Watanabes

[Seikoking]

Despite loving these wheels, they’ll not suitably fit my Z so they are reluctantly offered for sale.

I bought these recently from a Datsun enthusiast in Ireland and have since added a a set of the correct centre caps from Nengun. I have also had new Toyo R888 tyres fitted as well.

This is a staggered set of RS Watanabes. Fronts are 15 x 8.5 ET-6 fitted with 205/50 tyres. Rears are 15 x 9.5 ET-19 fitted with 235/50 tyres.

I have the original Watanabe shipping boxes if you want them (wheels won’t fit in now the tyres are on).

The wheels are new and unused, but in the interest of total disclosure there are a couple of really, really minor marks. A proper polish and a small touch up would have these looking 100% in no time.

I am looking for £1900 for the set, tyres, centre caps and boxes (they owe me a fair bit more than that in total!) Delivery would only be possible if you arrange your own courier. Or collection from Rochdale, Greater Manchester ok as long as you obey the current 2m social distancing ruling I can shrink wrap wheels individually if needed for delivery.

Im going to offer these on here first before opening to wider audience if there are no takers.

Thanks for looking.

 

[Seikoking]

Feel free to make an offer

 

[Seikoking]

I fully appreciate that trying to sell a set of premium wheels at such a time is always going to be a struggle, so with that in mind, for the club members on here I will reduce these to £1700.

That price is the same as just the wheels from JDM Distro currently. So effectively you will get free tyres and centre caps

If anyone is interested in just the wheels, Id consider splitting, (I don’t want to sell just the tyres first) but for obvious reasons a complete package sale is preferred.

Cheers

 

[Rob Gaskin]

Despite loving these wheels, they’ll not suitably fit my Z so they are reluctantly offered for sale.

Please explain the fitment issue?

 

[Alphabettispaghetti]

Please explain the fitment issue?

They would look great on your blue car Rob.

 

[Seikoking]

Please explain the fitment issue?

Unknown to me at the time of purchase (of the car or the wheels) my 260z has had additional strengthening added to the underside of car along the seat rails. This has reduced the ground clearance.

As it stands now, I have about 100mm clearance, with 17inch wheels. If I put these Wats on, that reduces the clearance underneath to just c.70mm. In addition, to provide the correct fill on front arches, I’d need to lower the car as well, meaning yet further reduced clearance underneath, and to a point that’s simply not practical.

From what I have researched, the 240z has a slightly greater clearance underneath to start with compared to the 260/280 so my own issue shouldn’t affect any standard 240s, or indeed 260/280. There are loads of Z’s running 15 inch wheels without any such concerns and these would be my ideal wheel choice, but sadly it’s not happening for me, on this car at least! I’m going to swap to a 16 inch wheel when these sell and run a deeper profile tyre to fill arches and retain the ride height as per the current 17s I have fitted. There isn’t sufficient tyre choice in 15s to take that approach with the Wats .

I hope that’s explains it?

 

[bigh]

Do you (or any other members) have any idea if these size wheels fit with any big brake kits?
Thanks

 

[Seikoking]

I don't know I'm afraid. A quick google throws up a couple of results that make for interesting reading, but it looks like it might depend on what kit you're running and maybe also if you plan to run a spacer.

I googled "240z big brake kit Watanabe"

If you want ant measurements from the wheels themselves, let me know.

 

[Alphabettispaghetti]

Do you (or any other members) have any idea if these size wheels fit with any big brake kits?
Thanks

yes. you can get 295mm discs under the 14" versions.

 

[Seikoking]

yes. you can get 295mm discs under the 14" versions.

Thanks Franky

 

[datsfun]

Unknown to me at the time of purchase (of the car or the wheels) my 260z has had additional strengthening added to the underside of car along the seat rails. This has reduced the ground clearance.

As it stands now, I have about 100mm clearance, with 17inch wheels. If I put these Wats on, that reduces the clearance underneath to just c.70mm. In addition, to provide the correct fill on front arches, I’d need to lower the car as well, meaning yet further reduced clearance underneath, and to a point that’s simply not practical.

From what I have researched, the 240z has a slightly greater clearance underneath to start with compared to the 260/280 so my own issue shouldn’t affect any standard 240s, or indeed 260/280. There are loads of Z’s running 15 inch wheels without any such concerns and these would be my ideal wheel choice, but sadly it’s not happening for me, on this car at least! I’m going to swap to a 16 inch wheel when these sell and run a deeper profile tyre to fill arches and retain the ride height as per the current 17s I have fitted. There isn’t sufficient tyre choice in 15s to take that approach with the Wats .

I hope that’s explains it?

I believe the clearance issue is very specific to your car. There are heaps of s30 chassis that are running similar if not wider wheels in 15" that have acceptable ground clearance. Attached are pictures of Tony Lambs car with 10.5" Atara Racing pisang and 235/45/15 rubber and as far as I know it does not scrape everywhere it goes

It may be worth measuring up your car against one that has factory floor rails so fully understand how much ground clearance you have lost.

 

[Seikoking]

As Datsfun says, 15s are really not normally a problem, so who fancies these lovely Watanabes

I would prefer a sale within the Z community if possible, so if you are thinking about these at all, please talk to me . I am resigned to the fact that I'll be taking a hit, so my loss is your gain. Finances and storage space mean I cant get the next wheels for my car until these find a new home.

 

[bigh]

As Datsfun says, 15s are really not normally a problem, so who fancies these lovely Watanabes

I would prefer a sale within the Z community if possible, so if you are thinking about these at all, please talk to me . I am resigned to the fact that I'll be taking a hit, so my loss is your gain. Finances and storage space mean I cant get the next wheels for my car until these find a new home.

PM sent

 

[IbanezDan51]

Are the rears not too wide for standard arches? I have a set of 15" Wat's but think I'll stick with them as they are a more standard size. Do love these though! Good luck with the sale!

 

[datsfun]

Are the rears not too wide for standard arches? I have a set of 15" Wat's but think I'll stick with them as they are a more standard size. Do love these though! Good luck with the sale!

I would say both front and rears are too wide for stick body car.
With arch pulling, rolling lips and camber together with stretch tyres they can be made to fit if that's what floats your boat.

 

[bigh]

I would say both front and rears are too wide for stick body car.
With arch pulling, rolling lips and camber together with stretch tyres they can be made to fit if that's what floats your boat.

So will they will easily fit a car with the standard frp arches?

 

[Seikoking]

The issue for most with a standard body / arches are that these are are too wide and possibly too negative on the offset meaning they poke out too far beyond the normal bodywork. If you are running / planning flared arches, these should be fine. You might need to supplement the fit with some hub spacers to widen the stance even further depending on the arches you have, but that's simple enough, they're readily available in all sorts of widths.

 

[richiep]

So will they will easily fit a car with the standard frp arches?

These are the “standard” staggered size set used thousands of times in Japan with the correct fitment ZG overfenders. I have a set in the same sizes for my project car which will have Marugen Shoukai ZG replica overfenders.

 

[RawlinSTR]

Here's what 15 x 9's on the front (225/50R15 Advan A048 tyres) and 15 x 10's (235/50R15 Toyo R888 tyres) on the rear look like with the Marugen Shoukai ZG replica overfenders:



You can probably see there that the front valance has had to be trimmed for the front wheels to go full lock.

The rear arches have also been cut away on this car to get it that low.

I've been trying to find a buyer for these for a while now too since I want to go down to 15 x 8 Wats instead and remove the overfenders but it's difficult to find anyone! Good luck with the sale

 

[datsfun]

Here's what 15 x 9's on the front (225/50R15 Advan A048 tyres) and 15 x 10's (235/50R15 Toyo R888 tyres) on the rear look like with the Marugen Shoukai ZG replica overfenders:

View attachment 37880

You can probably see there that the front valance has had to be trimmed for the front wheels to go full lock.

The rear arches have also been cut away on this car to get it that low.

I've been trying to find a buyer for these for a while now too since I want to go down to 15 x 8 Wats instead and remove the overfenders but it's difficult to find anyone! Good luck with the sale

Without the offsets of the front and rear wheels, it becomes impossible to gauge these against what SeikoKing has for sale. ..As far as I can make out, his rears are your front ( if that makes sense..)

As for going back to stock body, I assume you have remnants of what was chopped off the rear quarters or good arch repair panels as it will mean a fair amount of metal has to go back in...

I am surprised that you have struggled to sell your set, as the fitment is spot on for ZG overfendered cars.

Or are wannabe wats owners too tight ?