Announcement

**FTA1995** · 06-19-2010, 12:06 PM

Check the offset, without tubbing out a vehicle, you will need to obtain negatively offset wheels to clear the under-carriage.
choosing wheel offset
You can get away with some wheels with a positive offset with wheel spacers on 4th gens, but you would be much better off with a correctly offset (negative) setup.

**Injuneer** · 06-20-2010, 01:48 AM

Factory 2000 Corvette wheels are 17x8.5" +56mm offset in the front. These will fit fine, but will sit slightly deep in the front wheel wells. Rear wheels are 18x9.5" +65mm offset, and these also will fit, but sit a bit deep in the rear wheel wells. Nothing will rub. That assumes you use the correct tire diameter (25.7 - 26.2"), and the correct section width. The stock Corvette tires are larger in diameter than the 4th Gen F-Body tires.

Those wheels have positive offsets. Too much positive offset, and the wheel is too deep in the wheel well. A wheel with too much positive offset can be relocated with a spacer. If you have wheels with negative offset on a 4th Gen, they will stick outside the fenders, and adding spacers will just make it worse.

Factory wheels on the 4th Gen V8's are 16x8.0" +55mm, and 17x9.0" +50mm on the WS6/SS models.

Good reading:

http://www.tirerack.com/wheels/tech/...jsp?techid=101

I have a guideline to wheel width vs offset for the 4th Gen, that I did on another site. Read post #15 in the FAQ:

http://www.camaroz28.com/forums/showthread.php?t=312442

**SeanC** · 06-21-2010, 09:05 AM

Thanks for the help! Injuneer, those links were very helpful. When you say I would have to use the correct tire diameter, im assuming that you mean I need to use the stock corvette tire size?

How bad will it look if I don't run spacers? From what i've read, many people refuse to use spacers and consider them to be dangerous.... I dont have extra money to spend on spacers (and not sure if I ever want to get them). I just cant picture how far they are going to sit in the wheel well...

Also, is it a dumb idea to go with 17s in the front and 18s in the back? I know I wont be able to rotate them which is a negative, but again, is it going to look bad? Are there any other negatives I should know about?

I really want new wheels for my car, and like the c5s. I just want to make sure I'm going to be happy with my purchase because i'm not going to have money to throw at new rims/tires if I dont like these or they dont fit correctly....

**FTA1995** · 06-22-2010, 02:57 AM

Originally posted by SeanC

Also, is it a dumb idea to go with 17s in the front and 18s in the back? I know I wont be able to rotate them which is a negative, but again, is it going to look bad? Are there any other negatives I should know about?

So long as they fit appropriately, staggered wheels will look nice in my opinion, that's how mine are, both in width and height. still has good suspension geometry and everything. I believe you could throw the ABS offline at higher speeds whereas the ABS unit will pick up marginally different wheels speeds without braking (happened to me at least).

I put a vote against the spacers, do it right the first time with the correct offset

**Trans Am** · 06-22-2010, 03:30 AM

These are 245/45/17 fronts and 275/40/18 rears. Corvette c6 replica wheels for c4, the offset is not the best for an f body but they fit, I bought what was available at the time, I would have liked it if they stick out a little more .
I d check what offset would be best to fill the wheelarches on a 4th gen before buying any wheels.

were on the formula , now they are on the t/a

**Injuneer** · 06-22-2010, 05:18 AM

Originally posted by SeanC

Thanks for the help! Injuneer, those links were very helpful. When you say I would have to use the correct tire diameter, im assuming that you mean I need to use the stock corvette tire size?

You didn't read what I posted:

"That assumes you use the correct tire diameter (25.7 - 26.2"), and the correct section width. The stock Corvette tires are larger in diameter than the 4th Gen F-Body tires.

You want to keep the overall tire diameter in the range shown above.

How bad will it look if I don't run spacers? From what i've read, many people refuse to use spacers and consider them to be dangerous.... I dont have extra money to spend on spacers (and not sure if I ever want to get them). I just cant picture how far they are going to sit in the wheel well...

I always avoided spacers on the drive wheels. Moving the wheel flange outward from the face of the hub increases the bending stress on the studs. On the front wheels, I don't have the same concerns, since the braking loads are typically less than the shock loading to the rear wheels on a hard launch. I run 5/16" spacer on my front drag wheels, because that's what the Weld Pro-Stars require. One solution for the back wheels is to use an "adapter" rather than a spacer. The adapter bolts to the hub, and has a set of studs that the wheel bolts to. These usually have to be at least 3/4" thick.

How it looks is subjective. Wide wheels and tires seem to look better when they are out closer to the edge of the fender. One solution is to get a set of reproduction wheels with the correct offset. The outside edge of the rear C5 wheel will sit about the same place as a stock WS6/SS wheel. The outside edge of the front C5 wheel will sit about .18" deeper than the stock WS6/SS wheel.

Also, is it a dumb idea to go with 17s in the front and 18s in the back? I know I wont be able to rotate them which is a negative, but again, is it going to look bad? Are there any other negatives I should know about?

Some people like the "staggered" look, others don't. The problem is if you hold the outside tire diameter the same, the sidewall on the back 18" wheel looks too small compared to the sidewall on the front 17" wheel. That's why the Corvette uses a larger diameter tire in the back - to keep the sidewall height roughly the same.

**SeanC** · 06-22-2010, 11:27 AM

Okay. So stock Corvette size tires on these rims:

Rear: 275/40R18

Tire diameter= (((275/25.4)X.40)X2)+18"=26.66"

Which puts me above the acceptable range you gave without rubbing. So now my question is:

Is there any way of choosing tires that WILL NOT rub, but look proportional (as far as the rear having a larger diameter to keep the sidewall height the same)?

Trans Am: I think those C6s look pretty good to me. I would be happy if I could get the C5s to look like that....

If buying incorrect offsets is more of a hassle than it is worth, I guess I will just wait to get rims until I can afford to get ones with correct offsets....Its killing me to pass these rims up though...

**Trans Am** · 06-22-2010, 03:30 PM

a lot of people run c5 wheels on their 4th gens, I think 275/40/18 should be ok, maybe will have to hammer the inner rear fender a little if the car is lowered, just that area that sticks out , nothing major
The wheels I like and fit 4th gens really well are the fiske fm5 , heres pics of them on my 93 camaro. offset is just right , 315/35/17 rears, 275/40/17 front

and the c6 replicas on the t/a

**FTA1995** · 06-22-2010, 03:36 PM

I'm going to chime in one more time to support you TA; I have C5 replicas that are nearly the same size as the wheel/tire combo in question on my 95 (rears are 275/35/18, they work fine for me, no rubbing, but it gets damn close in the rear only at the inner sidewall when the suspension is compressed. I don't thing a 275/40/18 will cause any problems unless you have a good suspension lowering setup. Honestly, if everything you want to do lines up with the information Fred has provided, you should be gold.

**FTA1995** · 06-22-2010, 03:38 PM

Originally posted by Trans Am

maybe will have to hammer the inner rear fender a little if the car is lowered, just that area that sticks out , nothing major

Also, I support your use of tools

**SeanC** · 06-22-2010, 04:29 PM

Alright, so I got the rims, but need to buy lug nuts.

This may be a dumb question, but do I need to buy lug nuts for an f-body or C5 vette (not sure if c5 lug nuts have same threads...)? I dont want to buy lug nuts for an f-body and not have them fit the corvette wheels.

Thanks guys!

**Injuneer** · 06-26-2010, 06:27 AM

The lugs nuts for the Corvette and F-Body have the same threads and the same conical seat that centers the wheel over the stud.

The 26.7" tire will probably not be a problem, as noted above. Will be close to the inner fender, and may be a problem if the car is lowered. And it will have the same effect as reducing your rear axle ratio slightly, and your speedo/odometer will be off, reading lower than actual speed, the actual percentage ranging from 1.8% - 3.3%, depending on what size tires were stock on your car. Can be corrected in the PCM.

Announcement

Rim/tire fitment question

Rim/tire fitment question

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment

Comment