. I think daily driving the 18's are better to absorb. But i think 19's are better for looks and high speed handling.

 

Good read on some actual testing of the varying rim/tire sizes. http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/articles/speed-holes/

 

Temjin...what aspect ratio did you go with on your 18's?... Also ninja stated in a previous post that, "255/45's will make for a sloppier ride. 255/40 or 255/35 are much better suited". Was just curious what your explanation for this is? I really dont want to go below 45 aspect ratio. Does it just look aestheically bad to have 255/45/18? Or do you think that the ride would actually be worse?

EDIT: Ok so I was confused, basically all that matters is just the tire diameters need to be the same and thats all. So the stock 225/40/19 and 245/40/19 have a tire diam of 26.1 and 26.7" respectively. The 225/45/18 and 245/45/18 have diameters of 26" and 26.6". So I am thinking this setup should work fine and is well under the 3% (.38%)

 

my bad, I stand corrected. Didn't realize oem wheels were so burly.

Yeah, there's another one with the miata on grassroots motorsports too. The issue I have with those tests is they don't keep the track width the same. I wonder if the benefit of going from 16-17 is mostly because of that extra 20mm of track width. And as darkstar7522 said, the 19" wheels on the g35 are actually lighter, though they still may may have a larger rotational mass because of the diameter, so this test may not apply completely. In any case, yes, bigger wheels aren't always clearly better from a pure performance standpoint.

And yes, that is what manufacturers do. The different OEM setups all work because they all have the same outside diameter. So going from the OEM 19" to the OEM 18" wheel sizes or 17" OEM wheel sizes all work.

 

Sorry for the late reply on this. I'm running 245/40/18 and 255/40/18 in the rears on bridgestone potenza re760.

In theory a 40 side wall will handle better then a 45 sidewall since there is less rubber to lean on cornering situations so your car will camber a bit less at the limit. Your 45 side wall will feel better on bumpy roads since there's more rubber to absorb the bumps.

This is just one factor in handling and comfort though. With different tire manufacturers and designs not all 40 side wall and 45 sidewall will be the same. I just went with the 40 to side me slightly better handling but it won't be a huge difference.