Found me some wheels for the 620!

[DATSUNgeo]

After about a year, little by little the 620 is slowly coming together.
 

I found the Nissan Titan wheels I’ve been looking for.  I used a router to bore out the center and cleaned them all up. The router sure made a big mess of aluminum shavings all over!  They sure look nice!  I’m not too sure what tire size I will be using, any input is welcomed.

 

 

[datzenmike]

What rim size?

 

Nice.... I'm a sucker for spokes.

[DATSUNgeo]

They are 17”x7.5”.  It took me a while to find the right set. They were either too beat up, too pricey, being sold with off-road tires, missing the center caps, or all the above. I paid $250 for the 4 on OfferUp. 
 

I plan on lowering the truck either 2” or 3”.  I would like either a lower profile tire(50, 55, or 60) but not sure what size to get??

[datzenmike]

The stock 620 tire was a 6:00X14 which is a 26" diameter tire today. Keep the new tires the same diameter and your speedometer will remain accurate and the the performance won't be killed by having something too tall.

 

225/50R17 are 8.86" wide and 25.86" diameter

235/50R17 are 9.25" wide and 26.25" diameter

 

The wider the front tires the harder it is to turn to park. My 620 had 12.5 X 33s and had to design a power steering for it. What I have done in the past is get two slightly narrower tires (same diameter) for the front. The narrower fronts fool the eye into seeing the rears as much larger than the are. It's an old trick from the Muscle Car era.

 

 

[DATSUNgeo]

Cool, thanks for the insight. I would go with the thinner tire, 225/50R17. With this size being close to the original diameter do you think I’ll have rubbing issues on a full radius turn? Thanks!

[datzenmike]

Well if the rim off sets are the same just look at the tire clearance now and add 1/2 the total increase. If your current tire is 6" and you go to 10" then just imagine the tire being 2" wider on the frame side. You also mentioned lowering so there's that also. If the tire choice extends outside the fender lip facing straight ahead it's only a matter of time before you hit something and the body comes down on the tire. Everything affects everything else.

[DATSUNgeo]

Got it. Hopefully these wheels end up tucked inside the fenders so when I do hit pot holes they don’t rub with up and down movement. 

[datzenmike]

This is why you have to do your homework. All the time I see people get a hard on for a set of rims... and they end up altering the car to make them fit where they will not. This is like cutting your ears off to get your hat on. Altering the vehicle is mutilation in my books. Nothing impresses me like a well sorted out set of rims and tires.

 

There are aps on line where you can enter a few measurements and specs of your current tire and rim. Then enter the rims and tires you would like and see if it will work. Be prepared for disappointments but better than finding out too late.

[thisismatt]

Lots of people have run these, so it can't be too hard 

[datzenmike]

Agreed. Over wide tires may be a problem.

[DATSUNgeo]

22 hours ago, datzenmike said:

Agreed. Over wide tires may be a problem.

Thanks guys for the input. One of your tire size recommendations was 225/50R17, what if I went with a 215?  The 215 is a bit more narrow than a 225, right?  Thanks.

[thisismatt]

Yes, that's the tread width in millimeters. /50 is the sidewall ratio to tread width. If you go with a narrower tread, then you may have to go with a taller sidewall ratio to keep the overall diameter the same, but there are only so many ratios so it's never perfect. 

 

225/50R17 = 225 * .50 * 2 sidewalls / 25.4mm per inch + 17" rim = 25.86"

 

215/50R17 = 25.469", or about 2% different.

 

215/55R17 = 26.315", so a bit taller...

 

205/55R17 = 25.878"...pretty close to the 225/50