http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...cleId=106895#1

\can anyone tell me what the advantages of having 19inch wheels in the rear and 18inch in the front on the track or autocross?

this car truly is a Japanese muscle car

plus those wheels are ugly

 

bigger wheels equal more traction...staggered usually equals:

1. they are cheap
2. there isn't fitment in the front or with nissan they don't want to change the design of the car to make it fit, as that is expensive

btw I really dumbed it down there are many more reasons...many not logical

 

xenons are standards. That's pimp.

Lotus elise has staggered wheels. 17's in the back and 16's in the front IIRC.

 

bigger rear wheels/smaller fronts also help give the car a front/rear rake (front lower than rear) that helps aero-dynamics.


correct! 16x5.5 Front and 17x7.5 Rear for the regular wheels and 16x6.5 Front and 17x7.5 Rear for the Sports package. A lot of the aftermarket wheels for the car are stagered 15 front 16 rear with a little more tire sidewall.

 

The biggest difference is the 'pimp' factor. It looks good in rear-heavy (not in the literal sense, just the visual sense) cars like the Crossfire. I dunno how it would look on the 350Z, The rear is pretty tapered, but it'll probably look good.

Also Nissan can barely make 18s fit in the front without chewing through tires by rubbing on the control arms, which probably aided in their decision to just use 19s in the back.

 

I prefer same size with wider tires in the back vs. larger diameter rims in back. My moms 16" wheels on her SLK are staggered in that fashion--it looks pretty good.

 

I guess you never have to worry about getting your tires rotated on a 350Z.

 

Muscle car?

Um no, that would be the Skyline GTR.

 

The rims do have a Muscle Car Style, but just more of a current style. LOL

 

My NSX has a staggered wheel setup. Alot of sports car come this way....

 

corvettes do too. 18 front 19 rear (at least on the c5 anyway, not sure about the c6)

 

It says there are 3 new paint colors and lists silver alloy and magnetic black (which are already colors; must be a deal like the 8's titanium grey and galactic grey), but what is the 3rd color?

 

I'm not too sure about the wheels on the 2006 Z. They don't match the car. And BTW, the C5 had 17s up front, and 18s in the rear, at least the final ones did.

http://www.supercars.net/cars/332.html
http://www.supercars.net/cars/343.html
http://www.supercars.net/cars/355.html

 

The third color looks almost exactly as the Brickyard red offered on earlier Z models.


http://www.nissannews.com/multimedia...006/350z.shtml

Here are some pics.

O6's come with audio controls on the steering wheel, plus Bi Xenon and LED tailights.

Also a few interior changes, nothing major. Bigger knee pads. cargo nets/cupholders, etc..

 

Its too bad about magnetic black. Its metallic, and it replaces the solid black. I always found that metallic black looks "dirty"

 

Its done for looks. See wheelweight sticky...and/or read the SCC articles on the stupidity of staggered setups on low power cars.

If you do some background research on the lotus elise...the reason they went with a staggered setup was primarily due to the utter incompetence of the press drivers. After 3-4 cars got wrecked, they put skinnier tires on the front to cut down on the oversteer that no one knew how to control.

In europe, you can actually order the car with the setup they actually designed for it, instead of the US lawyer friendly one. See topgear, last season, for more information.

 

If that was their only goal they could have gone wider without going larger.

Although perhaps it was cheaper to source a wheel that was both wider and larger.

 

300hp has a nice ring to it, sounds a lot better than 287 or 298

 

True--but I wouldn't expect the 298 or 300HP Z to be faster to 60 than the 287--as they loose some low end torque for that.

 

I think the wheels look good. Much better than the old 6 spoke wheels. The only ugly thing on the z-car is the door handels. If they say there is a new front end why dont they show it.

oh and Formula 1 wheels are staggered. Sombody told me that they go somewhat fast. http://www.formula1.com/insight/rule...gs/14/498.html

 

Sigma,

I don't know about the whole larger in the rear thing...my comments are primarily towards the staggered setup from the factory. You have to request the standard setup to restore the cars designed handling.

 

Staggered wheels are for high power rear-drive cars to hook up better--handling is not improved--just traction in terms of hooking up.

 

the extra RPM and power in the new engine tune actually makes a decisive difference on the track vs the old engine, as shown in BMI Nismo Unleashed. The drivers said that there is a definite advantage around the track, however you wont feel any difference in everyday driving. I personally think more revs and less torque makes it a better sports car engine, the VQ35 has come a long way since its truck origin in the mid 90s.

 

Thats what I mean by to 60--the higher revs make the better track cars. 0-60 is about the same as the 287ers.

 

I'm surprised at how subtle the front end change is in those pictures. It's actually something I'm glad to see as I had heard they were changing the front and it could possibly destroy the look of the car.