mikeb2004

Need some comments/advice. I think my plan is a little different than the usual wheel/tire upgrade. I will REALLY appreciate any help/ideas since I live sort of in the middle of nowhere here and G37s are non-existant, and forget about modded ones.

Right now I have the standard Journey 18" wheels on my '11 coupe with 225-50-18 tires all around.

I have the stock height in the rear and tanabe NF210 in the front. See photo.

I prefer to NOT have a staggered tire/wheel setup so I can rotate the tires.

I don't want to lower the suspension any more so I can continue to drive it everywhere and not worry about rubbing.

So I am looking at 20x8.5 wheels and 245-35-20 tires. I plan to keep my stock set for winter use.

The 20" wheels are available in 38mm or 15mm offset. Edit: CORRECTION: 35mm is available.

Couple questions:

1- Am I correct in thinking the 38mm Edit: (35mm) is the right choice for a not-aggressive setup? I just want it to look nice, does not have to be flush.

2- Could I add a spacer if I wanted to go a bit more flush?

3- I've seen some expensive TPMS sensors ($100 apiece) and some cheapere ones (about $35 or so). Will the car recognize the new sensors or will Infiniti have to program them every time I switch wheels. Or?

4- Anyone know the stock 18" Journey wheel offsets? Edit: Stock 18x8 journey wheel offset is 43mm

5- Anything else I should do or know about?

ReddieG37

iTrader: (15)

Not exactly sure on the exact specs on your factory 18" wheels, but the new wheels should sit pretty similar to your current factory wheels. You can always add spacers down the road if you decide to push out the wheels for a more flush look. But it is always advised to do a bit of research for the exact specs. As far as TPMS, as long as your new wheels are TPMS compatible, you can just swap your current TPMS from your factory wheels to the new wheels, and the car will just recognize the TPMS no problem. No need to reprogram. Hope this helps.

ReddieG37

iTrader: (15)

Also, I highly recommend going lower if you do decide to go for 20" wheels for the looks. But then again, if you do go lower, you will have to reconsider the widths and offsets since the wheels/tires will tuck more.

nukee26

1- 38mm would be the conservative choice of the two.

2- Yes. I've never used spacers though, so I can't answer specifics.

3- You can reprogram it yourself (See here). As for the TPMS modules themselves, I saved a ton of money and went for the Orange aftermarket model. (See )

4- I believe 43mm. It'll be in your owners manual towards the back in the Specs section.

mikeb2004

Thanks for pointing me to this great info!!

One of the suppliers is recommending a +35 offset. This will bring the face of the wheel 14mm closer to flush. Sounds pretty good - I don't want to go too aggressive really.

If I wanted to add a spacer later, how thick can one go with the stock wheel studs? What isa good supplier of the kind that use the stock wheel studs and ones that have their own studs? Sorry for the noob questions, and thanks again to everyone!

surfjax87

You can go about 5 mm max on stock studs. Between 6 and 19 mm you'll need longer studs. At 20 mm you can getnspacers with new studs in them already. As far as brand, go h&r for any size spacer.

mikeb2004

I'm trying to get an idea of what I should expect a local wheel shop to do for me in terms of previewing fitment before committing to laying down $$$ ordering a set of wheels they don't normally stock.

Would the typical local wheel place mount something with same or close offset to do a "show me what this offset will look like", or would that be asking for too much? The one I'm considering possibly working with has about 100 wheels on display in the showroom and like 4 bays out back to work on cars (they also do audio).

Or do people here usually buy online? Online is my preference, but this makes me a little nervous because I don't know how it's going to look on MY car.

ReddieG37

iTrader: (15)

You can always try asking the wheel shop if they'd be willing to test fit a wheel with similar specs. Not too sure if they will, but doesn't hurt to ask.

mikeb2004

The thing is I can almost guarantee they have not put wheels on a G37 coupe before - they are like exotic cars here - LOL/CRY. So I doubt they have any experience with them at all.

So yeah, I'm wondering what other's experiences have been when going to a wheel place and whether they already knew how to get the look just right from doing other cars or if they did some experimenting.

nukee26

There are a few vendors/manufacturers on the boards here you can PM with any questions you've got. I just called up the place I knew I was going to buy from (Howey Industries) with some ballpark offsets in mind, he made some suggestions regarding wheel specs and he clearly knew his stuff as the specs he recommended look a lot better than what I would have originally gotten.

You can try a brick and mortar place, but I have a feeling they'll be extremely hesitant to mount wheels on your car so you can see.

Wyldfyer

OK here's the thing. You are trying to put wheels on your car that don't fit. Yes the pattern works but 20x8.5 is a front wheel set up. The front will be ok but the back will sit in like a donut (spare tire). So a shop may act a little funny towards you as you try to figure out how to make it work.

I had a 38mm 20 x 10 that still sat in just a pinch too far. I also had 25mm 20x10 that fit PERFECT! 20 x8.5 is not going to look good at all on the back unless you go with spacers. But the spacers that will help you avoid looking crazy would require spacers larger than the 5mm which means you have to change your studs.

Also, I know you want to be able to rotate your tires but realize that this is ultimately lead to replacing ALL tires when it's time, as opposed to just replacing the rears. They go down way faster then the fronts of course...

You also have to keep that thing aligned or it won't matter about rotating. G's and Z's like to eat away at the inside of the tire, especially in the front. Reputable shops aren't going to rotate them for you with a certain amount a wear.

Just keep all of this in mind.

mikeb2004

I'm not sure I follow. Right now I have 4 identical wheels and tires. The rears do not "sit in like a donut." Perhaps one could argue they all sit in like a donut, with the stock setup. Anyway... Compared to the fronts, they appear just a couple mm more tucked in. (By how much I don't know, but it's in the ballpark). By going to 35mm offset on an 8.5, I will be adding 14mm all around... adding the same all around. So all wheels come out toward the fender by 14mm. It doesn't look "wrong" now . How could bringing everything out 14mm suddenly create a situation where the back looks "bad" while the front is still "good"? Am I missing something?

Wyldfyer

Maybe I missed something. Is this a G37X? If not, what is the offset of the wheels that are currently on your car?

I admit that I don't know about Journey wheels but the car is rear wheel drive so although they don't appear to be wider, the rear wheels often are. It's all in the offset. I don't believe you have 49mm stock wheels (35 +14). I could be wrong.

mikeb2004

Ok my stock wheels are all 18x8 43mm offset (according to the owners manual). Its a RWD journey. I just rotated them front/rear and it still looks the same.

Going to an 8.5 adds 6.35mm (half of 12.7mm), and going from 43 to 35 adds another 7mm. So each wheel should be moved out 13.35mm. I used the wheel offset calculator on 1010tires(dot)com which said 14mm.

nukee26

You are correct. Though I personally would go based off tire width rather than wheel width. So going from a 225 at +43 to a 245 +38 gives the tires coming out 15mm. They will also move 5mm in towards the center of the car.

Wyldfyer, keep in mind he isn't dropped and doesn't plan on it. I'm assuming you are, so your wheels are tucked to begin with and the lower offsets would look OK for you.