Driving my 1980 Vette
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 2,154
Likes: 69
From: Regina Sk Canada
Driving my 1980 Vette
I swapped the tires and wheels, from a 255/60/15 on stock 8" wheels, to 295/50/15 on 8.5" wheels on the rear and 215/70/15 on 7" wheels on the front. To be honest the car seems to driver way nicer with skinnier rubber up front, it doesn't hunt around as bad.
Had all the rubber re-balanced and a new wheel alignment done. The shop gave me the new sheet, and the old alignment was way out to lunch, and the balance was out as well. I knew something was wrong the way the car fought itself to drive, but it was fall when i had the first alignment done and parked the car for the winter. Fast forward to this July, drive the car, and the tires squeal going straight down the road. lol call shop 1, he said oh you must have hit a pothole so dont' waste my time trying to feed me crap . LMFAO i called his head office and complained. The car feels good at speed, 100 mph is nice and stable. I don't go rally racing, so the car handles well for my liking with the 2 different tire widths. the overall diameter is damn near the same.
https://i.ibb.co/xs9VTjG/20190829-200130.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/hBgY4nK/20190829-200137.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/0QwCXRs/20190829-200149.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/kcDH565/20190829-200200.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/3C5HJJ5/IMG-20190829-205310-370.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/6BgNjLq/IMG-20190829-205310-378.jpg
Had all the rubber re-balanced and a new wheel alignment done. The shop gave me the new sheet, and the old alignment was way out to lunch, and the balance was out as well. I knew something was wrong the way the car fought itself to drive, but it was fall when i had the first alignment done and parked the car for the winter. Fast forward to this July, drive the car, and the tires squeal going straight down the road. lol call shop 1, he said oh you must have hit a pothole so dont' waste my time trying to feed me crap . LMFAO i called his head office and complained. The car feels good at speed, 100 mph is nice and stable. I don't go rally racing, so the car handles well for my liking with the 2 different tire widths. the overall diameter is damn near the same.
https://i.ibb.co/xs9VTjG/20190829-200130.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/hBgY4nK/20190829-200137.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/0QwCXRs/20190829-200149.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/kcDH565/20190829-200200.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/3C5HJJ5/IMG-20190829-205310-370.jpg
https://i.ibb.co/6BgNjLq/IMG-20190829-205310-378.jpg
2026 Loser of the Year
Joined: Sep 2013
Posts: 36,607
Likes: 7,053
From: New Or-leens Loo-z-anna
Forum members state that tires of different widths require much different camber angles. Using original specs to align the car will make it do weird things on the highway with wider tires.
FYI:
I modified/shortened the length of a metal carpenter's level to touch only the lip of the rim @ the 12 and 6 o'clock positions (with the trim ring removed).
It was easy to see the bubble was off 1/8" positive to 1/8" negative on all four wheels.
I adjusted the camber for the new/wider tires to "Zero" using the bubble......
no more hunting/pulling left or right/etc.
(A Machinist's level and Angle Finder would be even better)
FYI:
I modified/shortened the length of a metal carpenter's level to touch only the lip of the rim @ the 12 and 6 o'clock positions (with the trim ring removed).
It was easy to see the bubble was off 1/8" positive to 1/8" negative on all four wheels.
I adjusted the camber for the new/wider tires to "Zero" using the bubble......
no more hunting/pulling left or right/etc.
(A Machinist's level and Angle Finder would be even better)
Last edited by doorgunner; Aug 30, 2019 at 11:53 AM.
Instructor
Joined: Jul 2007
Posts: 200
Likes: 87
From: College Station Texas
Looks great! I want to put 295/50s on the back of mine too. Still a long ways off, but I love the look. I know there are better tire and wheel combinations with modern sizes, but 295/50s just nail the look I'm after. What backspace did you use in the rear?
