My baby needs new tires. Had the car 5 years it came with "New" tires they are weather cracked. All 4 are 285... but research says different for front.
Recommendations on brand and sizes please.

 

 

LOTS of C4's came with a 285's on the rear. None that I know of came with 285's on the front.

 

My first '88 came with 4 275 GY Eagles that performed well street and strip and I've stayed with that brand size.

IMO, if you enjoyed driving with 285s around then don't change.

 

Nitto is forum favorite, decent performance, good price.

What year is your Vette, some came with same size on all 4 corners, others didn't and the latter reduces tread life because you can't rotate.

 

On '95's they originally came with 255/45/17 fronts and 285/40/17 rears, unless it had the Z07 option then they came with 275/40/17 on all four corners.

If I remember your car, I didn't think it had the Z07 option, but you can check. The SPID label will show it or not, and the door tire decal will show the original sizes.

If you had the staggered sizes, the wheels were staggered also with 8.5" wide fronts and 9.5" wide rears. The Z07 same size on all four used 9.5" wide.

The 275 or 285 may be a little to wide for the 8.5" wheels although I know many people have done it. If you have the 9.5" wide on all four then either the 275 or 285 on all four will work fine. I have run all four 9.5" wheels with 275 tires on several sets and 285 tires on another set. They work fine on your '95.

What was originally on your car when new is not necessarily what is on it now. Even if it had the staggered set up when new, it may have all four the same now, so check to see which wheels are on it now. For example, my '95 and '96 came with the staggered set up, but I put all four 9.5" wheels on mine as they sit now.

For tires I went with the Continental DW tires. One set of 275's and one set of 285's. That model of tire has been replaced with one that is very similar and I suspect it would be one of my first choices also. Good ride, quiet, and good grip.

Good luck.

 

All C4s with 17x9.5 wheels at all four corners came with 275/40/17 tires on them, not the taller/wider 285/40. I would follow GM's lead on that, too, if those are the wheels you have.

As others noted, if you have the "staggered" wheel set (8.5 in front and 9.5 in back) then it originally came with 255/45 in front and 285/40 in back. These are both 26.1" in diameter, whereas the 275/40 is 25.6". The 285 is too wide for a 8.5" wheels. You can go with the OE sizes (255/285), but there are very few choices in those sizes and fewer every day. If you get a road hazard a couple years from now, you might be faced with a lack of replacement options. I recommend going with 245/45 in front and 275/40 in back. These are both 25.6" in diameter, which looks better and improves handling a bit. And there are tons of choices in those sizes. The best budget pick is no longer the Nitto - it's the Riken Raptor: well under ~$85ea for a quality set of high performance tires (i.e., not Chinese crap).

 

285 = less choices

275 = more choices

 

In my opinion there are 2 choices in tires for these cars right now...

Continental ExtremeContact Sport

OR

Toyo R888R


Unless you need an all season tire, and I cant help you there.

The Continental will be a GREAT all around tire with good tread wear, good dry traction, good wet traction, etc... Supposed to be the competitor to the award winning Pilot Super Sport which you cant get in our sizes(the PS2 doesnt compare to the PSS).

The R888R is a GREAT dry weather tire and will provide outstanding dry grip at the expense of tread life and wet grip. I just had a set of these mounted for my 96 CE Z51 car(275/40/17 on all 4 corners).

 

Starting with the 1993 model year, the rear tires were 285/40-17 while the front tires were 255/45-17. The base front wheels were 8.5" wide. If those years had the optional Z07 (Z51 for '96) suspension, the tires were 275/40-17 with 9.5" wide wheels. 1989 thru 1992 cars had 275/40-17s on all four corners. The ZR-1 and Grand Sport coupes had 315/35-17 in the rear and 275/40-17 up front. '96 CE cars with Z51 also has 275/40-17 all around.

 

Tires fit the wheels, not the car. Remove your wheels, locate the size stamp and buy tires for that size wheel.

 

 

What things exactly?

 

 

It's an 85? You need to just look at the markings inside the wheels and/or measure them to determine what sizes you're actually dealing with!

 

 

 

 

Is that what I missed, the tires on your minivan? Let's get back on topic. This thread is about what tires fit on his '95 corvette, not the philosophy of tires fitting on wheels. He has 285s all around but he knows '95s were delivered with a staggered setup. In this case his tire selection should match his wheel size. 255/285 for staggered, 275 for square. Assuming factory style wheels of course, since OP didn't say what wheels he has it's really impossible to know what will actually fit. You can bang your keyboard until your fingers fall off but if he has 18" aftermarket wheels with an unknown offset no factory size c4 tire in the world will fit. Until he knows what size wheel he has he cannot choose a tire. So again, tires fit the wheel not the car. Did I explain it well enough for you this time?

 

Whoops, he didn't say '95, I got this confused with another thread.