I own a 1998 Q45t and need a lil help with picking out a rim size. I have done some research, and contacted differant local rim stores. So far I have been told 20's would fit by 2 places, and another told me the biggest that would fit are 19's. I have done some measurements etc, but wanted to ask you guys the Q experts, fellow owners, not some guy behind a counter who has never owned a Q in his life. Basically, the rim/tire i have on now is 215/60/16, therefore it has about 129mm from the top of the rim to the top of the tire. 129mm times two for both sides of the circle, plus the 16" for the rim gives a lil over 26 inches in diameter.

I want to get the biggest size rim that will fit without having to give up too much tire as the ride comfortability will suffer, plus popping tires is quite annoying. Also, even if I do find a 20" within the 26" range with 3 inches of tire on both top and bottom (6" total), that doesnt mean their width will be in line, which might cause my wheel/tire to rub against the wheel well while turning, correct? Any information and advice on what I should do would be greatly appreciated. I know 18's will fit but wanted just a bit bigger, I can live without 20's though if they are definetly gonna run against the wheel well.

Another question I had was about the Cima chrome grills. I saw on another site that someone had ordered the chrome Cima grill from japan for his 1998 Q45 and I was wondering if anyone had any resources on where to get them, or if it is even possible, I love the look of the chrome grill and have never seen anything for sale for my year Q that was chrome except hearing about the Cima grill. Thanks again.

Kevin is the guy that has the Cima grille

Heres the deal.. big rims look stupid when theres wheel gap... When using bigger wheels with lower profile tires you gotta lower the car in order to make it look decent..... With lower profile tires, the gap looks bigger since theres less tire to "fill" in the well. The Y33 Q has quite a bit of wheel gap stock anyway.

I think a set of 18s, with 255-40-18 or 245-45-18, or 255-45-18 with a lowered car would be hard to beat..... Anything bigger than 255-45-18 adn youll have serious speedo issues...... having it be off and such...

I had tried 20x8.5" 35mm or 40mm offset wheels with 245/35/20 on my '97 Q45. 245/35/20 tire has 26.7" overall diameter compare to stock 205/65/16 tire that has 26.2" overall diameter. They were fit and no rubbing but my car looked like an SUV (IMHO) given that my car had stock height at the time.

For 20" wheels and stock springs, I think any wheels with a width of 9" or less, offset between 30mm and 40mm would work. Be careful with the high offset (40mm) when you pick the wheels with 9" width for the fronts. It might rub agaisnt the strut. I have 18x9 24mm offset for the front with a clearance between the tire and the strut of about 10mm. Therefore if I had picked an 18x9 wheel with 35mm offset, the tire had been rubbing.

Cool thanks for all the advice. Got another quick question, what about comfortability? Did you notice a big drop in comfortability going to a lower profile tire? Did you feel every bump in the road as opposed to the smooth ride of the stock tires? Thanks again.

Also, when you lowered your car did it also kill the feel of the ride? Never dropped a car before so dont know how it feels in relation to stock.

Atripes wrote: Did you notice a big drop in comfortability going to a lower profile tire? Did you feel every bump in the road as opposed to the smooth ride of the stock tires?

Everything you do will have a compromise. Putting larger tires/wheels and lower springs will definitely harden the ride a little bit or a lot depends on personal preferences. Even with the 2" drop and larger tires (I have 245/45/18 in the front and 275/40/18 in the rear), the Q45 is still much smoother than a small car or my friends' Escalade and Expedition over bumps. In my opinion, that is a really good trade-off. You'll feel more of the road through the steering with the larger front tires (again, better or worse depend on your preferece, I liked it better). On the freeway, I liked it much better than stock, the car feel sure footed and firm.

Atripes wrote: Also, when you lowered your car did it also kill the feel of the ride? Never dropped a car before so dont know how it feels in relation to stock.

I first dropped my car with the 1" Eibach's but kept the stock wheels and tires. The ride didn't change at all (maybe tiny bit but I didn't noticed) in comfort but I felt a little better in corner handling.

Thanks I really appreciate all of the information. I am currently considering buying a set of 19x8" Diablo Instincts but I cant find the offset of this rim anywhere. Im not sure on what brand of tire im going to get yet, need to do a bit more research on what would be best, but the size im going with is 245/40/19.

Do you think it would jack the car up and make it too "suv" like? If so, I would probably get an eibach pro-kit for the 1" drop and probably buy the eibach pro-damper kit to make it even smoother, any idea on what it might cost to have that installed? Sorry, as I said I have never ventured into the dropping a car world, but I love the look so gotta start looking into it especially if the 19's will make my car look foolish. Thanks again bro I appreciate the help.

Honestly I think 19s will look stupid without the eibachs on there.....

Is eibach the only brand worth a damn in terms of performance and comfortability? Money isnt a problem if its gonna give me a smoother ride. Also, any clue as to what normal installation fees run to install the springs these days?
Modified by Atripes at 9:47 PM 7/2/2005

Please take the time to read the great previous posts about wheels and tires on this forum, especially by Q45tech.

If your are stuck on 19", there is a post of someone who did Work or NISMO wheels on a Y34, with lots of fender rolling. 20" is going to lead to great degradtion in ride and performance. IRS should always be far superior to cast iron live axles housings and differential cases, which results in a lot of unsprung mass.

20" are pretty dysfunctional from a performance point of view.

Above all, avoid no name wheels. Never strong enough nor true enough after just a few thousand miles, and way too heavy too when compared to suspension unsprung mass as designed by Nissan engineers for the shock/spring system.

245/40/19 is perfect for the Q, overall diameter is 26.7" compares to of 26.2". It's hard (or impossible) to find an 18" or 19" with overall diameter of 26.2". You could go either 26.7" or 25.7" (245/35/19). With 19x8 wheels you won't need to roll the fenders unless they have an offset close to zero. You can go with the offset as low as 15-20mm without fender rubbing. I think the 20" is too big on the Q but the 19" would look best.

Check the pictures in my cardomain page (link is in my signature) or old pictures in my NICO's picture gallery to see if you like the ride height of the Eibach's. My car has Eibach springs in those pictures. With the Eibach springs, the stock struts and shocks still work fine and alignment specifications are still within the limits. I dropped the car a little lower (almost 2" now) with Tein springs recently. Stock struts and shocks are a little weak for the Tein's, you might need to install firmer struts and shocks for it to work best.

I have a used Eibach springs set for sale in the "Infiniti Classified" section if you want to check it out. If you like the Tein springs better, contact Kevin (FalkDesigns). I think he still have a brand new set. Installation labor cost really depends on locations. I have a friend who works at a Lincoln dealer that replaced my friends' GS400 springs for $100 (yes, $100 and the installation only took 2 hours). If you know someone it would be really cheap. Otherwise I think independent shops might charge you about $300 - $500, and more at the dealer.

Brian (Maxnix) said a very true statement about getting a light, good brand of wheels. Some people say the rotation mass is 4 times of the dead weight, some even said 10 times. So if you save 5 lbs/wheel that would translate to about 20 lbs total rotation mass ==> similar to 80 - 200 lbs of dead weight.
Modified by 97Q45t at 8:46 PM 7/3/2005

I have a 97 and put on a set of 17" rims that I got off a guy from this board. Granted he gave them to me cheap (like 200 bucks) but the suck, just too hard to get properly blanced. Once balanced with 245/45 17 tires the car was way better in the handling department and looked a bit "gappy" but overall okay. I just scored a set of OEM 05' M45 rims from Scott (another board member) recently. I have not mounted them yet (the old 17" tires still have tread left) and probably will not until sometime later this year, but I expect that I will have to lower it. Kevin (Faulkdesigns) has lines on Tein Springs and shocks, if you're over 70k you may as well do both at the same time, and so that will probably step two, but have you priced out 19 or 20" tires???? VERY VERY expensive. I have my eye on Bridgestone SO3 Pole Positions in 245 45 19 which are just under 300 bucks a crack. I wasn't really looking for 19" rims but the OEM was what hooked me. I would strongly suggest you look for stock 18 or 19" rims from someone on this board. Getting aftermarkets are too expensive for what you get, find some 02-05 Q45 or new M45 rims that someone upgraded from....than you know you get good rims at the right weight, size, etc. And 20's are too big, 19" is extreme IMHO but is about as far as you should go.

This is AWESOME to see so many 97-01 Q owners!!!

I think it's time for a "2nd Gen Q" picture thread....

20's just don't look right on the Q. 19's have the perfect size ratio to the big body, but tires are just too much $$. I am getting a new set of WORK 18's (secret until the debut ) to replace the 18" OZ's on now (staggared offset, soon for sale). My Q rides incredibly, smooth, firm, a true sports touring sedan now with TEIN's and KYB New SR Specials (and re-habbed stock suspension components). However, the shocks are hard to get. I can get the TEIN springs no problem ( [email protected] ), and I should have several sets of KYB SR Specials in stock later this year (3-4 months from now). Eibach does not offer any shocks for this car, in fact, in USA, stock is the only option. The KYB SR's are an excellent option as KYB is the OE Mfg for this car, and they are designed to work with lowered springs.

an auction just ended for a set of coilovers for the Y33. No one bid on them and they were adjustable JIC's normally priced at 1800. I bet you could offer the guy 500 and he'd take it. It'd be worth it for sure.

Wow some great discussion going on here, I have to ask some (somewhat rhetorical) questions...

Wouldn't 18's be a better choice for tire/price options?

Do you really think the guy would take $500 for the JIC's? Are they used?

What's the best looking OEM 18 or 19 that anyone has seen on this body style Q? (pics of course )

The 00 or 01 Q keeps floating to the top of my "most likely next rides" list.

I donno if he would take it or not...but he had them listed for 500 and didn't get any bids! they are used