what's the smallest rims that can fit on 2001 I30/maxima?
It's time for winter tires and steelies. Can 15" clear the caliper? How about 14"?

thanks

 

15" will clear the caliper up to 2001. 2002-03 they rub slightly and the caliper needs to be machined about 1/8" for proper clearance.

 

I would not grind 1/8" off a piece of equipment that's responsible for stopping a 3000lb+ vehicle.

 

Have you seen how thick these calipers are? These calipers are meatier than the ones on my dad's Seville (4000lbs).

 

So that means you can grind away? It's thick for a reason. Also grinding can introduce stress risers in the metal.

I have no idea about your dad's caddy. But the maxima is the largest sedan that Nissan still puts the single piston caliper into. These brakes are BARLEY adequate when they are working 100%.

I "think" I've seen these calipers before. Considering I've built a bbk for the maxima

 

To each is own, but I find the stock brakes more than adequate. The Maxima is a sedan, not a sports car and the calipers look way overdesigned (to me). But I digress. All I said is that it is possible to fit a 15" on an 02 after minor modifications.

 

I find the stock brakes adequate at the very most. Doesn't matter that it's a sedan. What matters is Nissan is using a single piston caliper to stop a 3000lb+ car. There is a good reason why, the Q45 and J30 don't use these brakes. Despite them also being "sedans".

So anything that REMOTELY causes even the slightest loss of function on these things is one BAD idea. It's bad enough that you want to recommend grinding an entire 1/8" of metal off these things. Stress riser city.

Just use 16" wheels. 16" tires are cheap as hell nowdays.

 

Your logic is erroneous: you agree with Nissan on caliper thickness but not on design? Why agree with one but not the other? You state that there is a reason Nissan makes calipers a certain thickness. Based on that premise, don't you think there is a reason Nissan installs single piston calipers on Maximas?

Braking distance 60-0 (edmunds.com)
2000 Maxima SE: 126ft
2000 Q45 Touring: 137ft

As for wheel size yonjun has a 2001 so 15" will work fine.

 

Nissan uses single piston caliper on a heavy sedan. It's barely adequate. You grind on the caliper does what? Hurt or help an already crappy system. Simple enough for you?



Let's see, this genteman has a 2001 maxima, not a 2000 maxima. Let's see what edumunds says about the 01. Hmm I see 134 ft. What do you see?

Also the Q weighs almost 1,000lbs more. But only requires 3 more feet to stop.

The J30, which is also heavier, comes in at 3500lbs +. It's dist is 138ft for the touring model.


That dist maybe be one thing. Too bad it doesn't account for the braking capacity of the system. Try that test 5-6 times and see what happens.

I'll repeat. Grinding off material off of one of the important safety systems of the car = good idea or bad idea. Up to you.

 

I don't know much about what Jeff and Kobalt are talking about, but I can't see altering your vehicle (especially when it comes to safety issues) just to put smaller wheels on for winter. I would assume stock size 16" would be cheap enough already. 16" and 15" tires are not much different in pricing anyway. But then again I've never shopped for snow tires in Hawaii .

 

I was just checking proper size of rims that can go as small as possible to give me more options. Not only nissan rims but also accord v6 or any other rims that have 5x114(hope this is correct) will fit on our cars. snow tires are essential here in Montreal. end of Nov-mid of April is snow season.
someone just offered that he has michelin artic alpines on 2000 GLE 16" rims. I'm trying to get in touch with him. if the tread looks good, I'm taking it off of him.

thanks for the inputs folks.

Jun