At 08:56 AM 1/12/99 -0800, we got some some E-mail from Tony Genovese.
>Hi guys,
>I was posting this in regard to Daniel's post about getting new
>wheels. I suppose I could make a couple of calls and figure it out for
>myself, but I'll just badger the list members instead.
>Does Enkei still make wheels at all?
snip
Dunno - I too have heard that they aren't available anymore...
>I shudder to think what it's like to engage on the same sort of search
>for aftermarket roadster wheels nowadays. Any comments?
Well, I recently bought some wheels for my '72 240Z. As the neutral offset
of the Z is almost the same as the roadster, the results for wheels should
be similar to my Z-search. What I found was that every place you call will
say, "Sure, come on down, let's check it out. We'll get you something."
After going through that a few times, to no avail, I got wise. I told the
tire guy exactly what I wanted, 15x7 with zero offset, 4x4.25 (or whatever,
my mind is slipping), and said, see what you've got, call me back.
One place called back, out of four or five.
So, jolly as anything, I jammed over there, picked some out, and said, "Yo,
tire-dude, gimme the hookup!" He called the wheel manufacturer, American
Racing, and found that the three styles I was interested in, in either 15x7
or 16x7, were ALL out of stock, backordered, and they only produced more
when the backorder got to 500 (!!) wheels. So, then we looked at
Centerlines, whose billet wheels can be had in any offset for about
$180/ea. Problem was, they all looked like centerline billet wheels -
yuck! Flat centers with a variety of holes. No thanks...
That really pissed me off, pardon my language, so I went with Panasports.
Though the were more expensive (200/ea), they were in stock, fit perfectly,
look killer, and were exactly what I'd wanted for years and years.
Finding wheels can be expensive as well as a major bummer. Plan on
spending up $1,500.00; if you are trying to do it on a budget, forget it.
You'll wind up with something that's "good enough" - a year or so down the
road you'll be shopping for new ones. Don't cut corners on tires either -
that's where the money meets the road, so plan on spending $125/ea for
tires at a minimum.
The moral of the story is this: Find out EXACTLY what the dimensions of
the wheel you want are, and take no one's word that they'll "find you
something." The Z's and Roadsters use extremely unusual wheel
specifications, so choices are limited. Worse yet, the few choices that
there are are usually expensive, ugly, unavailable, or a combination of the
three.
Sorry to be a downer, but you asked;-)
ps - that's why 3/4 of the 240Z's on the road have the same five-hole
aluminum wheels - that's nearly all there is!
pps - did I mention it's a frustrating process? 8^P
Kyle "I got mine" Hagemann
____ Kyle Hagemann, Born-Again Grease Monkey From Beyond
_.;(____\____ 72 240Z, L28, 5spd, poly, etc. - The Z-Beast
| _ | | _'@`, 66 1600, R16, 70 fenders, 68 hood - The Mutt
`-(@)------(@)-; 69 2000, U20, goes like stink - no name yet!
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_- 84 Maxima, it's a bulletproof tank - Mr. Max
http://www.sonic.net/~kyle 240Z tech info, Win95/8 theme, etc.
"Global Warming? Bring it on!"
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