1986 corvette max tire width
Melting Slicks
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 2,422
Likes: 202
the 86 Has a different rim Offset similar to a 4th Gen F-body. F285 - R315's are about as wide as you can get on the 89? - 96 without the tire Grinding. the ABS inner wells. or using spacers.
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...set-chart.html
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...set-chart.html
Last edited by THE 383 admiral; Mar 22, 2016 at 05:56 PM.
Team Owner
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 25,394
Likes: 2,741
Tire width of course is related to both the chassis/body and rim widths used.
The charts referenced in #2 can be very deceiving. I would NOT rely on it or even reference it unless you're very familiar with what's going on. It's NOT for a novice for sure.
Only for information and certainly NOT a suggested install:
A 315 on an 17 X 11" @ 36mm offset wheel is the max generally considered for the rear of an '87 and earlier BUT there will be challenges, muffler often interferes and depending on rear axle placement body also.
You asked "widest" and I believe that's actually maybe "foolish"- widest doesn't very often contribute to drivability and handling.
Application wise it's generally thought that a 9.5 - 10.5 wide might be a range for the '87 or earlier with maybe an offset of 38 for the 9.5 and something 45 or very close for the 10.5. That can be tweaked by knowledgeable persons.
To satisfy the diameters required to keep the speedometer/odometer near correct without changing things you need to try and maintain an advertised "loaded rolling diameter" of something near 25.8 maybe considered a max.
Diameter of rim/wheel maters NOT just the diameter of the tire and the width/offset of the wheel.
The charts referenced in #2 can be very deceiving. I would NOT rely on it or even reference it unless you're very familiar with what's going on. It's NOT for a novice for sure.
Only for information and certainly NOT a suggested install:
A 315 on an 17 X 11" @ 36mm offset wheel is the max generally considered for the rear of an '87 and earlier BUT there will be challenges, muffler often interferes and depending on rear axle placement body also.
You asked "widest" and I believe that's actually maybe "foolish"- widest doesn't very often contribute to drivability and handling.
Application wise it's generally thought that a 9.5 - 10.5 wide might be a range for the '87 or earlier with maybe an offset of 38 for the 9.5 and something 45 or very close for the 10.5. That can be tweaked by knowledgeable persons.
To satisfy the diameters required to keep the speedometer/odometer near correct without changing things you need to try and maintain an advertised "loaded rolling diameter" of something near 25.8 maybe considered a max.
Diameter of rim/wheel maters NOT just the diameter of the tire and the width/offset of the wheel.
Last edited by WVZR-1; Mar 22, 2016 at 06:44 PM.
Intermediate
Joined: Mar 2016
Posts: 31
Likes: 0
From: West TN
I have a thing about wheel spacing. I can't stand a car that has the tires hanging outside the wheel wells. Uneven spacing is just about as bad. If the 9.5's are spaced to sit nicely inside the wheel wells and evenly spaced all the way around, the 11's would be hanging out a little more than 3/4" more.
I've not seen photos of an early car with the AFS wheels. Maybe it's not noticeable.
