How much performance am I actually losing?
Thread Starter
Le Mans Master
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 6,312
Likes: 399
From: North Haven, CT
How much performance am I actually losing?
I just purchased a low mileage 99 FRC and love it. My only slight concern is that the beautiful brushed aluminum HRE 547 wheels that came with it are stock C5 sizes. 17x8.5 front and 18x9.5 rear. It currently has Michelin Pilot A/S ZP runflats. They are nice tires and basically brand new with only about 3k miles on them. To get some more traction though, I will probably upgrade to Michelin PS2 non-runflat tires. But, I will need to get 245/45/17 front and 275/40/18 rear sizes.
Here is my question, my old FRC had OEM Z06 wheels with the same Michelin PS2 tires, only in 265/40/17 and 295/35/18 sizes. Will I notice a major loss in traction with the smaller sized tires? Now, obviously, less contact patch = less traction, but will it really make the car that much worse around the twisties and with straight line accelleration? Is the difference big enough that it would be worth switching to less attractive Z06 wheels or saving up some cash to buy bigger HREs down the line? Also, the offset with these wheels is such they come out to the edge of the fender and don't "look" small and inset like the stock C5 wheels do. So I wouldn't need to buy bigger wheels for astetic purposes.
Thanks for any advice or insight you can provide.
Thank you.
Here is my question, my old FRC had OEM Z06 wheels with the same Michelin PS2 tires, only in 265/40/17 and 295/35/18 sizes. Will I notice a major loss in traction with the smaller sized tires? Now, obviously, less contact patch = less traction, but will it really make the car that much worse around the twisties and with straight line accelleration? Is the difference big enough that it would be worth switching to less attractive Z06 wheels or saving up some cash to buy bigger HREs down the line? Also, the offset with these wheels is such they come out to the edge of the fender and don't "look" small and inset like the stock C5 wheels do. So I wouldn't need to buy bigger wheels for astetic purposes.
Thanks for any advice or insight you can provide.
Thank you.
