There are several places to buy the L88 style flairs. Custom Image comes to mind since I'm waiting on budget to buy their header/side pipe combo.
http://www.customimagecorvettes.com/...ories/Exhaust/

US Body Source has been in business a long time but I have not seen a set of their flairs:
http://usbodysource.com/

I used Eckler's on my first '69 and the quality was great back in 1974.

Try doing a search on flairs in this forum. It is the kind of part that is easy to do a knock off, so there are lots of makers that come and go.

My personal experience is that a 15x10 with 4.0" back spacing will clear the stock trailing arm and usually the parking brake cable. Some old timers can tell/show you how to relocate the parking brake cable to the top of the trailing arm for a little wider tire.
27" is as tall a tire as you will want to try on the rear, 26 is a good guidline for the front because of wanting to rub the rear of the fender opening. P295/60-15 works well on the rear and on the front but I could not find something like a 315/60-15 to make the rear a little bigger to get the look right.

You can see how I had to modify the trailing opening of my front fenders on my photobucket page at:
http://s606.photobucket.com/albums/tt146/vettelocke/
This will work for L88 flairs too.

The front will accept 15x8.5" without flairs, going to 15x10 with 4" backspacing will stick out a little.

As far as the look is concerned.....well there is a reason I have kept a set of American 200S wheels in 15x10 in the garage since I sold my first '69 back in 1995. I love the look and figured I would have a C3 again some day. Finding good tires in correct sizes for 15' has been a challange. I'm going to 17" wheels for the street and saving the 15" for race tires.

Locke

 

So its looking like hardly anyone has done this? i guess i will take a chance and buy flares, then try to figure out what wheel itre combo will fit?

 

There has been several that have done this, most of them must be busy and have no time for the CF. My thoughts are, if your going to go with flares, the best set out there is the Custom Image flares. With these you have less work in creating a clean uniform look from side to side. They are full quarters, all the blending work is done and all you would have to deal with is the original body seams, Which I feel would be a whole lot easier to work, over blending the flares back into the fender.

As far as wheels, your max back spacing on a 18'' wheel would be at 5.5, but that is the very maximum, and the wheel width most are running are 11'' to 12'' wide. If you buy the custom Image flares, Josh can tell you exactly what wheel measurements will fit under his flares.


Hope this helps, Flares are on my to do list, maybe this fall.


Riggs

 

Been speaking with one company, who sells a nice set of flares, i am going to get a price and start there. He has informed me that the wheels i can get a deal on will stick out past the flares if i use them. So will need to use a 15x12 with a 4.5" BS.

 

Any reason you're staying with the 15'' wheel? Performance tires for 15'' are really out dated compared to the ones for the 17'' and 18'' wheels.

Riggs.

 

I want the old school look.

 

had a similar issue as yours different car and couldnt get any solid answers: most had someone do it and didnt know or bought it that way

Summit sells a neat tool where you can measure your backspace you will get real close with it. Fits on the wheel studs
That, a piece of string and some tape you will know exactly what you need. Know the tire will stick out a touch farther ea side than the wheel

 

Something you may want to consider.
Unless you go with the Custom Image Flares (which are almost a fender) the flares have to be at the very least "worked" to fit properly. Why not buy the wheels/tires combo that you really want and fit the flares to the tire. If you do it that way you don't have to start with higher spring rates and adjusting ride height. It is much harder to fill the flare than it is to fit the flare to cover the tire to get that look you want as well as the clearence you need not to crack them once they are done and you start driving the car. If you do a search on "flares" and "flairs" there is hours of reading about how the L88 flares have to be modified to get a nice even gap around ANY tire. If you remember back when Stan was a regular he built his own flares so they would need less work to fit nice. The ACI flares are L88 replicas. If you look at the vintage road race car thread you will see how big the gap is behind the rear tire. It doesn't look as bad due to larger diameter rear tires. Most but not all of the common 17" (315/35s) and 18" (335/30s) tires are only about 26" tall so it makes the gap look huge unless the flare is modified. Check out some of those threads and you will see what I'm talking about.
Good luck with your choises going foward.

 

I have been chatting with a fellow from GuldstrandMotorsports. Will see what come of that. I like you idea of fitting the flare to the tire, i have the ride height where i want it now, and the car sits well. I guess its easier to add or remove material to the flare to accomodate the wheels and tires. Thanks for the tip.

 

http://corvette.canney.net/webvettes...089/index.html

Grumpy,

Just saw your post today.... if you haven't laid your $$$ down yet you might look at the above link. ACI was very good to me on freight and a discount on a multiple piece buy, but that was a while ago. There 'glass pieces were excellant quality.

Tire/wheel size info and a link to Chris MacDonald's site are at the link above. Chris was the first I new of to put flares on a late C3.

kdlp

 

Well After a few weeks of this stress again, i am thinking i will just leave the car alone. This is turning out to be more of a pain than i think it will be worth in the long run. Impossible to find tires and wheels that will fit this car, so i am leaving it alone.

 

Probably the best idea yet

That way you can make the flare tuck around your favorite tire exactly the way you want and no worries when you bolt the wheel on.
Go for it!

 

You can get the "old school look" without being limited to 15s.

Come on after keeping this thread going for 2 pages you're not going to give up that easy are you?

Just a though........If you want to pass on the flares you can still get an "old school look" using a vintage style 17" wheel and some 50 series 17" tires. The 17s will provide all the peformance and grip you will ever need. Just to throw out a possible combination for an "old school look" how about a 17x8 with a 4" backspace and a 255/50-17 tire in the front and a 17x9 with a 4.75" backspace and a 275/50-17 rear tire? Those tires are far from "rubber bands" as the front tire is 27" tall and the rear tire is almost 28" tall with at least 5" of sidewall. That size tire has been run on a few C3s here on the forum with 8.5" and 9.5" wheels with no clearence issues so they should work on your car with no problems.

Hey if you want to let this go for now I do understand but you seemed anxious to change the look of your car. If you do there are lots of choises with the only limitations being your imagination and for most of us the budget. Good luck with what ever you choose to do.

 

Thank you for the great reply i will look into it. i have no desire to relocate the park prake cable etc. my trailing arms are powder coated. so fitment is a big issue with me.

 

most wheels are 17x9.5 how would that factor into this? what BS would you need on that wheel?

 

If you're looking at a "vintage style" 5 spoke wheel Vintage Wheel Works as well as Team III make a 17x9. I think if you go with 4.75" backspace you should be fine. I went with a 17x11 with a 4.5" backspace running a 315/35 tire (L88 flares) and stock trailing arms and have good clearence (almost 1"). If you can't get your hands on a Wheel Works wheel fitment tool (there are less expensive versions) I always try to "test fit" something close. All these cars seem to be a little different (maybe VERY little) so it's better to be sure than "hope" you're correct. Especially when having custom wheels built to your specs. Being wrong gets expensive real fast.