Obviously, the first step to more traction is more tire. The car’s original 18x9 front and 18x9.5 rear wheels were already maxed out with the non-staggered 275-width tires. It also had a tendency for high-speed oversteer, so we replaced the old wheels with new Enkei NT03+Ms in an 18x9.5 +27mm offset in front and 18x10.5 +30mm offset in back. This will let us comfortably run a 275- and 300-plus width tire front and rear, respectively, which will still fit inside the stock Z fenders. In addition to its light weight and track-appropriate strength, the cast NT03+M also comes with two valve stems on each wheel for easier nitrogen filling and more accurate tire pressure adjustments. We shod the wheels with Nitto’s new NT05 max-grip summer tire (see Tire Review, June ’09) in a 275/35R18 up front and 295/35R18 in rear. Although we’d like to have even wider tires in back, the current size offering limited us to a 295mm width. But this is already almost an inch more rear tire. The sizes are also a near perfect match for the original Z tire diameters, which means that our ABS and traction controls will still be able to function properly.
We saved ourselves the headache of mounting, balancing and schlepping around four massive wheels and tires by ordering the entire package through Discount Tire Direct (DTD), the online branch of Discount Tire. With a simple phone call, the DTD guys were able special order our odd-sized wheels, help pick the right size tires and help us verify if our fitment would work. The package came mounted, balanced and shipped in discrete protective covers. They were even able to provide the right hub-centric ring and lug nut hardware we needed so that mounting the wheels was something we just did at home without the frantic spacer, centering ring or lug nut hunt.