Question to Tire Rack rep on NICO re wheels on their website

[youngturk]

To the Tire Rack rep or anyone else who can answer my question:

I own a '92 240SX Coupe with new 5-lug hubs (all four corners) and 300ZX calipers and 30 mm rotors (in the front only). I want to get some five spoke 16 inch wheels. I have been told by a reliable source that my current brake set up is identical to a Z32 300ZX twin turbo (all years) or Z32 300ZX non-turbo from '92 and after.

At the Tire Rack web site, when I specify a '96 300ZX Turbo as my car, it shows me only 43 wheels to choose from. When I specify my car as a '96 300ZX non-turbo, it shows me 68 wheels to choose from. Why the difference when the brake/rotor set-up is the same?

The wheel I would like to purchase is the AT Italia Riva, a 16x7.5 wheel with 35 mm offset or the Borbet Type FS, a 17x7 wheel with 40 mm offset. This wheel only shows up for the 300ZX non-turbo. Can the Tire Rack rep or someone else tell me whether this wheel will work on my car?

By the way, I am struggling to find any other other attractive 16 inch 5 spoke wheels that will accomodate a 300ZX brake setup on a 240SX. Can anyone recommend any other 16 inch 5 spoke wheels?

Greatly appreciate your input. Thank you.

[whiterps13]

first off, those wheels will fit your car, but they are probably going to look like crap. such a high offset on such a skinny wheel is not ideal for a 240sx. some attractive 5 spokes that i can reccomend are 5 zigen fno1r-c's, if you dont mind joining the crowd. you can look for some wider, lower offset used wheels at places likehttp://www.takumiproject.comhttp://www.rbmotoring.com/gallery for a more extensive list of sites, search "used wheels" on this forum, there is a list of about 7 good sites.

[chmercer]

tire rack is fine and dandy, but the wheel fitment applet thing is probably the crappiest webpage on the whole internet (this includes lemonparty and tubgirl). seriously though that webpage totally sucks, treats you like you have no idea whats going on, and bases the offsets and widths so that you can run horribly ballooned wrong size tires and bent control arms and still not rub.

[574-240sx]

tire rack is fine and dandy, but the wheel fitment applet thing is probably the crappiest webpage on the whole internet (this includes lemonparty and tubgirl). seriously though that webpage totally sucks, treats you like you have no idea whats going on, and bases the offsets and widths so that you can run horribly ballooned wrong size tires and bent control arms and still not rub.

Believe me its even worse when you go in and talk to someone. They assume you are clueless and they need to sell you honda offset rims unless you drive some crazy german stuff. When looking for rims I sometimes look what they have for 350Zs.

[youngturk]

Hey guys,

Thanks for your replies. I am sorry for not replying sooner.

After reaching a Tire Rack rep (Oscar, who was very helpful, by the way), I found out the reason for the difference in wheel choices. The 300ZX TT had a staggered setup (wider wheels in the back), so when I asked for wheels for the 300ZX TT, it could only show me the wheels that were available ina staggered setup.

As Whiterps13 noted, the AT Italia Riva wheels did fit perfectly on my car with plenty of gap between the calipers and spokes. A 7.5 inch wheel with 35 mm offset looks perfect on the S13: the tires stick out just a little beyond flush with the fenders at both the front and back.