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Mike Kojima posted on November 28, 2011 16:58 
Project Nissan 350Z: The Birth of our Motegi TrakLite Wheels with Nitto NT01 Tires
By Mike Kojima
Our Project Nissan 350Z needs some new shoes. The stock Nissan alloy wheels had developed a crack rendering them unsafe and the worn generic tires that the car came with were on their last legs. It was time for an upgrade. Since we wanted a specific offset and width for this medium powered car we called upon Motegi Racing to provide us with a set of their TrakLite wheels.
Read more about Project 350Z here!
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| What do Tanner Foust's and Brian Deegan's rallycross cars have in common with Sera's Z? Motegi Wheels. |
Since Motegi’s production plant is fairly close to MotoIQ headquarters, Motegi invited us to witness the production of our wheels and we gladly obliged. Not too many people are aware that the Motegi TrakLite wheels can be made to order with custom offsets and widths. This is a really cool feature when trying to stuff the largest possible tires in your wheelwells.
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| This flying saucer looking disc shaped object is the forged blank that the center section of the wheel is CNC machined from. |
We asked Motegi to build us a set of 18x9 and 18x10 wheels with an offset of 30mm so we could fit a 245 front and 275 rear tire. Although we could fit as wide as a 275 front and 305 rear tire in the Z’s stock wheel wells with the right offset, we took into consideration that our power goals for this car are moderate and we did not want to overtire the chassis, especially since Sera the stunt woman occasionally goes drifting in it. This offset provides a scrub radius that is complementary with the car's scrub radius.
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| The wheel centers are machined at this CNC machining center. |
The Motegi TrakLite is a lightweight two piece forged wheel. A circular forged blank is CNC machined to make the center section. The machining is done in house to your specified offset. The forging is circular and close to net so the grain orientation is radial and reasonably close to optimal, not like a blank sawn from a round bar which will have grain flow in a circle around the periphery like some other wheels that claim to have forged centers.
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| The CNC machine cranks out our wheel centers! |
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| Completed machined wheel centers await assembly. |
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 4:01 AM
Great stuff. Wheel ofset is often overlooked, with consequences for the chassis setup.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 6:28 AM
Don't mean to be picky, but, that is Brian Deegan's Fiesta. And those wheels are awesome.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 7:51 AM
How much would a set of these wheels with custom offsets typically run? Mike, if you were getting a set of these wheels for say a... 98 240sx what specs would you pick out then? Assuming the same moderate power goals but on a car that will spend most of its time on the street?
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 7:54 AM
How much do the wheels cost for us normal consumers? I have a set of traklite 1.0s on my 90 Celica Alltrac, and love them. I'd like to get a custom offset for the rear though.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 8:37 AM
I thought I read somewhere that Ray's built the Traklites for Motegi. Did they used to do it at one time?
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 9:04 AM
What about the TPMS? Did you just swap them over from the OEM wheels?
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 9:29 AM
For TPMS, you can either swap the stock ones over, or simply buy four new sending units and whatever tool is necessary to reprogram the car's computer. That's what I did when I put the wheels on my Mustang.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 10:01 AM
@ pk386 it depends on the type of sensor. Everyone except GM and some Fords use bolt in sensors. They unscrew with a 13mm socket and they bolt right into the valve stem hole. Certain Fords use a regular valve stem and a sensor the straps to the wheel. You can convert the sensor to a bolt in style if you go to Ford and buy new sensors and have the computer reprogrammed (a year or two ago Ford switched to the bolt in style). GM uses a weird sensor that's similar to the bolt in sensors but it presses in like a valve stem. I think some GMs use the bolt in sensors, but it's been a few years since I changed tires and I don't remember off the top of my head. Be careful when removing the sensors. Break one and it's $100 to replace it. It's also not a bad idea to buy a rebuild kit which replaces the stem, seals, and cap. The rubber seals will leak after a few years and cause a slow tire leak that a lot of tire shops can't find (because they aren't trained to look at the TPMS sensor).
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 10:11 AM
Hey Guys, I never figured it out for a stock wheelwell 240SX so I don't know exactly. Coleman would I think.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 10:12 AM
The Nissan sensor goes in the valve stem and you program it with a magnetic wand.
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 11:08 AM
Thanks @8695Beaters and @Mike Kojima. I try to stay up to date on newer cars and how performance upgrades affect oem systems. I wish the market was more friendly to the DIYers though. The equipment to interface with the BCM is expensive. I abhor the Idea of paying someone $100 just to program a new key, key fob, TPMS, ect. Yes I understand paying for someones expertise when diagnosing a problem with the assistance of these expensive tools but paying them to do a simple job that takes less than 5 mins irks me. I'm aggravated because I don't see the market changing anytime soon and that the market place cannot provide affordable solutions because of Intellectual Property laws. I'll get off my libertarian soap box now. ;)
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 11:14 AM
What I'm getting at is I wish that there was an automotive version of the "Makers Bill of Rights" http://cdn.makezine.com/make/MAKERS_RIGHTS.pdf
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 12:21 PM
I may have to reconsider my purchase of the Enkei RPF01's maybe???
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 12:37 PM
This article brings up a question I've been having about aftermarket wheels. How can you minimize or measure to avoid scrub radius issues when switching to aftermarket wheels? PS. Does Motegi already have an idea of what custom offsets most platforms would use or is there a method by which to measure properly?
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 12:42 PM
Der Bruce, Start reading here. http://www.motoiq.com/tech/the_ultimate_guide_to_suspension_handling.aspx
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 12:53 PM
Haha, alright! I'll read it again! I actually have notes somewhere when I first read through the "Ultimate Guide" :) I remember my scrub radius but couldn't remember how to compensate or measure, I'll get reading! PK386 - You don't want to know how much billable work some of us can do in one hour!
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 3:23 PM
Well i made up my mind and gonna settle with the enkei rpf01's 17x9 with a +22 offset, this should be a good setup for grip style of racing???
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 10:59 PM
@ Mike I have 17x9 +35 in the rear stock wheel wells of my 240SX with 275/40/17s mounted to them. No rubbing issues at all. I run 17x8 +27 up front...
 
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