Wheel up-sizing
Thread Starter
4th Gear
Joined: Aug 2006
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Wheel up-sizing
My wife got me new chrome wheels for my '99 hard top. They look great but the installer mentioned I could now use wider tires if I wanted to. I suspect he put on 9.5/10.5" wheeels instead of 8.5/9.5" wheels. Aside from weighing a couple of pounds more, is there any saftey or handling concerns with up-sizing the wheels? My tires are a month old and are the original stock size so I'm in no hurry for new tires.
Race Director
Joined: Jan 2002
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From: I love you & miss you Linda
2017 C7 of the Year Finalist
St. Jude Contributor
If you actually did get wider wheels then your installer is correct, you COULD move up to wider rubber.
Typical tire sizes to go with the 1" wider wheels would be:
17x9.5 wheel, 265/40x17 tire
18x10.5 wheel, 295/35x18 tire
Those are OEM Z06 sizes and will have NO ill effect on your 99 FRC at all.
NOW, if you have mounted your OEM 245/45x17 and 275/40x18 on those 1" wider wheels. you will most likely be able to see for yourself that they do not fit properly. They should be ok safety wise, but will not wear properly....
Typical tire sizes to go with the 1" wider wheels would be:
17x9.5 wheel, 265/40x17 tire
18x10.5 wheel, 295/35x18 tire
Those are OEM Z06 sizes and will have NO ill effect on your 99 FRC at all.
NOW, if you have mounted your OEM 245/45x17 and 275/40x18 on those 1" wider wheels. you will most likely be able to see for yourself that they do not fit properly. They should be ok safety wise, but will not wear properly....
Thread Starter
4th Gear
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 4
Likes: 0
They are the OEM size tires - 245 & 275 - and the side walls seem to flare out a little to the wheel and not go straight up and down. They seem to handle fine for the 20 minutes I drove on them. Trying to decide if I should go back and raise a fuss as the installer said there would be no problems.
