55 INDIANA 56

For my '61, I was gonna go with 16" rims on an aftermarket chassis with C4 all around.

However, from what I'm hearing, it may be difficult to locate good tires for 16" wheels, and who knows about 5-10 years from now.

At the same time, I'm affraid I won't be happy with the performance with 16" wheels if I'm running 450 HP. So, I'm left torn between 16 and 17, but just a little affraid of going too big. I want the car to look somewhat close to stock. I'm just not sure that's possible with 17's.

Please post some pictures and try to convince me otherwise, especially if you have more classic-looking 17's -- not five spoke/modern.

Thanks,

Tim

Waffle

i've been looking at new rims and tires for my 58 and stumbled on this link in an earlier thread.... some 17" rims shown.
http://www.stl-vettes.com/65Vette/wh.../C1_Wheels.htm

62Jeff

This is Vettedad61's beautiful 61 with 18" wheels



And his post discussing the wheel details
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/1576509351-post16.html

vetrod62

17" TT2s

John McGraw

Tim,

Here are some pics of my 59 with 17" rims. You are going to have a hard time finding any period correct looking wheels to fit on the C4 Suspension. Because of the design of the C4 suspension, ANY wheel with any dish to it at all will stick out the side of the car. You have to run the C4/C5/C6 wheel design to make them fit within the wheelwells. These wheels have no dish at all to them and are almost flat across the face. of the rim. There just ain't any good way to get a deep-dish wheel to work on the C4 suspension. There is a company out there called EVOD, that makes a wheel that is a replica of an original C1 wheelcover, but they are damn expensive! I just used stock C5 or C6 wheels on all my cars, and got used to them. There was no way in hell that I was going to spend thousands of dollars on a set of wheels!

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-8/339303/1950165


Regards, John McGraw

John McGraw

Here is a pic of the EVOD wheel for C1 with C4 suspension. Prices start at about $5000


http://evodwheels.com/wp-content/gal...blue-vette.jpg



Regards, John McGraw

b737mechanic

17 inch Z 06 style wheels on my 61

C-1 Generation 2

Here's one picture of my 62 with TT ll on 17X7 and 17X8 on 245X45 Nitto red lines.



And a few pictures of when I had 15X7 and 15X8 on 235s

http://s35.photobucket.com/albums/d1...pZZ13QQtppZZ20

Sxrxrnr

Frustrating,,,,,,,3 security button messages when I attempted to submit a response with pictures,,,,losing all entered text. I surrender.

However 16's on the 71,,,,cannot find decent tires to replace current Gatorbacks which are really old,,1987) (255/50/16's,,,I would like a 60 series or a 55 series and cannot find what I want,,Toyo does make a 55 series that will fit,,kind of). 17's are on the 59. 215/55/17 Michelin which recently replaced 235/45/17 Nittos. Rides better, looks better(aspect ratio maintains the period look better), handles better. As noted by others, 16 size tires are limited.

If on a C1 with stock suspension, bigger wheels and tires will add nothing to handling and will certainly compromise ride. With an upgraded suspension (Jim Myer and Ride Tech Air on our car) then 17's are helpful. If me on a stock C1 I would stick with 15's and a great set of Diamond Back radials in black or whitewall. Michelin in black wall would also be cool and help handling and ride a lot.

Plastic Pig

245/50/16

'57 with SRIII frame.



Tires available. The list is getting smaller and smaller every year.

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/TireSe...50&diameter=16

Hitch

So just how many times are you going to paint that car?

Plastic Pig

I think I'm done, although.... the orange was pretty nice....

John McGraw

I think that Bob just paints the car with water-based paint so he can wash it off and start all over again when he gets tired of a color!



Regards, John McGraw

vetrod62

So where is the Blue one??????????

Jack60

Mickey Thompson makes 15" tires..

Kerrmudgeon

Personally I wouldn't go bigger than 16in. The smaller the side wall of the tire, the worse the ride you get, (and they ride bad enough anyway), just for looks?.....
Heh,heh, Tom P. calls them "wagon wheels"
Tires will always be available in 16's. There are tons of small trucks that use them, and other imports as well.

Jennings6148

. Sir on the 60 corvette what size rims are they and who makes them I have a 1961 Corvette that I just retro rotted and want to put a nice stylish rim like yours and I was wondering if the 17 inch rims were too big feel free to call me 207-469-8744

Sxrxrnr

Wheels are Coddington Smoothies. Fronts have less offset than rears. Have forgotten but have info somewhere are offsets and widths.

Love the tires, but as I've too often found when discovering perfection, it is the kiss of death for the product, Michelin no longer offers them, in fact no 215/55/17 at all. My feeling is that this tire is absolutely period perfect in appearance for this car. Had 45 series Nittos before and had too much of a 'slammed" look for me, plus not near the ride quality.

Size is available from a couple other manufacturers of little renown, however Avon offers the size at 500 bucks each. Hoping mine last for a long time and that I never need to replace one of them.

I will search and if found, post actual width and offsets of the rims.

Did replace 16 inch wheels on our 71. Installed 8 inch Ralleys with 275/60/15 in rear and 255/60/15 front. Car rides and drives much better than 16's. Would never go back,,,30 years ago we did some dumb things.

Sxrxrnr

Trying to add 2 photos. Seems I could get only 1 in in previous post.

Sxrxrnr

I have tried to upload 3 photos, but appears that only final one takes by overriding previous 2. I select 3 for upload, but get only the final. Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong?