This message is from Steve Tetreault
Hello Ross,
My '78 arrived this week and as you can see from the pic below the 14" slotted mag wheels need to be polished and the tires replaced because of age.

The car is completely original, except these aftermarket American wheels, which the owner had installed when he bought the car. I like the fact that they are part of the survivor package.

My question is:
Do I polish up the "14 mags and replace the 195/70 R 14 tires, or perhaps as others have suggested, replace the wheels with a "Panasport" "15(see pic) and go to a lower profile195/60 R 15 tire?

I would love to get your take on this, as an owner of that beautiful Black Pearl '78.

ps I tried to post this on the website but I keep getting an error message?

best, Steve Tetreault

_________________
Ross Williams
1978 280Z Black Pearl Edition 38k Original Miles

Steve,
I can't tell you what you should do but I can tell you what I would do! I too struggled between going the Panasport route and the slotted mag route. In the end, I went with 15" slotted mags and I've never regretted it. I ordered Anse Sprints on wheelsforless.com: http://www.wheelsforless.com/SearchResu ... ds=VNA6958.

Can't remember if I orderd the 15x7 or 15x8. Mine are polished aluminum, but chrome would also be nice. To me, the car you have is so perfect and vintage in every respect that I would want to keep the wheels "period-correct". If it were my car, I would either pay to have the wheels polished or upgrade to a new 15" slotted mag wheel.

Regards, Ross

_________________
Ross Williams
1978 280Z Black Pearl Edition 38k Original Miles

I think he should buy the PanaSports and sell me those beautiful polished 5-slots!

Steve, the wheels which are on your car now are (in my not-so-humble opinion) the ONLY wheels which 'belong' on the early Z cars.

Just thought you should know.

Two years ago, this Club had an excellent Post running for months about what our favorite wheels were for each model Z. It was a great discussion with scores of photographs and more than 100 comments. I inadvertently erased it while trying to remove one comment, a sin for which I have not yet forgiven myself to this day.

Anyway, the bottom line was that the 5-slot 'mags' were the most-popular and appealing wheels for any year HLS30 cars.

I'm not sure why they even made any other styles.

Frank

_________________
1970 240Z

Watanabe RS wheels.

_________________


-Chris

cause they're not dangerous looking enough for me.

_________________
Mike Tubiak
1978 Datsun 280Z - HLS30-438694

If your into keeping the car most original, Polish the wheels.
Remove the wheels from the car to make it easy.
A good buffing wheel and some good aluminum polish.
Pack your patience it takes awhile..
It takes a little while but the results are well worth it.
See my Z Late 71 240 in the same color as yours with the original slotted wheels that I have brought back to life.
The wheels originally were made by Appliance wheel company which is no longer in Business and from the looks of them yours seem to be in Beautiful shape and wouldn't take much to bring them to a shine...

_________________
Bob Sharp Racing History Memorabillia Chairman / VP of Marketing
RDZ MOTORSPORTS / CONSULTANT
RDZ MOTORSPORTS PROTOTYPE
Black 2007 350-Z
67 Camaro Custom
Orange Late 71 240-Z Sold and sitting in a Doctors Collection

Colin Foote Never Forgotten!!

I had to send the wheels out to be professionally cut and polished, because the pitting was far too deep. I also sent the center caps to be re-chromed and then finally I masked off the "A" with thin line vinyl tape and resprayed the black center.
In all I'm thrilled with the advice Scott and Frank T gave me to keep the original Appliance slotted wheels and a shout out to Chris Wenzel for lending me 4 Wantanbe wheels with a new set of Toyo tires to use on my Z while the wheels were out being beautified.
Great advice and big help.
Steve

_________________
STEVE TETREAULT

(RATS! I really wanted him to sell me those wheels!!!)

You made the right choice, Steve. If you ever regret it, contact me first!

Frank

_________________
1970 240Z

see what happens when you open your mouth Frank....

_________________
Mike Tubiak
1978 Datsun 280Z - HLS30-438694

Simply Beautiful!!!!!!!!

_________________
Bob Sharp Racing History Memorabillia Chairman / VP of Marketing
RDZ MOTORSPORTS / CONSULTANT
RDZ MOTORSPORTS PROTOTYPE
Black 2007 350-Z
67 Camaro Custom
Orange Late 71 240-Z Sold and sitting in a Doctors Collection

Colin Foote Never Forgotten!!

Yeah those rims look brand new now.

_________________
Mike Tubiak
1978 Datsun 280Z - HLS30-438694

Wish I hadn't seen that picture of the finished product. Now, over 35
years after-the-fact, Steve has me wondering whether I did the right
thing selling the slotted dish which were also on our car when I got it
new, in order to get a set of Minilites. Oh well, what's done, is done.

Uh, Steve, how much did you say you wanted for those mage?

All Z Best,........................Kathy & Rick

_________________
All Z Best,.......Kathy & Rick

1969 Z.CAR (#00013 10/69) 8/30/76
1969 ITSA.Z (#00171 11/69) 8/24/73
1970 OLD.Z (#06289 6/70) original owner
1971 510 2dr since 12/31/75
1969 1600 rdstr (our 160-Z)
1971 (#19851 1/71) sold
1975 75.Z (#01343 1/75)

I'd kinda like to know where those got done, Steve? They did a wonderful job and I'd pay plenty to have a set that nice on my 240.

In our VENDOR RAVES AND GRIPES forum, you might wanna tell the world about the folks who made such a lasting addition to your beautiful Z car.

Thanks ~

Frank

_________________
1970 240Z

that is what I call wisdom.

_________________
http://kingofapes.blogspot.com/

cause they're not dangerous looking enough for me. [/quote]

Maybe you could get some spiked center caps...