tire sizing
Thread Starter
3rd Gear
Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
tire sizing
1966 corvette coupe, highly modified to be a race car years ago ... now i'm trying to make it relatively street legal, but i can't find tires to fit the front wheels. the existing wheels are 15" diam, 10" width ... the tires are racing slicks that are 23" diam, 10" width, which makes them 255/40/15 (i think ... be nice out there, i'm a newbie). which, as far as i can tell, doesn't exist in a street legal tire.
so, am i forced to get new wheels? the wheel wells have already been filed to fit these particular race tires. advice???
thanks,
c
so, am i forced to get new wheels? the wheel wells have already been filed to fit these particular race tires. advice???
thanks,
c
Racer
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 358
Likes: 0
From: The Ozarks, USA
Re: tire sizing (vettegrl_1966)
I'm far from a tire/wheel expert, but I think you are going to be in the market for new wheels. I don't think anything that passes for a street tire is going to work well or safely with the 10 inch width. You might want to mention what other mods your vette has as that could make a difference.
Also, welcome to the forum. Hopefully someone will have a better answer for you. :steering:
Also, welcome to the forum. Hopefully someone will have a better answer for you. :steering:
Instructor
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 117
Likes: 15
From: Atlanta GA
Re: tire sizing (vettegrl_1966)
Try TireRack's website and look under tire specs of some of the more popular brands ( goodrich, goodyear, etc) to approach something that nears the specs of your current tires re section width, tread width, height, and recommended wheel width. Remember that if you are measuring a rim from outside to outside lip, the advertised wheel width is really 1" less.
17x8 inch wheels measure 9' outside lip to outside lip.
When I did this empirically last week on my car, it was a gut wrenching guestimate, but to help you size up the space available my 245/45/17's on 8 inch wheels (4.5 " backspace) have a 10'' section width, 9" tread width and 25" inch height. They fit inside the stock wheel wells of a stock 66 coupe suspension with no rubbing.
Your 23" diameter seems pretty low (= 205/50/15), so you may want to eyeball clearance with suspension compressed and wheels turned to see if you can add some diameter, and thus some tread/section width. Remember a 1 inch diameter increase only adds a half inch to the radius. Good Luck!
[Modified by drivun, 9:15 PM 8/3/2003]
17x8 inch wheels measure 9' outside lip to outside lip.
When I did this empirically last week on my car, it was a gut wrenching guestimate, but to help you size up the space available my 245/45/17's on 8 inch wheels (4.5 " backspace) have a 10'' section width, 9" tread width and 25" inch height. They fit inside the stock wheel wells of a stock 66 coupe suspension with no rubbing.
Your 23" diameter seems pretty low (= 205/50/15), so you may want to eyeball clearance with suspension compressed and wheels turned to see if you can add some diameter, and thus some tread/section width. Remember a 1 inch diameter increase only adds a half inch to the radius. Good Luck!
[Modified by drivun, 9:15 PM 8/3/2003]
