I see new wheels for my 86 in the future.

I think I know the basics about tires but not about Wheel

I like to go with more moder aftermarket wheels for my vette

thinking 17 or 18.

that is about all i know about wheels. how do I know what wheels will fit my vette.

any body can explan everything I have to know about wheels

 

Your factory wheels have an offset of 38mm. 88 and later C4 factory wheels have an offset of 56mm. That 18mm (3/4") would make the later C4 wheels sit that much further inboard and may cause the tire to hit the frame or the edges of the lower part of the wheelwell opening.

There are companies that make a 17" x 9-1/2" ZR-1 style of wheel with the proper 38mm offset. AFS Wheels and OE Wheels are two companies that off this style wheel with spokes in black, or silver or the entire wheel is chrome plated or polished.

The proper C4 tire size for a 17x9.5 wheel is 275/40-17 and they are available from a number of manufacturers. Look at Tire Rack for some examples. One nice thing about the 275/40-17 tire is that it has nearly the same dimensions as the early OEM 255/50-16 tire. That allows the speedometer to read very closely to the OEM tires. The tread width is the same so no real issues with clearances.

As far as 18's, you just have to follow the same type of measurements. Check available 18" tires to insure that the diameter will be close to that of the stock 16" or the later C4 17" tire.

If you decide on using a wheel with a 56mm offset (later C4) you can use wheel adapters to move the wheel further out. Either a 3/4" or a 1" adapter will work. Note that adapters bolt to the hub and the wheel bolts to the adapter.

Spacers are different in that they simply slide over the wheel studs. I would not use spacers unless you replace the existing studs with longer ones.

 

Great response C4cruiser, I learned something too.

Be Safe

 

Link provides backspacing info, and at the bottom of the link is a tire calculator showing how different size tires will affect your speedometer.

http://www.joby.se/corvette/div/corvette_wheels/

 

I tried a set of wheels off a C5 Corvette. Got them off the local Craigslist for about $300 and then found a good deal for tires from an Ebay store.
I did not need spacers on my 91 as they fit perfectly but if you go with the same wheels you will need the spacers discussed above. There are plenty for sale on the auction sites.

 

Very good explanation . I just got one more question . What is offset?????????

 

http://www.lugpatternguide.com/Chevr...t_Patterns.htm

you may need to click again on the chevy/gm thingy to bring up the 3 corvette patterns.

 

This is the best info I've seen:

http://corvetteactioncenter.com/tech...l#.UaRbhZX5HHM

 

The back spacing from the hub surface to the rim of the wheel

 

Offset is the distance from the wheel mounting flange to the center of the wheel rim. Backspace is from the mounting flange to the inside edge of the rim.

 

thank you all for the help.

 

Here's offset explained "visually":



Here's back-spacing in comparison:

 

now that I reea all the comments and lear more about wheels. I can apreciate your sugestions. thank you

 

the Factory tire is 16 x 8.5 with 32mm. so to make it more clear to me.
the Factory Wheel is 16 x 85.000 mm off set of 32mm

so Factory width divide by 2 = 42.5 mm.

if 42.5 mm is half of my Factory width them my off set of 32 mm is a positive offset. because is smaller than the center measure of the Wheel.

 

Good posts here , for me , wheels make 80% the looks of the car

 

Factory "wheel" is 16" (406.40mm) diammeter X 8 1/2" (215.90mm) and the offset is +32mm. Center of the wheel is 215.90 /2 = 107.95mm. The wheel flange is 32mm outboard of center, outboard of center is positive.

If the flange is outboard of center it's determined as positive (beyond center), if it is inboard of center it's determined as negative (less than center). You will from time to time see 0 - that's dead center of the wheel.

 

I have an 86 and I went through the same decisions. With 17" wheels, there were only about 8 tire choices in the 275/40-17 from Discount Tire, which is the vendor that I wanted to go through, since they had the best prices for the same tires and/or wheels, even compared to Tire Rack. I was not able to get the Michelin Pilot Super Sports in that size, as well, which is the tire I wanted to go with, based off of all the tire reviews from Tire Rack, Discount Tire and other web reviews. They seemed the best dry or wet, for traction.

With the 18" wheels, I was able to find about 20 tire choices in the 275/35ZR18, including the Michelin Pilot Super Sport. The 18" wheels I went with are the C6 Z06 replica wheels in 18" diameter x 9.5" width with a 40mm offset. The difference between 38mm and 40mm offset is not obvious. The tires and wheels clear everything with about 30mm to spare (inside fender well bolts at full lock) in the front. The back has plenty of clearance, as well.

Switching to these tires from 255/60R16 smoothed out the ride a quite a bit and removed almost all of the tendency to wander in road grooves.

 

Since this thread is so involved with people in the know I figured I would ask what about cars with TPMS?? If you use after market wheels does this feature go away?? Do you need new sensors??

 

They can be moved from one set of wheels to another so long as the bands that retain them on a C4 will fit the second set of wheels. A confirmed fit would be trial and error, there are after-market bands that would allow the transfer of the sensors to most any wheel. They're quite readily available if the originals wouldn't fit the replacement wheels.

 

If you have the Z51 option the wheels are 16 x 9.5".

You can tell by how deep the center section is. My 9.5" wheels are about 2" deep.