I've got a set of wheels in the making and want to get your opinion on the specs.
I've got the +30mm (1.2") downforce front fenders, rears are flared 1.5". I'm aiming for wide wheels, with a lot of lip.
Currently sitting with -5* camber, lowered on BC N+ but willing to adjust if necessary.

I'm thinking in the front, 18x10-10.5, unsure of how low of an offset I could go.
in the rear, 18x11.5-12, again unsure of how low of an offset.

the front should be close to flush, and the rears can be cambered but sitting more flush. still want to maximize the lip size.

you guys have any ideas on the offsets and tire sizes I could pull off?

 

Get under the car and start measuring how much room you have in the fender opening front and rear, then do some research on offset/centerline people are running with this car to narrow down the margin you are working with. No you wont get anywhere near a 7" lip in the back *in response to your PM) Just to help get you started, without sacrificing tire width, im running the widest wheel/tire package you can fit on a stock bodies S that’s had the typical fender roll etc. So you can start or end there, and figure out what your wiling to compromise beyond that. Ultimately, if you want wider wheels/more lip then a 10"/255 -11.5”/295 stagger provides, you need wider body panels, so figure that into your equation.

 

I come from the 350z world where we had a lot more room to play and less worry about offset. I've thrown wheels on it and they magically fit. These wheels will be my first custom set and I almost don't like being in charge without the prior experience. (A $5000 investment wants me to be more than sure it's gonna work out). Thus far I've seen offets range from -20, 0, and +20, then +40-60. It was hard to discertain the differences in cell phone pictures.
I will definitely use your advice though to make the best decision. thanks for the quick reply!

 

Offsets should be in the +30 ballpark, can vary slightly depending on how aggressive you want front compared to rear, ride height, tire size, alignment settings, etc. Any negative offset and even up to +20 is out of the question with these widths even with your additional fender clearance. I'm running 9.5" +55 front, 11" +64 rear on stock body - pics in sig link.

 

Yeah that’s why you need to get under your car and start measuring, get real familiar with what your working with because that is a hell of an investment and its a custom one to your car. You will get 5 different fitment recommendations here most of which may "work" but may not be what you had envisioned. Plus isnt it more gratifying to be more intimate with your car and take pride in the results when done, rather then someone else doing the work for you? I know I wouldn’t take nearly as much enjoyment in my custom set up if I had everyone else do the work for me and i just paid the money to buy what they said.

But if you’re completely in the dark as far as typical fitments for this car, there is a wheel fitment sticky which shows general widths/offsets that fit on the car. If you have a set of wheels now that are mounted and you know what the wheels and offsets are, its a starting place to deduct what you want to change to in width and offset by doing some simple math once you know how much room under the fenders you have. To help you get a visual of how width and offset influence the fender space in relation to other wheel specs, there is a website called http://willtheyfit.com/ pretty awesome. I figured out the width/offset calculations in my head before I found this website, but still find I like doing it in my head just for the fun of it. Using the website is sort of cheating, but I wont hold it against you

 

I've been floating around for a while through the forums, reading and looking at pictures but couldnt find anything similar to what I had. Anyone with DF fenders had over fenders on the rear, and the offsets still stayed high. I wasn't sure if people didn't go lower because they simply couldn't or just didnt want to.
More recently I've learned that if you run a less wide wheel, the offset can be lower. Makes sense in my head but I can't translate that into what I'm looking for. (i.e. chosing between a +50 and +51 if it came down to it). I'll have to keep at it and hopefully make a solid decision by the weekend.

I have tried out the site and it's a great tool. It really helps with the visual, which I'm pretty reliant on.

But you're gonna laugh when you hear what I did to first get an idea. Tried my friends 240 battles (17x10+15) and it looked so goofy. (wouldn't have looked bad with some extra body work!!) And then, oh. oh boy. I cut out 18s from cardboard and messed around with measurements using a physical straight line plane, but then realized I couldn't put the cardboard wheels under load to see any differences. This is gonna take a lot of blind faith on my part.

 

Once you get it narrowed down on the spec range your looking to pull the trigger on, run it past us for final scrutiny if you need to Pictures are always helpful as well if your so inclined. Is your goal stuff as much rubber under the car front and rear or just a healthy amount but with a particular outer fitment/look? Yes as touched on, you can have a wider wheel/tire package, or a narrower but with more aggressive offset and have it look identical to the outside, in relation to fender fitment. But there are some other things to consider, one of which is available tire sizes on the market that meet your needs, so the rim widths should be appropriate to what ever tire you want to run (figure this tire out first) then pick the right widths for that tire and lastly the right offset to tie it all together.

And clarification for fitment calculation - The same offset wheel but 1" wider will spit the difference 12.5mm added width on the outside and inside. Same calculation for a narrower rim but same offset, but your subtracting obviously. Going from same width rim but higher numerical offset from +50 to +75 will put the wheel 25mm further inward. the opposite if offset is numerically lower. When you figure that basic principal out, then you can start doing the appropriate math in your head to figure out a visual on different widths and offsets combenations in comparison to one another ie(7.5"+40 will stick out same as 9"+59) Or reference the website I offered if you need help.

 

I think you stated my dilemma accurately with the goals. I can't have my cake and eat it too, so I'd prefer that the outer fitment/look was on point than having a big wheel under the car. I don't have the power to need the extra meat on the ground. (was previously boosted so I at that point I had no problem staying with wider wheels)

I'm at work but have a rough idea of where the car sits as is. I've got about 3" from the rear wheel face to flush with fender(sunken worse than the Titanic) so thats a -36/37 change in current offset (was running 25mm spacers for a while) but again, I'm also trying to stick with the deep dish look. I have seen a 17x10+20 with a 4.25" lip on a guy with XXRs. His rears were only pulled. I can't visually tell if his rears are pulled more than mine.
Here are some pics for reference, sorry my phone only saves and takes pictures in black and white. I dont know why lol. The top picture is current, the bottom picture is 18x10.5 + 51 and 18x11.5 +57 and is the closest thing I could find to my set up. Its pretty identical. But I'd like more lip.

 

Well obviously the lower the offset the more lip you will get depending on the style of wheel. The issue then becomes how skinny of a tire are you willing to stretch on that rim to get as wide a lip you want, so you can clear the outer fender. Sounds like your after a hellflush set up and that’s where I start to bow out on my helpful advice/recommendations. I think your armed with enough information here to get a good grasp on what’s going to work on your car with the way you want it to look, again you will have to decide how much your willing to compromise in order to achieve a particular look. Scanning threads of cars that look the way you want is always a good place to ask for fitment questions. I'm of a particular school of thought, that performance comes along with an attractive look, but I won’t sacrifice performance for it, especially if I don’t feel it looks very good to begin with.

 

I'd like to avoid stretching tires at all costs. I also had a realization last night that anything too wild won't be able to be resold in a reasonable amount of time. I've notcied some people have been sitting on their custom wheels for over a year after multiple buyers flake. But I appreciate all your help so far. You're like a s2ki sensei.
I think I'm going to end up with a 18x10 +30-50 and a 18x11.5 +30-50 (final measurements pending)
As for tires, probably a 255/35/18 and 285/30/18, maybe the 295. I have some sense in me.. its hard to not go all out when the possibilities are endless!