I am confused. I've had two people (both good Corvette racers) tell me two different things.

I have a 96 GS with a DRM coilover and it is lowered. I want to have as much rubber down as possible for autocross.

Can I run 335/35's on the back? What offsett and size (width) of wheels should I get to accomplish this? I'm thinking 17's with 50mm ofset but now I'm not sure. Also, if you would suggest wheel brands that would be helpful also.

Thanks

 

Not a chance...

ZR1's BARELY have clearance for 335's with the correct offset, and they are 1.5" wider on each side.

I can fit 12" Goodyears on mine, but they rub a bit on the inside. I have 1/4" spacers and use CCW's. I have no clearance between the fender lip and the tire...sometimes they rub under load on the inner fender lip.

 

I have seen 335s on the 11" GS rims before, its a bit much but you can do it.

 

Why just at the back?

Brian Cunningham's car has 335's on 12" wheels at all four corners.
Street driven to boot.

He has posted many times about this set up, here is one thread with
his remarks.

.

 

Thanks for the replies. I was hoping that Brian would chime in here. His car looks higher than mine though. I have not purchased wheels yet, so if I could get 335's all the way around I would (if that's the best way to go) but would like some help with widths and offset. Obviously I would like to do this right the first time. I really appreciate the help.

 

You've had some good replies in your other threads but no one has
had your exact set up. You are trying to go pretty big and while CCWs
might get you there, they come at a cost. I don't have an answer
but I can give you some more to think about if you like.

My car is an '89 with the FE1 suspension at the stock ride height
(highish). No matter what suspension your '96 has, it is softer than
mine at the front and only the '96 F45 has the same rear rate. This
plus I gather your car is lowered changes the picture as far as
interference under load. Here're the numbers

1989
FE1 93.1 39.9 (CPE)

1996
FE1 60.0 26.0 (CPE)
Z51 73.2 33.0
F45 73.2 39.9

I have OEM 18x11 Z/06 wheels w/ 305/40 Hoosiers. I don't have much
time on these and none under aggressive conditions. I can say that
my Earl's SS lines clear, that there hasn't been any rubbing at the
front at lock (you'll remember that Vetracr spoke about trouble with
17x11 GS wheels and the swaybar) and that they are just inside of an
imaginary line dropping from the fender lip.

These wheels have 50mm offset. I am going out to measure the
backspacing from the outer lip to the wheel mounting flange after I
post this.

Tell us more about the dimensions of the wheels you found in Jan
How were these measurements arrived at and did you measure
them yourself?

I am wondering because an 11" wheel with 50mm offset would work
out to about 7-1/2" from the inside of the lip to the face of
the flange. If you measured from the outside of the lip, I don't think
this would add an inch, maybe just 1/2". So I think your wheels have
more than 50mm offset.

.

 

I can't find 335's in 17" anywhere, I've been looking for some time, but I can only find them in 18"

 

335/35 x 17

.

 

Here ya go

 

OK cool, but I was looking for a 30 series to keep the speedo more accurate

 

They are 30's I believe. 335/30 18's.
http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Compar...=8&RunFlat=All

 

I think 335/35/17" is closer to the the original diameter than 335/30/17".

 

i have 335/35/17 on my 1990 vette
it has original 17x 11 ZR1 wheels from a 90,s ZR1
i bought fenderflares and installed them:



pirelli p zero assymetrico tires
no spacers !
work great !!
greetzz jeff stingray

 

do u have a pic from directly behind the rear? and from the side?

thanks!

 

Slalom4me, I didn't buy those wheels because the offsets seemed funny and I didn't want to do spacers. My suspension does feel soft to me so I'm sure yours is stiffer.

I guess my problem is that I want to put as much rubber in the back as possible because I have the power (it has a DRM 480 conversion on the motor and 4:10 gears) to get out of the corners fast, but it is still my street car so I don't want to damage the fenderwells or cut them up with the tires.

Thanks everyone for the replies. Sorry to be so confused.....

 

here ya go:

 

With that large of a tire plan on some serious wheel bearing maintinence, ive done a lot of wheel bearing replacements and almost every one had the bearing problems after they went to 315's or larger. see yaaa

 

j-stingray,
Are those the 38 offset or the 50 offset? I may be wrong but I thought that ZR-1 was 38 which should move the tire to the outside more. Does the tire ever rub under hard cornering or over bumps? This definately looks do-able from those pictures.

Thanks for the pictures.

 

Pictures of my setup. I had to cut back the inner quarter lip behind the flare to make them fit.

CCW classics Rear: 18x12 w/335x30x18 Front:18x10 w/275x??x18