vette427-sbc

Had a customer bring me a set of C6 wheels to put on his '80... I need to convince him to lower it at least a little bit as I think it looks a bit funny at its current ride height. BUT overall I really like these wheels on the 80-82's and I think the color works really well with the polished rims.
So heres the final specs:
OEM C6 wheels 18x8.5 and 19x10
Falken FK453 255/40/18F 285/35/19R
Front spacers are 2.9" Rears are 3.1"
Got them from www.Motorsport-Tech.com with the 12x1.5mm C6 studs
The rear fitment is perfect. I did have to relocate the parking brake, and it is a little close to the frame rail but it looks like they will just squeeze past the fender lip without rubbing.
The fronts look like theyve got a bit of positive camber pushing them out flush with the fender. They shouldnt rub when/if I get the chance to lower it and get 1 or 1.5* of neg camber on the front end.
As a chrome bumper guy I now have alot more appreciation for the rubber bumper cars ... I really like the look of this car

bluegtp

Yeah that thing needs to be a little lower. They looks good though. Take some more photos when/if you lower it.watch for that rear spring when you lower it. My fiberglass spring was way too close for comfort so I to shorten it too.

You're making me think of switching over to c6 wheels.

3JsVette

Lowering it will really complete the look. The C6 5 spokes do work well on this car.
Nice job. Well done.

MIKE80

Nice job, looks good with the modern vette wheels and tires

I went with C6 Z06 aftermarket 17x9.5" wheels, 275/40 ZR17 tires, and 2.5" wheel adapters all around. Installed offset trailing arms on mine, and no rubbing front or rear. Also set my ground to center wheelwell lip height to 26.5" front and 27.5" rear.

Lowering it will finish it off nicely.

Oldguard 7

I have replica C6 wheels in C5 size in black chrome finish. Need to lower mine, lower both ends but in a manner to give the car a noticeable rake.

diehrd

The spacers must look like crap when you look into the rim. And with spacers that big I would be worried my wheel's could fall off .... lol . . . (jk)

jcuprisi

The thought of using 3" spacers worried me until I looked at my F-350 Dually. The front wheels are reversed from the rear wheels and have exagerated positive offset. The factory uses a 4" spacer to place the center of the tread in the same location as a regular truck. The same applies to any vehicle. It is not the location of the wheel face that determines the load on the lug nuts or wheel bearings, it is the location on the tread center in relation to the original tread width. I have 18" C-5 wheels on my '81. With 3" spacers the tread width is within 1/4" of that of the original wheels. I autocross my car and have no issues with lig nuts or bearings.

The looks are a matter of taste but the engineering is solid.

Thanks,
John

Ibanez540r

Thank you for this post! I've got a set of the same OEM C6 wheels in chrome for my build which is still at frame off. I've been going off of these post for determining spacers

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-g...c6-wheels.html

http://www.digitalcorvettes.com/foru...d.php?t=145346

He went 3.75" rear and 2.75" front, but regretted not going 3.5" rear. I'm surprised you had that much more room to go even smaller.

I ended up getting 285/40/19 rears to fill that gap a bit more when lowering and for a little more of a rake. I feel like the 285/35 just looks a bit to low profile for the car.

Anyway, thanks again. This helps dial in my spacers a bit more.

scottyp99

If you want to lower your car because you want it to be lower, that's one thing, but lowering the car to get the wheels and tires to "look right" isn't going to work very well. The problem is that the tires are too small for the wheelwell opening. The best, and easiest solution would be to use the right size tires. For instance, a 255/40/18 tire is about 26 inches in diameter; it's too small to properly fill the wheelwell opening with even space all around the tire. (which is what gives a good tire and wheel combo that "right" look) A 255/45/18 tire is about 27 inches in diameter, which will properly fill the wheelwell. Basically, no matter what size wheel you are using, keep the tire diameter very close to the stock tire diameter, and you will be looking good.

Scott

VETFEVER

Good advice - you need to match the diameter of the ORIGINAL wheel/tire combo - otherwise the speedo and gas mileage will be way off.

scottyp99

That's an excellent point. In addition to the looks, there are very practical reasons for retaining stock tire diameter. The car was designed around a certain diameter tire, and if you are going to fight it, you're going to have a lot of work to do.

Scott

vette427-sbc

The rear tire is a 27" tall tire (ok, 26.8") Which is the stock height. I personally do not like that tall of a tire on the front of these cars. Its a matter of taste. But the fact that it needs to be lowered is not due to the "incorrect" tire size. It currently sits like a monster truck and the owner agreed when he picked it up. It will be back to get the fender lip height close to my own car, which is set up the same way. 27" tire in the rear, and a 26" in the front.



As for gas mileage difference?? the rear tire is the same height so there is no difference there. Even if it was smaller by an inch... Make a trip cross country one way with a 27" tire and then back with a 26" tire. Ill pay your difference in gas spent due to mileage. I think I have some change under my seat that should cover it

vette427-sbc

Thats exactly why I posted the specs. Glad I could help!
As for the rear spacer size, These at 3.1" are about as small as I would go. The 285's are very close to the frame rail and (stock) trailing arms. If you do not care about sticking the tire out of the fender a bit, then you can go bigger and have a little more room on the inside. But then you have to worry about going over bumps and cracking the fender

7t9l82

lowering will definitely help
the point of tire diameter makes good sense in a lot of applications

scottyp99

Like I said, if you're going to fight it, you're going to have some work to do, so get to work! When you get right down to it, as long as the customer is happy, that's all that matters, right?

Also, according to my very rough math, if you drove from Maine to California on 27" tires, and then back on 26" tires, it would make the trip back the equivalent of driving about 60 extra miles. That's about 4 gallons of gas, for my 'vette. You got that much change under your seat? You must have a hole in your pocket, or something!.

Scott

vette427-sbc

Youre forgetting Im from New Jersey... With all the toll roads here you need to keep a serious supply of quarters on you at all times

MIKE80

You need to get EZPass!

Ibanez540r

Thanks. I'm thinking 3.25" or so would be a happy medium.

resdoggie

Use a GPS for actual miles and not the odometer for the cross country retrun trip. I also have some change to cover the difference in gas.

scottyp99

Oh, man, I forgot about that...I lived in New Jersey for a couple of years when I was in the Army. Seems like you have to stop and pay a small toll every exit! And the jughandles! ARGHHHHH! THE JUGHANDLES!!! I could never get used to them! We have rotaries up here in Massachusetts, but I grew up with them, so they don't seem crazy to me.

Scott