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Wheel and tire change question
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 180
Likes: 0
From: Oklahoma City OK
Wheel and tire change question
Hi, I'm a new poster. I have a '71 Coupe. It is mostly stock but has some old U.S. mags (15 inch) and factory side exhaust on it. I am considering changing the wheel size to 17 inch, but I do not want to change the outside diameter or cross-sectional thickness of the tires. I also do not want change the wheel offset. Basically, I do not want to do anything that would affect the handling. Has anyone done anything similar? What did you use? Thanks.
Safety Car
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 3,637
Likes: 27
From: Norwalk Ct
Hi Nick and welcome.
Swopping to 17" wheels is very popular and if you search the forum for the keywords "17" you will find a ton of information.
Basically the stock wheels on a vette are 15 x 8 with 4" backspacing...so a 17x8 with 4" backspacing would be fine...but if you read up on the forum you will find that slightly larger aizes can be had and still fit under the wheel wells.
cheers,
Nick
Swopping to 17" wheels is very popular and if you search the forum for the keywords "17" you will find a ton of information.
Basically the stock wheels on a vette are 15 x 8 with 4" backspacing...so a 17x8 with 4" backspacing would be fine...but if you read up on the forum you will find that slightly larger aizes can be had and still fit under the wheel wells.
cheers,
Nick
Last edited by lvrpool32; Jul 30, 2004 at 10:31 AM.
Instructor
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 210
Likes: 0
From: Missouri
Just put on a set of American Racing 17" alum. wheels. They are 17x8 with a bolt pattern of 5/4.75 with a 4" offset. I put on a set of 255/50/17 and they look great and seem fine as far a clearance.
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Le Mans Master
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 5,635
Likes: 4
From: Orlando Floriduh
Since size is figured by metric tread width and height is a % of the tread width times two plus rim diameter, you would have to go to a extremely wide tire to come up with 27.4 " which is the stock height.
