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I was considering going to 17's or 18's myself, and wrestled with it for months.....Somehow I can't do it. The 15's just look more "right" to me on the car. L88 hood, and fat back tires......nothing like it.
May I ask what size tires & wheels your showing here including backspace please???
suprspooky....275/60/15 rear 245/6015 front. Here is a better look at the stance.
Hello GJohnson!
Sorry I'm late to the party on this post as I'm new to the group...
... May I please ask what size rims you're showing here and with what backspace please???
I like the look you're showing here with the 275/60/15's in the rear and was wondering if there's any mods that have to be done in the rear to clear that big of a tire???
Thank You for your time in this!
Blessings!
Will & Wendy,
N3YH & K3WMS
Last edited by Old Man Wolf; 06-14-2019 at 08:35 AM.
Here's a pic of my new wheels I purchased last fall. American Racing Wheels 15x8 with BF Goodrich P235-60R15 on both front and back. Thinking I would like to go to a wider tire. Stock suspension and brakes all has been gone thru. Bring on Spring
If you don’t mind could you tell me what those cost ?
I thought this might be interesting to many here, as it's something often discussed but it can be difficult to make comparisons between differing cars, and as I go through more tyres than most I've had the opportunity to try some different sizes.
When I bought my car, it had the factory 15" alloys with 255/60R15 BF Goodrich Radial T/As:
I liked the look but they tyres were woefully lacking in grip, and when I did some research I found that I couldn't find what I considered a decent performance tyre for a decent price in 15" sizes to suit our cars. So I bought a set of 17"x9.5" wheels and found a good deal on some 255/50R17 Nitto Invo tyres. These matched the diameter of the previous 15" wheels and tyres at ~27". I had to relocate the handbrake cable, shorten the spring, and re-bend the factory rear sway bar (my car has the gymkhana suspension option) to clear the wider rear wheels. These tyres were a an absolutely huge improvement over the Radial T/As, and with the factory engine offered heaps of grip. But when I upgraded the engine to the current hot 388 (~500hp) I found them lacking in straight line traction, as I could spin the tyres at will in first and second and often spun them in third as well. Also, as they wore down they became diabolical in the wet. They tyres were a little stretched on the wider rims, but I liked the look of the taller sidewall, it was part of the reason I had chosen 17" wheels instead of 18"s:
As I was doing more track work, I wanted something that would provide me a lot more grip as well as work a lot better in the wet. I opted for the then newly released Continental ExtremeContact Sport in 285/40R17. No modifications were needed to the car for clearance, but being an inch shorter overall (~26" diameter, lowering the car half an inch) they made a surprisingly large difference in the cars clearance over bumps and speedhumps. The improvement in grip was again massive compared to the 255 Invos, and wet grip was astonishing. I now had full traction in second gear, and even had mostly full traction in second on very wet tracks. This despite the fact that the smaller tyre results in shorter gearing (effectively the equivalent of a change from my 3.36 rear gear to ~3.5). They also wore much better, having 35,000km (~21,000 miles) and a bunch of track events on them when removed, and still being (just) above the wear markers. They set times many seconds quicker than the Invos on the track as well, and almost the same times as the set of 18" semi slicks that I bought about halfway through the life of the Continentals. A truly excellent street/track dual purpose tyre, but I did miss the classic look of the larger sidewall, and the constant avoiding of bumps and slowing to avoid grounding the exhaust on dips on the country roads around my house did wear a bit thin:
Having now bought a set of dedicated track wheels and tyres, and with the Continentals approaching minimum legal tread depth, I decided to step back from the more track oriented Contis and yesterday I fitted a set of Nittos NT555 G2 tyres in 275/50R17. I figured these, at ~27.8" diameter being nearly 2" taller than the Continentals and 1" taller than the Invos would give me some extra ride height on the street while keeping the suspension low for my track use and also give me back the tall sidewall look that I preferred. The result? I'm very happy so far. I absolutely love the look, to me it gives it a real old school racer look. The grip is certainly a little less than the Continentals, but still very good, much better than the Invos and honestly better than I expected. The gearing is noticeably different (almost 10%) but the engine easily pulls it and for street use it actually seems really good so far. Interestingly, I hadn't realised how much tyre noise I had previously until it wasn't there any more, and the car is significantly less darty and less prone to follow bumps and dips in the road. It's also much easier to get in and out of! Overall, so far I am very happy with the change, especially in the appearance. I did have to trim the rear lip and some lumps in the adhesive inside the wheel well down slightly to avoid them contacting the tyre over bumps (I have much shorter bump stops and relocated shock mounts in the rear to retain suspension travel despite the low ride height). I only fitted them yesterday, but it seems so far that I no longer have to worry about bottoming out over bumps and dips in the road. As a purely street tyre I am very happy with them.:
Anyway, personally I find it interesting how much difference there is aesthetically between each size. Hope it's interesting / useful to others in choosing options for their own cars. As an aside, there is much better tyre availability in 18"s (which is why I bought the 18" track wheels), but I still personally much prefer the 17"s aesthetically.
Is there any reason why you haven't tried a Michelin Pilot series of tires like the Super Sports? I'd be interested in those results. Great post!
Size availability is the reason. The only option that would be a good fit for my 17" wheels is the PS2 in 275/40R17, which is even shorter than the Continentals were at just under 25.7" diameter. The Continentals should be a better tyre than the PS2 also, based on the various tests that I've seen. You can get PS4s in 255/45R17 but again they would be a bit stretched on my 9.5" wide rims, and are a comparable quality tyre to the Continentals (though less track oriented, the ExtremeContact Sports are more similar to the Pilot Supersport) at the same diameter (26") and giving up 30mm of tread width. I have PS4s on my wife's E36 BMW, and while it's a very different car, I'd rate the Continentals as every bit as good or better.
Last edited by Metalhead140; 07-09-2019 at 06:53 PM.
Conti's do get a high rating. Just goes to show about tire size availability in 17" and less these days.
Definitely. The Nt555 G2s are the best tyre I could get in the 275/50R17 size, choice is very limited. Other than a couple of drag radials, the only other choices were the Nitto 450 and a Falken that are both "performance truck tyres". Probably unsurprisingly, given it's quite a large diameter wheel and tyre combo, but still... 255/50R17 has similarly limited choices. There's a few more in 285/40R17, and quite a lot in 275/40R17, but as I say, they are significantly shorter than stock. It's all compromises.
Last edited by Metalhead140; 07-10-2019 at 07:51 PM.
I would go back to 15" and run BFG's before I would run 18's on my C3.
But I won't be racing.
Just my opinion.
17" may not have the tire makers attention today in the way it did just a few years ago but you can still get some pretty good performance tires. 18" no doubt offer even more choices........but 15" forget about it. All but completely abandoned. Tough choice for anything other than the owner looking to restore a Corvette to "original".
....and yes that too is just my opinion but it is based in a pretty realistic view of all that is available to use today.
Under no circumstances can I even begin to imagine going back to a nearly worthless, for performance driving, 15" BFG. My car has seen enough upgrades to it's ability to "carve a corner" such that the 15" tire is simply not capable and is the limiting factor in finding the limits of "grip"..........falling way short of potential when in use. The difference is NIGHT vs. DAY.
I would go back to 15" and run BFG's before I would run 18's on my C3.
But I won't be racing.
Just my opinion.
I don't feel as strongly about it as that, but I do agree that in my opinion the 18"s look too big. I do quite like the 18"s on my car as a track wheel, and interestingly a lot of people seem to prefer them on my car to the 17"s, but personally I greatly prefer the 17"s aesthetically.
Originally Posted by Krystal
17" may not have the tire makers attention today in the way it did just a few years ago but you can still get some pretty good performance tires. 18" no doubt offer even more choices........but 15" forget about it. All but completely abandoned. Tough choice for anything other than the owner looking to restore a Corvette to "original".
....and yes that too is just my opinion but it is based in a pretty realistic view of all that is available to use today.
Under no circumstances can I even begin to imagine going back to a nearly worthless, for performance driving, 15" BFG. My car has seen enough upgrades to it's ability to "carve a corner" such that the 15" tire is simply not capable and is the limiting factor in finding the limits of "grip"..........falling way short of potential when in use. The difference is NIGHT vs. DAY.
Agree 100%. I have been retaining the factory 15" alloys hoping that a better tyre option might become available in the future, but now that I've fitted the 14" Wilwoods I couldn't get the 15" wheels on the car anyway, so I probably should just sell them.
Last edited by Metalhead140; 07-10-2019 at 08:00 PM.
I purchased 17" wheels for my 73 and will run 255-50-17's all around.
I think it will be the best of both worlds giving me good performing tires and the aesthetics of the higher profile tire. Like you I went to a 17" wheel so the upgraded Wilwood calipers and rotors would fit. It would be nice if one tire manufacturer would come out with a performance 15" tire. I read the same discussions on several different classic and hot rod forums. Just imagine owning a 60's classic that you wanted to retain the original appearance and tried to find a performance 14" tire to handle well with that new LS motor under the hood.
I purchased 17" wheels for my 73 and will run 255-50-17's all around.
I think it will be the best of both worlds giving me good performing tires and the aesthetics of the higher profile tire. Like you I went to a 17" wheel so the upgraded Wilwood calipers and rotors would fit. It would be nice if one tire manufacturer would come out with a performance 15" tire. I read the same discussions on several different classic and hot rod forums. Just imagine owning a 60's classic that you wanted to retain the original appearance and tried to find a performance 14" tire to handle well with that new LS motor under the hood.
I'm running with Wilwood calipers and 17" wheel too. The weight reduction was my primary consideration. I've never tried to mount the old 15" wheels over them but I'd be really surprised if they didn't fit. Wilwood promises this is a direct replacement Caliper. We gotta be careful in talking about them so generally. It can mislead other people thinking about making the swap.
Fitment problems should only come up if it's an over-size rotor and Caliper you're working with. For the stock wheels the Wilwood is a pretty good light weight aluminum caliper replacement that should fit perfectly with a 15" wheel and stock sized rotor. I see virtually no difference in the size and space required vs the stock calipers they replaced. If I'm wrong on that hopefully someone will correct me.
When I did the fit check, the Willwood 4 and 6 piston calipers with Willwoods 11.75” diameter rotors, fit perfect with my 15” ralley wheels.
They did fit with my 15” aftermarket aluminum wheels, but the wheel to caliper clearance was very tight, even though within Willwoods specs.
I decided to go to the 17” wheels to increase the clearances and help with heat dissipation.
I'm running with Wilwood calipers and 17" wheel too. The weight reduction was my primary consideration. I've never tried to mount the old 15" wheels over them but I'd be really surprised if they didn't fit. Wilwood promises this is a direct replacement Caliper. We gotta be careful in talking about them so generally. It can mislead other people thinking about making the swap.
Fitment problems should only come up if it's an over-size rotor and Caliper you're working with. For the stock wheels the Wilwood is a pretty good light weight aluminum caliper replacement that should fit perfectly with a 15" wheel and stock sized rotor. I see virtually no difference in the size and space required vs the stock calipers they replaced. If I'm wrong on that hopefully someone will correct me.
Good points. In my case, mine are not the factory replacement Wilwoods, they're bigger Willwood 6 pots with bigger 14" rotors. Willwood actually say they require 18" wheels but they fit under my 17"s - they definitely won't fit under all 17"s though, depends on wheel design.
Shoudn't be 0mm offset a 4in backspace in a 8in wide??
Nup. Wheel lips are ~0.5" each side, backspace is measured to the outside of the wheel lip, wheel width is measured between the insides of the lips. So 0 offset on an 8" wide wheel = roughly 4.5" backspace.
Last edited by Metalhead140; 09-03-2019 at 07:12 AM.
Nup. Wheel lips are ~0.5" each side, backspace is measured to the outside of the wheel lip, wheel width is measured between the insides of the lips. So 0 offset on an 8" wide wheel = roughly 4.5" backspace.
06-12-2019, 09:31 PM
