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I almost forgot to answer this. You can mount a 245/50/16 on the original 16x8.5 wheels for sure, and probably they can be stretched onto the 16x9.5s safely. They are not much smaller, and would look fine. Plenty of people have done this. You get a whole lot more choices of tire in that size.
What does the look like, from the side, and from the rear of the car.
Is there much difference?
If I grab an early C4 for my bday.....and need tires I may do this more avail size.
I guess you would no have as much "patch" on the pavement , but hey, at some point just cruising is just as fun as racing kinda!
Btw I have had a set of the toyo Proxes on a C5
They ride well and didn't wear too fast. But I didn't put lots of miles on them, so it's hard to comment on the wear
What does the look like, from the side, and from the rear of the car.
Is there much difference?
A little, but the 245/50/16 is still 25.6" in diameter, which is the same as the later C4's 275/40/17 tires. So the outer diameter is still within the OEM C4 diameter range. It's 10mm narrower, but that's section width whereas tread width varies from one tire model to the next, even for the same size tire. For example, the Riken Raptor has a 10" section width and 8.4" tread width, whereas the General G-Max RS has the same 10" section width but only 8.1" tread width.
I guess you would no have as much "patch" on the pavement , but hey, at some point just cruising is just as fun as racing kinda!
Btw I have had a set of the toyo Proxes on a C5
They ride well and didn't wear too fast. But I didn't put lots of miles on them, so it's hard to comment on the wear
It's going to depend on what you want to do with the car. For just cruising on the street and putting lots of miles on the car, the 245 true street tire (maybe even all-season depending on your climate and when you take the car) is the better option. But if you want to drive aggressively or maybe autocross or track the car, and you only put 2000mi/year on the car and stay away from freezing temps and ice/snow, then the Toyo Proxes RA1 could make more sense.
Hadn't seen this thread so thought I'd add 2 cents to it. I have an 86 which had 9.5"x16" 38 offset rims with 255x50-16 tires oem. It had 245x50-16 tires on it when I bought it.
The tires were old and hard and unfortunately I could not find current new tires. Looking for options I found Factory Reproductions: Quality Selection of Replica OEM Wheels (no affiliation) where I was able to find some C6 Z06 reproductions in 9.5"x18" 40 offset. I got corresponding tires (255x40zr18 IIRC) and they worked out well for me. They fit just like the originals, no interference and even the speedometer is unchanged.
By the way, I found a place in Texas where I got the rims and it was much cheaper than even going to the vendors website so check out all your options.
Hope that helps someone.
Hadn't seen this thread so thought I'd add 2 cents to it. I have an 86 which had 9.5"x16" 38 offset rims with 255x50-16 tires oem. It had 245x50-16 tires on it when I bought it.
The tires were old and hard and unfortunately I could not find current new tires. Looking for options I found Factory Reproductions: Quality Selection of Replica OEM Wheels (no affiliation) where I was able to find some C6 Z06 reproductions in 9.5"x18" 40 offset. I got corresponding tires (255x40zr18 IIRC) and they worked out well for me. They fit just like the originals, no interference and even the speedometer is unchanged.
By the way, I found a place in Texas where I got the rims and it was much cheaper than even going to the vendors website so check out all your options.
Hope that helps someone.
That's a great lead. 40mm is close enough to stock to bolt right on. Someone could use 5mm spacers if desired to push them out a bit for a more aggressive look, but they'd have to verify adequate threads on the studs.
