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Wish there were a better side pic of this car, those wheels and tire sizes are what I'd really like on my 71 vert I think.
Anyone have the same setup? Those would be 5 or 5+ backspace, would spacers be required? Wonder if those are Am Racing or another brand? Not an easy task to put wheels and tires on a C3, big learning curve. But they need sidewall to look right and no big gaps. I'd like to see more cars with 17x8 with 235/55 or wider. Maybe 255/55 rears? Are they even available?
Actually since reposting that pic I can see it better. The tires do fill the wheel wells nicely...
There is a thread for upgraded wheels and tires here in C3 General.
If I remember correctly, this car, the wheel manufacturer and specs are shown in the thread.
I can’t remember the manufacturer or specs for the wheels, but they are popular and several people are running these wheels and are very happy with them.
They are great looking aluminum wheels.
You can Google 17” aluminum Corvette Rallie wheels and you will see them pop up there as well.
Last edited by OldCarBum; Jul 3, 2021 at 12:52 PM.
Thank you Barry,
I saw your car in the sticky, (i've been through it many times this week) it looks great! It seems to me that it's rather imperative to keep that 4 inch back space? Do you feel good about using spacers and did you install longer wheel studs? I'm still thinking I may want more tire, especially on the rear, and I may do some light autocross so I'm uncertain about spacers. But mostly will be a DD. I think I'm gonna have to order the 17x8 and 17x9 and just make them work, almost impossible to work it out virtually. I do worry about spacers and autocrossing. May drive it a bit on the Road Atlanta track for fun. Maybe get ARP wheel studs. Both these cars look really nice!
I prefer the look of the 8" wheel with the 4" BS, keeps the original look. I did install ARP longer studs since I wanted spacers and the strength of ARP.
I've had the wheels and spacers on since 2015, without any issues. The spacers are billet aluminum, hub & stud centric. (Wheels Torqued to 95 ft lb)
I have no concerns about using spacers, just use good studs and good spacers.
If you're looking for larger rear tires, then the 17" X 9" would likely be better for the rear.
A good friend drove in Trans Am racing professionally for a few years and always used spacers on his race car. He never had a problem. He's now using a 3/4" spacer on his '74 Vette, (383 450 hp), with the same yearone wheels, since 2015 as well, with no problems.
If you're concerned about the spacers when autocrossing, then just remove the spacers for that event. My experience says spacers are not a problem on the street, even with aggressive driving.
Barry
Wider rear track is a very good thing for performance. Going to adapters like my 2 inch. Then I was able to put on 11 inch rear width wheels. For rear 285 and 305 tires Later I went to 13inch wheels
These are ZR1 style SLP 17 inch rims (BS unknown) with 255/45/17 fronts and 255/50/17 rears (gear preservation (3.70 rear gears stock) and for a modern stance, slightly higher rear versus stock C3's that often sag in the year, old school and dated look.
71 with 17 in wheels
