Tire choices
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Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 66
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From: Champaign Il.
Tire choices
Well, here I go, spending money on my toy again. I am about to reshoe my '96 vert and I hope to hear 
what everyone has to say about tires. My car was purchased with 9.5 X 17's on all corners. I don't have a clear understanding of aspect ratio's so does it matter if the original sizes are fudged a little? The car had 285/40X17 rears, when new, and 245/45X17 fronts. Now with the non original rims equal sized front and back should I be fooling around with different sizes to try and match the original circumferences and widths?
what everyone has to say about tires. My car was purchased with 9.5 X 17's on all corners. I don't have a clear understanding of aspect ratio's so does it matter if the original sizes are fudged a little? The car had 285/40X17 rears, when new, and 245/45X17 fronts. Now with the non original rims equal sized front and back should I be fooling around with different sizes to try and match the original circumferences and widths?
Race Director
Joined: Oct 2005
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From: Rolla Missouri
2021 C4 of the Year - Unmodified Finalist
St. Jude Donor '10 thru '25
For any factory cars using the 9.5 inch rims on all four corners, they used 275/40-17 tires all around.
You can put your original tires on those rims, but the front will look just a bit funny.
It will be safe and within specs though. It's just the wider rim on that size tire looks odd.
For that reason, I went with the 275/40-17 on the front. But I kept my 285/40 on the rear.
You can also move to a 285/40 for the front if you want all 4 to be the same. Lots of people have done that also.
You can put your original tires on those rims, but the front will look just a bit funny.
It will be safe and within specs though. It's just the wider rim on that size tire looks odd.
For that reason, I went with the 275/40-17 on the front. But I kept my 285/40 on the rear.
You can also move to a 285/40 for the front if you want all 4 to be the same. Lots of people have done that also.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 1,185
Likes: 33
From: Charlotte Michigan
I have 9.5 inch Z06 rims all around and it came with the tire sizes you mentioned as the stock sizes for the 92-96. But since they were 9.5's I went with the previous size in previous years of the 275's all around. Now I can rotate tires from front to rear and get a little more mileage out of them. They are Firestone Firehawks. I still have the original rims but no tires on them. would like to get 2 of the 9.5's to put 275's on. This is on a '93 Ruby and original wheels have the special Anniversary caps on the wheels.
