Hello all,

I have a black ’04 C5. One of my tires is bald so I need new ones, and I decided I rather go with all new wheels. Here is my question what size can I/should I go with. My uncle owns DVinci Wheels (a wheel manufacturer www.dvinciwheels.com) and he recently came out with 3 piece modular wheels (http://dvinciwheels.com/wheels_3-pc.html). He can custom manufacture the wheel to any specification I wish. So my question is what size should I go with. All I know is that I want 19’s in the front and 20’s in the back. I would love to hear suggestions for width and offset. I want to have the deepest dish possible. But at the same time I want no rubbing what so ever. Also I am price sensitive so if there is a certain size where the tires would be considerably cheaper I would more likely favor those (for example getting another 10mm width that would cost me another $50 a tire would not be a good idea for me). So to sum up my question what width and offset wheel and what size tires? Thank you to all in advance. BTW the wheels I am trying to choose between are the Cinque, Giorni, Grano and Tello (any recommendations on that would also be kindly appreciated). On all of them I would be getting a chrome or polished lip and a black face.

Thanks –Mike

If anyone is interested in a group buy from him I will ask, if not I’m sure you can go to any store that carries his line, and he can give you some sort of credit.

Thanks again.

 

"Cheap tires" and "19/20's" don't usually appear together in the same sentence.

The deepest lip has little to do with overall width, and offset does slightly affect it. Nail down your desired offset, and the wheel builder will tell you the best they can do on lip size. This varies by manufacturer, but most can do a 3", possibly 4" in the rear, and 2-2.5" in the front. How the center section of the wheel is contoured has a huge effect on what the max lip size can be, since brake caliper clearance is the big obstacle..

As for offset..I would suggest sticking with the offset of Z06 wheels, and if you go narrower or wider, adjust accodingly. This will locate the outer edge of the wheels flush with the fenders...they won't stick out, but they won't be tucked in like the stock C5 wheels are.

The stock Z06 wheels are...
Front: 9.5" wide, 54mm offset.
Rear: 10.5" wide, 58mm offset.

My wheels are 19/20, and the dimensions are:

Front, 19x9.5" 54mm offset.
Rear, 20x10, 52mm offset.

Note my rear wheels are 1/2" narrower than the 10.5" Z06 wheel, but the reduced offset kept the outside edge of the wheel located in the same place as the Zwheel would be.

Simply put, less offset = wheel sticks out more, more offset pushes wheel in more. If you decide to go wider, say 20x11, you would want to increase the offset, to say 64-65mm or so. This keeps the added width from sticking out of the fender.

Now, going to bigger wheels, you need to consider tire availability. Not a whole lot of choices exist in these larger sizes, so if you are building custom wheels, I'd recomend picking your tires (and sizes), and build the wheels to best fit them.

In my case, 2.5 years ago when i bought my wheels, The ONLY suitable 20" tire that fit a C5 was the 285/30/20. This is why I sized my rears at 20x10...it's the best fit for that tire.
Now, there are a couple more choices, namely the 305/25/20, which is only made By Continental...the 295/25/20, which is only made by Michelin (and a little too short IMO), and if you want to go way wide and tub the inner fenders...Pirelli makes the 345/25/20, which will not fit w/o tubbing.

So, my recommendations would be decide what tires you will go with, and then pick the wheel width.

If you go with the 285's, a 10-10.5" wheel works well.
The 305's should be sitting on a 11" wheel.
Either of the above choices will fit the car fine, and will cause no issues whatsoever.
The 345's, a 12-12.5" wheel.

For the front, I would suggest sticking with the 9.5" width and using the 275/30/19 size. This will cause no issues, and fit perfectly.

Bottom line, I would suggest you pick from 2 setups (again, depending on the tire).

Front, 19x9.5, 54mm offset, 275/30/19 tire
Rear, 20x10, 52mm offset, 285/30/20 tire

Or,

Front, 19x9.5, 54mm offset, 275/30/19 tire
Rear, 20x11, 65mm offset, 305/25/20 tire.

And finally, if you decide to go with the 305 Conti's...check availablity, last I heard they were on backorder and no one has 'em in stock.

Hope that helps.

 

Thanks for the great reply, I guess I would go with the 285's as there are many more tires to chose from. My car is lowered about an inch, that wont affect rubbing will it? Thanks.

Anyone else have any oppinions?

thanks to all -Mike

 

I am going through the same thing you are right now. I have a couple tires that should be replaced, but I dont want to put any money into the rims because I dont like them. I am kinda in the same boat with you for the "prices". but more because I refuse to pay over 2,000 for a nice set of wheels & tires.

And I have no friggin clue what offset to get. Reading the forums has helped a little. The wheels I am looking to get are 18"x9.5" w/ 40mm offset. I also agree with you about the tire options. I want to stick with that size wheel, because the tire options are alot wider. If I get a flat tire, I want to be able to goto any tire store, say "I need so and so size." and they can give it to me that day.

Wish I could give some tech info on your post, but thats all I can contribute.

 

I believe I will be going with the
"Front, 19x9.5, 54mm offset, 275/30/19 tire
Rear, 20x10, 52mm offset, 285/30/20 tire" setup due to financial constraints.

My final question is what do I do about alignment. My car was lowered on the stock bolts (maybe an inch front and back). What do I tell them to do, I have an 04 C5, do I request the settings for the Z06, what about camber and toe? Sorry I am just clueless when it comes to this specific topic (along with many others).

Thanks again.