ok i have a question to see if this will work. i am looking at 17x7 rims with 4 in backspacing for front. and 18x9.5 with 5.25 backspacing for the rear. Will this combo fit correct on the car? i like the staggered look. help plz.

 

Why would you want to go narrower that 8 in the front? The 4" backspace is fine but 7 wide is a step backwards. The rear 18x9.5 with 5.25" should fit with no issues. The end of the rear spring maybe close as some have had to shorten it. If you do a search using "17s" or "18s" there is hours of reading on this which you may find helpfull.

 

The only other choice for the wheels I like is to go to a 8.5 wide with 4.5 back spacing. And I didn't think that would work?

 

There are more than a few cars on this forum running 8" wide front wheels with 4.5" backspace with no issues. I don't see any reason why an 8.5 with 4.5" of backspace wouldn't work. I can't endorse going 1" narrower in the front while going 1.5" wider in the rear. Go with the 8.5s and the 9.5s IMCO.

 

Just a comment on running different size wheels front to back. Besides the obvious difference in looks, running different size tires and rims front to rear is done quite often today to help balance/change the handling characteristics on a particular car. Many sports cars/sedans today use this trick to achieve a desired handling trait of the car either due to power at the rear wheels and/or to promote a more neutral/understeer handling condition at the limit. The Z06 has different size tires front to rear to: A: put the power down more effectively and B: to combat oversteer characteristics of the Z06. My Lexus IS350 F Sport (rear wheel drive, not AWD) has 225 front 18's and 255 rear 18's and clearly will understeer when pushed since Lexus/Toyota don't want the rear coming around easily-it is very noticeable-with the front giving up much earlier than the rears. Porsche does the same technique with the 911's due to the engine being in the rear.

The C3 can be tail happy at the limit with certain suspension setups and some have experienced snap oversteer especially since the car has a nearly 50:50 weight distribution with a rear weight bias on the later C3's (my 78 from the factory was 48%F:52%R).

I don't run staggered tires on my 78 (255/45/18 ZR's Front: 255/50/18 ZR's Rear) with my suspension setup which is more neutral) but if I did run a staggered setup like 225/235 front tire with the 255 rear, I am fairly confident my neutral handling today would be much more biased to understeer when pushed.

Just something else to consider about tire/wheel staggering.

Hope that helps!

 

So I can run 8x5 wide with 4.5 backspacing with out any problems? If so ill go that way. I didn't think it would fit that's why I was goin to get the 17x7.

 

I run 4.5" backspace 17's on the front of my 69.