Old Lady to Young Lady Part 10

It has been one year and two months since my ownership of a Nissan Fairlady Z began. When I bought the 350Z, it is a 15 year old car and to me, it is important to have it running and performing as it should when new. So, I had a plan to rebuild the 350Z, where the first year will be focused mainly on the mechanical and performance side. The next year will be focused on the exterior looks and hopefully, focus on the interior during the third year. After spending a lot of money and some time last year in Redsun Motorsport, I can say that most of the problems that occurred are now solved. I am glad that it is in good running health and this year, I can now focus on the exterior as planned. I have been planning what I would do to the 350Z in terms of looks since last year. Firstly, the whole body kit (including front and rear bumpers, side skirts and spoiler) will be changed. Then, a change of color with new coats of paint and lastly, the rims will be changed. I already have a particular set of body kit that I like but not for the rims. I want a rim design with many spokes and in gunmetal color but it is difficult to find the right width and offset that suits the 350Z. I would find the right design but the wrong size and vice versa while searching online.

Rays GT30 rims Refurbished

Initially, I wanted to get the rims after I have done the body kit and change of color but things did not go according to my plan. I was searching online and found a set of rims with the right size and the design was acceptable with many spokes.  I sent a text message to the seller and was surprised that this was my friend. We started to talk about whether the rims would fit my 350Z and what can he do for me on the price. He gave me a discount and said he will send the rims to have it refurbished at my expenses. I told him I would consider but then the clutch pump incident happened. I called him, telling him I spent some money on the repair and could not buy the rims for the time being. He told me he already sent the rims to refurbish and I knew I have no choice but to go on with the deal. After a month, I was told the rims were done. I head over to the tyre shop on a Saturday after work and I brought a set of Rays wheel nuts that I bought some time ago. The old nuts were mostly rusty and of a smaller size, which requires a special adapter to unlock the nuts. The Rays nuts come with 4 pieces of special lock nuts but I received only had 19 pieces from the factory and the seller told me he would claim one piece for me. So, I thought why not just use 19 pieces and 1 old one just temporarily until I receive the other one.

Left: Installed new rims without wheel cap. Right: Rays Dura-Nuts (Missing One from Beginning)

When I first saw the rims, I was wowed by what a great job the shop did to refurbish the rims. The chrome outer lip was polished until shining and the spokes were painted. This is a big contrast from the original set of rims where the chrome lip was dull and paint on the spokes look less shiny. It took a few hours to remove the original GT-S rims, remove the tyres from the rim, install tyres on the new GT30 rims and install the new rim. I have to admit, I was nervous on how my 350Z would look like with the new rims. There are some similarities between these 2 sets of rims. Both sets are of the same brand, RAYS, both are a three-piece design with chrome outer lip and both have similar colored spokes. The only different is the amount of spokes but later on, I found out that the offset for the front is different for these 2 sets. While the original rims could clear the front Brembo calipers, the new rims could not and have to use a 5 mm spacer. Next, I realized that the GT30 rims do not have wheel caps. I asked the tyre shop to remove the wheel caps on the GT-S, so I could put those on later. The end result I would say, was spectacular. Just a minor change and I could feel the sportiness of the 350Z has increased. The Ray wheel nuts complements the rims very much. Now my challenge is to sell of the old rims and hopefully spend that money on body kits. It is not easy to sell rims with this size and offset.  

One of the Wheel Caps that required work to install it. 

Original - Rays GT-S rims

New - Rays GT30 rims