Tire question
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3rd Gear
Joined: Apr 2019
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Tire question
I first have to apologize but I’m new to Corvettes I’m sure the question I have been asked several times. I’m curious I have the opportunity to purchase at a good price a set of rear tires that are 305/30 19. The front wheels are 18s with 245/45 18. If I buy and use these 305 tires for my 1988 Corvette will they cause any issues ?
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Joined: Apr 2019
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From: Jamestown NC
A tire that size can fit, but you need to know/provide more information. Will it fit the wheel? Assuming it's a 19" wheel, and assuming the wheel is wide enough, yes, it'll fit the wheel. Will the tire and wheel fit the car? Depends what the offset is. If the offset is too high, the wheel will sit too close to the inside of the wheelwell, and might rub. Too low of an offset and they can still out too far which can look funny, or possibly even cause performance problems.
The easiest thing to do is to see if other people are having any issues with the same combination you're looking to run. Second method would to actually do the math comparing your current wheels to the new wheels and see (on paper) where the wheel will sit on your car.
Here's a great link that explains wheel measurements in general terms.
http://www.skulte.com/adapterfaq.html
The easiest thing to do is to see if other people are having any issues with the same combination you're looking to run. Second method would to actually do the math comparing your current wheels to the new wheels and see (on paper) where the wheel will sit on your car.
Here's a great link that explains wheel measurements in general terms.
http://www.skulte.com/adapterfaq.html
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Joined: Apr 2019
Posts: 79
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From: Jamestown NC
Another thing to keep in mind would the relationship from front tire size to rear tire. I come from front heavy F bodies, and the ideal tire set up is the same width on front to back. Now I KNOW on Corvettes, the weight/balance is quite different, and wider rear tires aren't a problem. That being said, I'd suspect at SOME point, with enough difference, it can throw balanced handling characteristics out the window. Is this the case with a 245/305 difference? I don't know. Maybe someone will chime in with some experience. I'd kinda like to know too.
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Something you need to keep in mind is that you need to maintain a proper stagger from front to rear on the car. I just picked Michelin tires for reference purposes and the fronts would have a 26.7" overall diameter while the rears would have an overall diameter of 26.3". It is generally assumed that the rear tire needs to be anywhere from .5" to 1.5" bigger than the fronts. The sizes you mention do not have that stagger.
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Something you need to keep in mind is that you need to maintain a proper stagger from front to rear on the car. I just picked Michelin tires for reference purposes and the fronts would have a 26.7" overall diameter while the rears would have an overall diameter of 26.3". It is generally assumed that the rear tire needs to be anywhere from .5" to 1.5" bigger than the fronts. The sizes you mention do not have that stagger.
And for those who are either new to C-5 Corvettes, or just didn't know, the reason for this difference in tire ODs, front to rear, is that the car's active handling parameters are based on this dimensional difference, as it was built into the car by the GM engineers. If the computer doesn't "see" this difference in wheel speeds, front to rear, it thinks that there's wheelspin, and tries to compensate for it.
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Use the web site tire size to compare the original size and the expected size https://tiresize.com/, and this is just for the tires. For the wheels, it is another question and they should both fit the car (offset, width, ...) and the tires.
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Last edited by TCFS; Apr 27, 2019 at 07:08 AM.
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