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84-85 GSL-SE Tire and wheel specs were 205/60-14 and 5.5" rim with a 45mm offset. Plug that in and it shows that suspension and wheel well clearance is fine but your wheel will extend 1.5" past your fender lip.
84-85 GSL-SE Tire and wheel specs were 205/60-14 and 5.5" rim with a 45mm offset. Plug that in and it shows that suspension and wheel well clearance is fine but your wheel will extend 1.5" past your fender lip.
Like this? I don't want to make any modifications to the fenders.
195/50-15 in front
It would not be a problem with the rear wheels because there was always too much room in the back. I replaced my shocks, struts and springs last year and installed Racing Beat Springs, KYB-2 shocks in the rear and OEM strut inserts in front. I also went to a 15" wheel because it's seem impossible to find an aftermarket 4 lug 4.113 14" rim with the correct offset for the GSL-SE. I have always wanted a set of Panasport rims for my RX-7 but you find them usually with the 20mm offset which doesn't work for me because the wheel sticks out to far. I talked to Mas at Panasports and he said he could make me a set of 15" by 7" rims with a 40mm offset but I would have to get a dealer who sells Panasport rims to place the order. I tried dealers who sell aftermarket Datsun, Nissan, English cars and no one wanted to place a special order fo me. The 114.3 bolt pattern and 45mm offset that our model has is just too small of a niche market and finding rims is a bitch. I found a set of 4 lug 15"wheels with a 38mm offset on eBay that I could live with and I'm running 205/60-15's in the rear on my GSL-SE with plenty if room, but due to the lowered stance stance from the RB springs in front the 205/15 tire didn't have enough clearance and I did not want to roll the fender lips so I had to go with a 195/50-15 tire in front to get the needed clearance. If your buying tires online you take your chances on fit, if you going through a local tire dealer you can "fit-check" the tires before you buy I would think.
195/50-15 in front
It would not be a problem with the rear wheels because there was always too much room in the back. I replaced my shocks, struts and springs last year and installed Racing Beat Springs, KYB-2 shocks in the rear and OEM strut inserts in front. I also went to a 15" wheel because it's seem impossible to find an aftermarket 4 lug 4.113 14" rim with the correct offset for the GSL-SE. I have always wanted a set of Panasport rims for my RX-7 but you find them usually with the 20mm offset which doesn't work for me because the wheel sticks out to far. I talked to Mas at Panasports and he said he could make me a set of 15" by 7" rims with a 40mm offset but I would have to get a dealer who sells Panasport rims to place the order. I tried dealers who sell aftermarket Datsun, Nissan, English cars and no one wanted to place a special order fo me. The 114.3 bolt pattern and 45mm offset that our model has is just too small of a niche market and finding rims is a bitch. I found a set of 4 lug 15"wheels with a 38mm offset on eBay that I could live with and I'm running 205/60-15's in the rear on my GSL-SE with plenty if room, but due to the lowered stance stance from the RB springs in front the 205/15 tire didn't have enough clearance and I did not want to roll the fender lips so I had to go with a 195/50-15 tire in front to get the needed clearance. If your buying tires online you take your chances on fit, if you going through a local tire dealer you can "fit-check" the tires before you buy I would think.
Wow what a beauty! Thanks for this response man it helps a lot...As a matter of fact that's exactly what i'm doing...Getting the RB springs which lower the car an inch. The only difference with your setup and the one i want is the rim i'm looking at on ebay has only a 20mm offset. Hopefully it won't be that much of an issue. I'll do exactly what you did with the front tires. Your car's a beauty. Once mine is all set, i'll post some pics. awesome!
The correct offset for all GSL-SE factory wheels is 40 mm. There is much incorrect info regarding this and why I started this thread.
Easy to prove,take oe wheel off and on backside all specs are cast into wheel including offset which is 40 mm- for all SE pie mags.
You can order and have made Panaports to fit your SE Senior Chief to your exact offset specs. Personally not a fan of running dissimilar tire sizes front and rear because of tire/spring/fenderlip contact.
You can run a 15"x7" rim with 205/50/15 tires all around on a lowered car with no tire rubbing and tire completely inside of fenderwell. Possible to run a 205/55/15 tire with the correct wheel offset and not have any tire contact-on a lowered car. Have pics if interested of 205/50/15 tire fitment.
Last edited by GSLSEforme; 05-17-18 at 01:32 PM.
Reason: Spelling
The correct offset for all GSL-SE factory wheels is 40 mm. There is much incorrect info regarding this and why I started this thread.
Easy to prove,take oe wheel off and on backside all specs are cast into wheel including offset which is 40 mm- for all SE pie mags.
You can order and have made Panaports to fit your SE Senior Chief to your exact offset specs. Personally not a fan of running dissimilar tire sizes front and rear because of tire/spring/fenderlip contact.
You can run a 15"x7" rim with 205/50/15 tires all around on a lowered car with no tire rubbing and tire completely inside of fenderwell. Possible to run a 205/55/15 tire with the correct wheel offset and not have any tire contact-on a lowered car. Have pics if interested of 205/50/15 tire fitment.
Will a 20mm offset difference be that much of an issue? These are what I want: 15x7 4x114.3 +20
^ about a +33 offset is ideal. Can go up to 7.5" on stock suspension with 205/50r15 with absolutely no problems. I'll see if i can find pics of my old setup.
+20mm offset is perfect for a non SE 1st gen.
On an SE that offset will put the tire into the fender opening.
Wankfactor +33 mm offset is what I calculated to fit best on my lowered car with that tire size and had Panasports machined for it to that spec and fitment is perfect,could run a size larger with no tire contact.
^ yes i should have specified, the car was lowered but with stock struts and strut tops. The +33 was the size specified in the Simmonds Big Book of Wheel Fitments (aussie 3 piece wheel company) and thats what they put together for me and fit perfectly.
have since installed coil overs and neg camber. Same wheels fit with 15mm spacers and 225/45r15 with no issues.
have also shortened the diff since then and 15m sppacers there too until the new wheels come in.
did you machine a more aggressive offset wheel down to +33? How much did you take off? I was considering doing the same thing recently but was a bit iffy on whether it would bd safe to do so.
The correct offset for all GSL-SE factory wheels is 40 mm. There is much incorrect info regarding this and why I started this thread.
Easy to prove,take oe wheel off and on backside all specs are cast into wheel including offset which is 40 mm- for all SE pie mags.
You can order and have made Panaports to fit your SE Senior Chief to your exact offset specs. Personally not a fan of running dissimilar tire sizes front and rear because of tire/spring/fenderlip contact.
You can run a 15"x7" rim with 205/50/15 tires all around on a lowered car with no tire rubbing and tire completely inside of fenderwell. Possible to run a 205/55/15 tire with the correct wheel offset and not have any tire contact-on a lowered car. Have pics if interested of 205/50/15 tire fitment.
My reference to the 45mm offset was taken from my Mazda shop manual, OEM aluminum 5.5"jj rim, 45mm offset, 205/60R tire (I would look at my old stock rims but they were lost on one of my many PCS moves over the years.) However, I don't believe that all RX-7's stances remain similar over the years, and a fitment on one does not necessarily correspond to another cars stance. My GSL-SE has "always sat a little lower front left for some reason. I take your word that 205/55-15 will work all the way around for your GSL-SE but I went with what I knew would work for my car and it's my particular setup. I wanted my fitment inside the wheel wells and I have have zero clearance issue with with suspension components or fender lip in the front or rear.
Senior Chief you are correct in stating the spec from shop manual-but the spec is wrong. There are several mistakes in fsm most having to do with Japanese/English translation,the wheel offset spec is a misprint.
I was a Mazda tech when these cars were new and our service manuals had overlay pages to correct erroneous terminology and specifications for things such as this. It was commonplace.
The stance of 1st gen platforms is pretty identical-they were all welded incorrectly on the same jig on assembly line and have a lower ride height in left front corner of car as a result. A fair amount of new car owners complained about this-enough that Mazda came out with shims to be used on top of left front strut bearing plate to raise car more to level. I did hundreds of these,some cars stacking shims three high sometimes more to level the stance.I still have several dozen of these shims on a wire hook in my shop.
Overweight drivers would exaggerate this condition,it wasn't unusual for the car to drop 2" when a big customer got in and these cars eventually had prematurely sagging springs as a consequence.
To each their own with wheel/tire selection.
When it comes to mods like this I look to keep or improve the form and function of original components such as keeping same size tires all around and feel having to go to a smaller tire to enable wheel fitment is a compromise.
Senior Chief you are correct in stating the spec from shop manual-but the spec is wrong. There are several mistakes in fsm most having to do with Japanese/English translation,the wheel offset spec is a misprint.
I was a Mazda tech when these cars were new and our service manuals had overlay pages to correct erroneous terminology and specifications for things such as this. It was commonplace.
The stance of 1st gen platforms is pretty identical-they were all welded incorrectly on the same jig on assembly line and have a lower ride height in left front corner of car as a result. A fair amount of new car owners complained about this-enough that Mazda came out with shims to be used on top of left front strut bearing plate to raise car more to level. I did hundreds of these,some cars stacking shims three high sometimes more to level the stance.I still have several dozen of these shims on a wire hook in my shop.
Overweight drivers would exaggerate this condition,it wasn't unusual for the car to drop 2" when a big customer got in and these cars eventually had prematurely sagging springs as a consequence.
To each their own with wheel/tire selection.
When it comes to mods like this I look to keep or improve the form and function of original components such as keeping same size tires all around and feel having to go to a smaller tire to enable wheel fitment is a compromise.
I stand corrected on the correct offset on the GSL-SE, I found other references that stated the offset was 40mm but not having my old rims to verify I used the shop manual as the guide . As for going with the smaller tire being a "compromise" What do you call going with a larger than stock wheel size?
I like the original SE rims,quality tire availability is the issue. These cars originally came with a V speed rating tire. The last V rated tires on my car were Yokohama AVS.Over 10 yrs old they were starting to crack in sidewalls and didn't dare drive car fast anymore. The best tire I could find in 205/60/R14 was Nexen directional all-season tires. While safer to drive with fresh rubber,they were nothing like the Yokohamas.
I rebuilt complete suspension upgrading bushings,struts,shocks,springs which I trimmed to lower and level car,adjustable sway bars front and rear.
Upgraded brake rotors,pads,calipers,brake hoses.
Upgraded lighting system.
All improvements to the function of car.Except for very close inspection,form remained the same. The tires were now the limiting factor in the much better handling.
Only answer was to go with larger diameter wheel to take advantage of Performance tire selection in 15" size. I could have gone with a 16 or 17" wheel but I personally don't like the small sidewall look the larger wheels return. I like the aspect ratio of the tire to look like originals. Same goes for the wheels,I wanted something that would be period correct. I researched extensively,liked the Koenig,not available in SE specs. Spoke with the manufacturers of Minilite,Superlight,TransAm,all make a wheel design that I favor in a spoked mag. None could come close to the specs I needed for my car. I went the Panasport route,blew my budget,they cost 4x the price of Koenig wheels. They're cast and machined to my specs and fit just right mounted with Continental Contact Extreme Sport tires that complement all suspension work done and the 205/50/ZR15 tire/wheel combo is within1/4" of diameter of original 205/60/R14 tire wheel combo checking that box.
Same size,wider footprint,all inside fenderwells,lowered car. 23 1/2" from ground to fenderlip both sides front and rear.
Rides firm,not harsh. My improved version of an original looking car.
I like the original SE rims,quality tire availability is the issue. These cars originally came with a V speed rating tire. The last V rated tires on my car were Yokohama AVS.Over 10 yrs old they were starting to crack in sidewalls and didn't dare drive car fast anymore. The best tire I could find in 205/60/R14 was Nexen directional all-season tires. While safer to drive with fresh rubber,they were nothing like the Yokohamas.
I rebuilt complete suspension upgrading bushings,struts,shocks,springs which I trimmed to lower and level car,adjustable sway bars front and rear.
Upgraded brake rotors,pads,calipers,brake hoses.
Upgraded lighting system.
All improvements to the function of car.Except for very close inspection,form remained the same. The tires were now the limiting factor in the much better handling.
Only answer was to go with larger diameter wheel to take advantage of Performance tire selection in 15" size. I could have gone with a 16 or 17" wheel but I personally don't like the small sidewall look the larger wheels return. I like the aspect ratio of the tire to look like originals. Same goes for the wheels,I wanted something that would be period correct. I researched extensively,liked the Koenig,not available in SE specs. Spoke with the manufacturers of Minilite,Superlight,TransAm,all make a wheel design that I favor in a spoked mag. None could come close to the specs I needed for my car. I went the Panasport route,blew my budget,they cost 4x the price of Koenig wheels. They're cast and machined to my specs and fit just right mounted with Continental Contact Extreme Sport tires that complement all suspension work done and the 205/50/ZR15 tire/wheel combo is within1/4" of diameter of original 205/60/R14 tire wheel combo checking that box.
Same size,wider footprint,all inside fenderwells,lowered car. 23 1/2" from ground to fenderlip both sides front and rear.
Rides firm,not harsh. My improved version of an original looking car.
Alright Fellas...Ended up getting these off eBay on Super Sale. $240 total shipped for all four. 16x7 4x114.3 40 offset. I know the picture shows 5 holes but they assured me it would be drilled with only 4 holes and not the universal ones with 8. I'll post pics once the wheels are on.
Wait a second - $240 USD shipped for all FOUR wheels? That seems really cheap for custom drilled wheels with offsets to your specification. What's their website, and do they offer other wheel styles at that price? Looking good,
Wait a second - $240 USD shipped for all FOUR wheels? That seems really cheap for custom drilled wheels with offsets to your specification. What's their website, and do they offer other wheel styles at that price? Looking good,
Yeah it was off eBay but the company is called Performance Plus. It was also a Memorial Weekend Special but yeah great deal!! Thanks.
Chiming in to post for 82transam, post 11 in above should show what he has. Those are konig's with gsl-se bolt pattern and flares. Not sure of the offset. Definitely not 4x110 since I just got all of his wheels of that bastard pattern from him....
05-14-18, 01:33 PM
