It was only a matter of time before Vivid Racing was able to get their hands on the all-new Nissan Z aka the 400Z. In VR fashion, we got one of the first ones in Arizona. The owner of this beautiful twin-turbo V6 was kind enough to lend us his allocation so we could get started with developing some added performance for this beast. The first order of business is, of course, WHEELS! Who doesn’t love a Z car with a proper fitment?
Let’s get to work.
The stock Fairlady comes with exclusively with a set of Ray’s wheels that were designed exclusively for this model. To be honest, these bronze-colored stock Rays weren’t bad-looking wheels. Golf clap for Nissan and their decision to partner with the legendary Rays Wheels to do something special for this limited model. The Ray’s do give the car a sense of aftermarket vibes off the dealership lot, but let’s be honest; we can do one better. Plus, who doesn’t like itching that scratch for some new wheels? This car deserves a true set of monoblock forged wheels, so we decided to go with a set of VR Forged D03-R in a Satin Bronze finish.
These VR Forged 1pc Forged Monoblock D03-Rs are a:
19 x 9.5 +22mm offset up front.
19 x 10.5 +22mm offset out in the back.
All wrapped up in a set of Falken Azenis FK510s tires.
The ride height shown is completely stock making this a plug-and-play finish with no rubbing or fitment issues. Although we will be lowering the car for a mint finish, we couldn’t help ourselves. We needed to go out and snap some photos of this JDM icon. This ride height may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but this conservative fitment may be suitable for some drivers and their accommodations. The +22mm offset provides a finish that optically makes the Z appear lower than it actually is. This wheel concavity gives a modern JDM feel. Needless to say, we don’t hate it… PS, the wheel fitment is the same as the Nissan 350Z and 370Z!
We also don’t hate that by putting on these VR Forged Wheels, we saved some precious weight as well. The Rays wheels (with tires) came in at 52.4lbs per wheel and tire up front and 54.8lbs per wheel and tire out back. The VR Forged wheels weighed in at, 50lbs per wheel and tire up front 53.5lbs per wheel and tire out back. This way, you can have your cake and eat it too. Or whatever they say.
This additional weight savings isn’t a whole lot, but when you factor in rotational mass savings that typically have a factor of 3, that is 7.2lbs per corner up front and 3.9lbs per corner in the rear. We could congress a meeting of the minds to really hash out if this leads to some time shaved off around the track. This could just be our race car antics talking, but we’ll shave weight where we can.
In addition to the wheel upgrade, we began our aero kit designing by 3D scanning the vehicle with our Artec Leo scanner from the guys at https://klontech.com/. This 3D scanner helps us get very detailed imagery for us to create an all front lip, side skirts, rear diffuser, and rear wing.
In the performance department, we have started working on our VR Tuned Tuning Box kit which will be a plug and play device to boost up the horsepower. Utilizing a bluetooth app to set the performance gains, the kit is something that can be easily installed and is warranty safe since it does not tie into the ECU throwing flags at the dealer. We also plan to further develop VR Performance products such as an intake, exhaust, and other bits to make this a further amazing, fun vehicle.
There will be more to come with this Nissan 400Z and further modifications, but for now, you can drool over some of these photos and wait to see what else we have in store.
Shop all our current Nissan Z | 400Z products here!
Score a set of these INSTOCK VR Forged Wheels in several different colors here!
I’m interested with the wheels. How much is your VR gloss black wheels. Can you also give me the tire specs/size? Thank you
Will have someone in sales reach out to you.