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Gents, I do not have one yet, but will have one sooner or later, hopefully sooner. C3 was my first love, after the Impala, after the Chevelle, and then I heard the angels sing when I bought my first Corvette. Danged, if I don't love the sharks. (They were not called Sharks back then.) When I had them as a young man, they were just used cars. Anyways, I have an idea and would welcome thumbs up or thumbs down. Chevrolet gave us that beautiful fat 8" Corvette rally wheel and that is what I will have on my car. The old F70 / 15 was 26.9”. Today they say the equivalent is a 225/70/15, but the 225/70 tire has a diameter of 27.4 inches. They look too tall to me, and I think I would be OK with the following lower sized tires. Front tire - 245/60-15 is 9.6 wide by 26.6 diameter. Rear tire - 295/50-15 is 11.6 wide by 26.6 diameter. What say those of you who actually have one of these babies? Am I barking up the wrong tree?
Partially. Your front tire specs will be fine but to stuff the 295s on the rear you will need 10” rims.
This is my car in 1975. L60x15s on 10” on the rear and G60x15 on 8.5” on the front. No suspension alterations and other than a very slight kiss rub on the fronts at full lock, no issues.
Good looking car. I like your wheel choice. I just sold the exact wheels, in the same size that I had on my old trusty Ranchero. I took 120.00 for them and the young man had a smile from ear to ear to have those 'big 'n' littles'. And the hood is my all-time favorite.
69L88- you can fit a 295/50 on an 8" rim with no issues. I actually ran that combo on the rear of a Chevelle about 40 years ago when I was a kid.
In fact, if you go to Tire Rack- they even go so far as to recommend a (minimum) 8" rim for that tire.
Obviously it does bulge the sidewall out a bit though. I thought it looked pretty cool back then.
Question for you- I'm considering throwing a set of Western Turbine wheels on my 69 in the spring- the rears are 10", which I was planning on using the 295s with. Those rims have 4" backspacing.
I have a couple other different style sets of 10" wheels- do you remember how much backspacing the wheels had on your car back then? Maybe 4-4.25"? Thanks
Originally Posted by 69L88
Partially. Your front tire specs will be fine but to stuff the 295s on the rear you will need 10” rims.
This is my car in 1975. L60x15s on 10” on the rear and G60x15 on 8.5” on the front. No suspension alterations and other than a very slight kiss rub on the fronts at full lock, no issues.
69L88- you can fit a 295/50 on an 8" rim with no issues. I actually ran that combo on the rear of a Chevelle about 40 years ago when I was a kid.
In fact, if you go to Tire Rack- they even go so far as to recommend a (minimum) 8" rim for that tire.
Obviously it does bulge the sidewall out a bit though. I thought it looked pretty cool back then.
Question for you- I'm considering throwing a set of Western Turbine wheels on my 69 in the spring- the rears are 10", which I was planning on using the 295s with. Those rims have 4" backspacing.
I have a couple other different style sets of 10" wheels- do you remember how much backspacing the wheels had on your car back then? Maybe 4-4.25"? Thanks
Respectfully disagree with your “no issues”. True, you can mount the wider tire but tire manufacturers will almost always provide, in their specifications, a rim width range and a recommended width.
In the two examples below, note that for the Radial T/A, the range is 8 to 10.5 and the meas(uring) width 9.5. For the Mickey Thompsons, the range is 8.5 x 10 and the meas(uring) width is 10. There is a reason the manufacturers provide the “measuring” dimension because that is the width the engineers chose as the optimum for the size of the tire.
I used to work for Goodyear and I recall being trained in on this aspect. When mounted, the middle of the sidewall should be the at the maximum section width. FWIW, IMHO too wide a tire (relative to a rim’s width) looks out of place but that’s just me.
Thanks to all for replies. I value all input, especially those coming from past experience. I believe I'm gonna mount those fatties on the 8" rally wheels knowing I could make a better tire choice, but also knowing I will love the look.
I had a 1973 AMX with a 401 RAM AIR and drag pack. That car would get it done in a hurry. There was a fellow in nearby New Jersey who would take your wheel, cut it in half and add two inches. Then I had my cake and was eating it too. The factory 14" rally wheel on the back in a 10" width looked different than the front if you spent any time staring at it. The trim ring and ridiculous center cap gave it a factory look sort of. But it did give me a better wheel width. The cost for this back then was 50.00 per wheel. What a deal. I would love to know if anyone out there is doing such work these days.
Respectfully disagree with your “no issues”. True, you can mount the wider tire but tire manufacturers will almost always provide, in their specifications, a rim width range and a recommended width.
In the two examples below, note that for the Radial T/A, the range is 8 to 10.5 and the meas(uring) width 9.5. For the Mickey Thompsons, the range is 8.5 x 10 and the meas(uring) width is 10. There is a reason the manufacturers provide the “measuring” dimension because that is the width the engineers chose as the optimum for the size of the tire.
I used to work for Goodyear and I recall being trained in on this aspect. When mounted, the middle of the sidewall should be the at the maximum section width. FWIW, IMHO too wide a tire (relative to a rim’s width) looks out of place but that’s just me.
My 200s wheels have a 4” backspace for the 10”ers
Thanks for your insight 69L88. And also for providing the backspacing on your wheels.
I'm going to use the cones & spinners with the Westerns to emulate the 65/66 Knockoffs on my 69 and see how it looks.
I didn't mean to imply that running a 295/50 on an 8" rim is optimum- just that I have done it before and had no issues.
I would have no problem doing it again.
I think the bulging sidewall can help create the illusion of a deeper dish wheel while still fitting within the constraints of a narrow wheel well.
I currently have 295/50s on 8.5" Centerlines on the back of a 79 Z28- they work just fine.
I'll attach a pic.
.
I just got some aluminum wheels back today from Weldcraft, he widened them from 7-1/2" to 10". Did a great job but due to COVID, they are not taking orders presently. I got lucky and got mine done!
Last edited by Richard Daugird; Jan 5, 2022 at 05:57 PM.
69L88 and Greg, are your tires inside the wheel wells in the back? I am curious how you guys are mounting 295’s and keeping them in the wheel wells without a massive amount of backspace. I have 275/55/15’s on the back of my 69 with 4.25 backspace on 8.5 inch wide wheels, and they are just slightly out.
69L88 and Greg, are your tires inside the wheel wells in the back? I am curious how you guys are mounting 295’s and keeping them in the wheel wells without a massive amount of backspace. I have 275/55/15’s on the back of my 69 with 4.25 backspace on 8.5 inch wide wheels, and they are just slightly out.
Bill
Bill, it’s hard to tell but if you look closely at my pic, you’ll see my rear fenders have a slight flair to them. Those are Eckler panels I bought when they were still in Iowa. They are about 1 1/2” wider than stock. The tread is right at the plane of the fender although the sidewalls stick out about 1”.
Good looking car. I like your wheel choice. I just sold the exact wheels, in the same size that I had on my old trusty Ranchero. I took 120.00 for them and the young man had a smile from ear to ear to have those 'big 'n' littles'. And the hood is my all-time favorite.
These pics might be helpful. Yesterday, I decided to change up the look on this Z28 for 2022 & see if I could fit a 295/50R15 on the front of this car.
They fit, with no (static) clearance issues. These tires are mounted on 15X8.5" rims with 5" backspacing.
Going to a 15X10 with same size 295/50 for the rear.
Be curious to see how these wheels would look/fit on the '69 Corvette. I'll throw them on and post some pics.
Thought some folks might like to see a pic comparing what the same P295/50R15 tire looks like on a 15X8.5" rim vs a 15X10 rim.
Both rims are Centerline Auto Drags.
Gents, I do not have one yet, but will have one sooner or later, hopefully sooner. C3 was my first love, after the Impala, after the Chevelle, and then I heard the angels sing when I bought my first Corvette. Danged, if I don't love the sharks. (They were not called Sharks back then.) When I had them as a young man, they were just used cars. Anyways, I have an idea and would welcome thumbs up or thumbs down. Chevrolet gave us that beautiful fat 8" Corvette rally wheel and that is what I will have on my car. The old F70 / 15 was 26.9”. Today they say the equivalent is a 225/70/15, but the 225/70 tire has a diameter of 27.4 inches. They look too tall to me, and I think I would be OK with the following lower sized tires. Front tire - 245/60-15 is 9.6 wide by 26.6 diameter. Rear tire - 295/50-15 is 11.6 wide by 26.6 diameter. What say those of you who actually have one of these babies? Am I barking up the wrong tree?
That black Z looks killer!! Came close to getting 295/50s on my 8.5" but were a hair tall and didnt want the rolled sidewall.
Settled on 275.50 15. Wish they would bring back the L50, 60, G60 etc.
Op 235 or 245/60 in front, 255/60 in rear is a good looking combo, fits well
Centerline auto drags are timeless been wanting a set for awhile
Thanks CV67.
I did try to install those 15X10's with the 295/50s on the 69 Corvette- but the 5" backspacing was too much.
The tire hit the sway bar and the rim hit the spring.
If you removed the sway bar & trimmed the end of the spring back, it would probably fit. Didn't try the front.
C3 fat tire question
