NASCAR type wheels

I’m toying with the idea of black nascar style wheels and white letter tires for the Z4. I saw a 350Z in KC like that and really loved the look. Tirerack.com doesn’t offer any wheels of the sort in their preview and I haven’t found an E85ish Z4 with that style on Google Images yet - the only ones that come close are legit race cars with wide body kits and wings. Does anyone have another tirerack style site to sub in different wheels? Or do I need to resort to MSPaint?

Related, I’d expect a better ride on these rough roads with more of a sidewall too, right?

I'd pay real money to hear the gossip behind your back at the next BMW meet.

I would just run a set of painted steel wheels, if that is what you are after.



But you aren't likely to fit 15s due to your brakes or be able to run any sort of dish to it unless you run flares or hang most of the rubber outside the wheelwell.

I agree with Cooter that diameter and offsets might be big hurdles for your application.

Most of the "visualizer" tools will limit you to wheels with similar sizes/offsets to stock, so if a wheel isn't available in something close to the factory offset, diameter, and width they might not even show it to you as an option.

The legitimate racing steel wheels that I've seen (Aero, Basset, etc) are all 15" or less diameter. I'm guessing that you'd probably need a 16 or 17" wheel, but that's just a wild guess. So if you want the look of a nascar steelie, you might have better luck with something like a "soft 8" or "D window" design that lots of offroad guys like. Those are available in more diameters/widths/bolt patterns than the true NASCAR stuff. Just understand that they're heavy.

Soft 8

D window

Those D windows are likely you're best bet. Actual Bassett and Aero wheels use a different lugnut taper which may not be available in lugbolts.  

Diamond makes a 16" wheel that might fit and up to 10" wide. I was able to squeeze 16s over my e36 m3 brakes, but I'm not sure how they compare in size to Z4 brakes but I would guess similar.

BMW uses a 5x120 (mm) bolt pattern, which is pretty close to the 5x4.75 (in) pattern used on F-bodies - 120.65 mm.

There are 15 in steel wheels available for those cars all day long. I've considered some cheap steel wheels to get 15x10s for my 318ti, but haven't pulled the trigger. The bolt pattern difference is pretty miniscule.

I measured as best I could with the wheel on and it looks like there's an inch to spare outside of the brakes, potentially giving me 2" overall for 15" wheel ability (car comes with BMW rim style 103, which is 17x8J ET47, 225/45/17 tires, but I'd for sure want some confirmation before betting money on that. Would too tall of sidewall make for rolling under in hard cornering like autocross?

This all may be a moot point with the positive offset of 47 on the rims though. I know some people do deviate from spec but I assume that's not recommended. Buzzboy did you use those Diamond rims anyway?

One plus to a stock car wheel is for a 15 inch wheel they will clear some pretty big brakes.  

2014 Caprice PPV should be 5x120 and 17" or larger (IDK and too lazy to google)

Some time ago I put black 16” steelies from Tire Rack on an E36 I had. I was going for the look you’re talking about and I think it got pretty close.

Sadly, no pics because photobucket.

I have no experience with the D windows or soft 8s, but I have heard they are heavy and often don't balance well.

5th gen Camaro could be had with 17" steel wheels that will probably fit with a small spacer.

I like this concept.  I think the Diamond Pro Street is going to be your best bet.  Re - your question about sidewalls and autox - you won't have any issues with what your trying to do.  Rub will be a bigger issue than anything else - anything that clears will be fine for autox use.

Do it.  They look cool.

I'll def have to mock something up, presumably digitally, since they clearly do not ALWAYS look good.

Yet they still would need to be deeper, this is quite lame

Any thoughts on the offset issue?

In reply to pushrod36 :

The Soft 8s are heavy, the 17x9 ones I had were close to 40 lbs each. They did balance no problem. They are quite strong, rated for 3000 lbs or so.  They did clear the C5 brake setup I had on my El Camino.

In reply to 81cpcamaro :

Yeah that's nuts. I'm at like 23 stock, I think. I only have 225 hp so I'd have to find something lighter for sure

P3PPY said:

I measured as best I could with the wheel on and it looks like there's an inch to spare outside of the brakes, potentially giving me 2" overall for 15" wheel ability (car comes with BMW rim style 103, which is 17x8J ET47, 225/45/17 tires, but I'd for sure want some confirmation before betting money on that. Would too tall of sidewall make for rolling under in hard cornering like autocross?

This all may be a moot point with the positive offset of 47 on the rims though. I know some people do deviate from spec but I assume that's not recommended. Buzzboy did you use those Diamond rims anyway?

NASCAR does road races on those wheels at some pretty astonishing speeds you you can assume that they don't roll around. 
I think what you should worry about is finding tires suitable . Wide enough and tall enough to fit and work on those Rims.  
You can't run GoodYear slicks. And most Street tires that size are likely to be for trucks TW 600 or harder. 

These are 17" Soft 8s.  I don't remember what the offsets and widths are.  They're different front and rear. They are heavy but inexpensive and they balance without issue.

From someone that's picked up a lot of Nascar wheels, they are heeeaaavvvyyyyy.  As in extremely.  Do you really want to go that route?  

What? These wheels are super light, though I am not sure the racing wheels would last very long on the street.

http://www.bassettwheel.com/dhole_lightweight.html

I've got some 15x10 Bassetts that are 20 lb. each. I didn't think that was too bad for that much width in a steel wheel. Bassett manufactures wheels using two different rim thicknesses, so you have to watch when ordering/buying. I pretty sure Diamond offers a "lightweight" hoop made from thinner steel, too.

Quick edit: They're 21 according to the link Tuna posted. I used the "stand on the bathroom scale and pick up a wheel" method.

..and I wouldn't hesitate to use them as street wheels either. They're plenty strong.

The top nascar divisions have a minimum wheel weight.  Most companies make a lighter weight line for other series so I'd make sure I was buying the lighter ones but they are still steel wheels so they'll still have some weight on them. 

I want to say ours in Nascar were in the 40 pound each range.

Well, regardless of what they were, there are plenty in that style that are right near 20 lb, not bad at all for their width and cost.