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Tires don't look right

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Old Apr 8, 2009 | 11:47 PM
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Default Tires don't look right

I bought some C6 Z06 wheels for my car in stock C5 Z06 sizes.

The rear wheels are 10.5 x 18 and the tire I put on them are 285/35/18,
the stock Z06 size is 295/35/18. Falkins didn't come in that size.

When I ordered the tires the guy said they would be fine. But the side wall dosen't cover the lip of the rim. The side wall isn't even with the rim also. But if you look at the specs on the falkin site they recommend the rim size I have for the tire I bought.
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Old Apr 9, 2009 | 07:15 AM
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Unfortunately Falkin doesn't make that size tire.

So I guess I am stuck with this situation. When I ordered the tires the salesman said that it would fit fine, so did someone on this forum.
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Old Apr 9, 2009 | 10:13 AM
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Thats quite a bit of difference, 285 from 295. Why would you think it would be fine? Yeah, it can be mounted on that rim but it wont look right. Is Falken the only brand you'll buy? If you want a good tire for a good price in the 295/35 18 size check out the General UHP's, thats what I run. Return those tires.
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Old Apr 9, 2009 | 10:47 AM
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The falkin tires are brand new I just mounted them on the wheels so they cannot be returned. The guy at tires dircte told me they would fit.
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Old Apr 9, 2009 | 10:50 AM
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Did you not know that Z06 size tires were very limited as to manufacturers before you got the new wheels?
Your first priority should be to get a tire that is designed to fit the wheel correctly.

Even some tires that are the correct size may not look as wide or fit the rim as well as the stock tires. An example would be the Firestone tires some people buy. I have seen them on factory wheels and they just don't look like they fit the wheel, nor does the tread look as wide.

Why don't you just put the factory Goodyear F1 SC tires on the wheels if they are the factory size?
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Old Apr 9, 2009 | 10:55 AM
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Originally Posted by 8VETTE7
One would expect that since the tread width on the 285 is about 10" while it is about 12 " on the 295.. Compare/contrast that to the rim width of 10.5"
Not exactly true...the 295 number in the tire size is the width in mm, so that equates to about 11.6 inches. 285 is only going to be 10 mm less, or about .4 inches.

Depending on the tread design, it can still make a BIG difference in how the tires look on the wheels.
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Old Apr 9, 2009 | 11:19 AM
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You went the wrong way. Falken makes a 315/30-18.
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Old Apr 9, 2009 | 02:03 PM
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Originally Posted by 540 vette
The falkin tires are brand new I just mounted them on the wheels so they cannot be returned. The guy at tires dircte told me they would fit.
fitting a tire on a wheel vs having the correct tire size for your application are two different things.
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Old Apr 9, 2009 | 02:39 PM
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Originally Posted by 540 vette
The falkin tires are brand new I just mounted them on the wheels so they cannot be returned. The guy at tires dircte told me they would fit.
I'm confused? Did you have a gift certificate for Falkin tires, or could you have purchased something that was the correct size?
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Old Apr 9, 2009 | 03:31 PM
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Originally Posted by 540 vette
The falkin tires are brand new I just mounted them on the wheels so they cannot be returned. The guy at tires dircte told me they would fit.
The guy lied to you. Take the car back and point out their mistake and get your money back. Then get tires that fit properly.
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Old Apr 9, 2009 | 03:35 PM
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I like Falkin tires I had them on the car before. They were in my price range. I don't like the run flats thats why I put the Falkins on. No gift certificate. I don't like trying new things if I know something I have had works.

I bought the 06 zo6 replica rims for my car they are in stock c5 z06 size.
I did not know that there was a limited amount of tires for those rim sizes. I did a search on the forum and there was no mention of a problem.
Did that answer all the questions.
Now if we can get on and find a solution to the problem.



Now about those 315/30/18 will they go with the 265/40/17 I have in the front. And will they stick out of the wheels well.

I also have found some 06 zo6 rims in 18 x 9.5 with a 50 mm backspacing I might try.
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Old Apr 9, 2009 | 03:35 PM
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Originally Posted by Drewstein
The guy lied to you. Take the car back and point out their mistake and get your money back. Then get tires that fit properly.


I bought them from tire direct, it will be hard to drive it there.
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Old Apr 9, 2009 | 05:11 PM
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Originally Posted by 8VETTE7
Falken tire site does not seem to give the overall diameter of their tires. So I went to tire rack and picked a tire brand that had the two sizes you mention, 265/40/17 and 315/30/18. Both sizes have an overall diameter of 25.4 inches. Not good if your car has traction control. You need to keep the overall diameter of the rear tires at least 1/2 inch larger than the front. If you don't then the traction control will be constantly kicking in. You could of course just select competition mode on the TC every time you start the car and get around that issue. Falken tires in your selected sizes may not be exactly the same diameter but the numbers are close enough that I would not chance it.


Thanks for taking the time to look it up for me.


Will 18 x 9.5 with 54 mm backspacing work here.
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Old Apr 9, 2009 | 06:38 PM
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try tirerack.com

punch in your numbers see what you have listed.
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Old Apr 9, 2009 | 07:16 PM
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Don't have them.
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Old Apr 9, 2009 | 07:56 PM
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Originally Posted by 540 vette
Don't have them.
There were 5 choices in the correct sizes on Tirerack and you were directed in the wrong.

Send them back for the correct tires.
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Old Apr 9, 2009 | 09:11 PM
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Originally Posted by Drewstein
There were 5 choices in the correct sizes on Tirerack and you were directed in the wrong.

Send them back for the correct tires.


Sure there were 5 choices. They were all out of my budget. I am aware that some of you have a bottomless pits of money but I don't want to spend 300 for one tire. I actually don't need people lecturing me on my choices for tires and or wheels. I asked some questions after I explained the situation and just need some help in making the decision.


They didn't have the ones I wanted. For the amount I wanted to spend.

Let me explain something. I have a 67 GTO race car. When I need to get tires for it I know what size to get and what backspacing I need on the wheels.
The metric crap leaves me in the dark. Some of you guys were great in trying to explain what will fit and what won't.

I asked before will 9.5 x 18 with 54 mm backspacing work on the rear of this car with 285/35/18. I just need an answer to that question, I found a place to get the wheels in that size and I will sell the 18 x 10.5 once I get those.

Last edited by 540 vette; Apr 9, 2009 at 09:19 PM.
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Old Apr 9, 2009 | 09:31 PM
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Originally Posted by 540 vette
I asked before will 9.5 x 18 with 54 mm backspacing work on the rear of this car with 285/35/18. I just need an answer to that question, I found a place to get the wheels in that size and I will sell the 18 x 10.5 once I get those.
dont do that...your scaling down your wheel which means less grip so that you can fit a cheaper tire.?

Get what the wheel calls for (295X35x18) and sell your current tires to offset the cost. if you have to sell all four to keep a consistant brand so be it. your gonna have to take some loss for it but its a lessoned learned...research more before purchasing. Listening to one lousy sales guy who may not even own a vette is nuts.

Last edited by Ikester; Apr 9, 2009 at 09:34 PM.
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Old Apr 9, 2009 | 10:06 PM
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Originally Posted by Ikester
dont do that...your scaling down your wheel which means less grip so that you can fit a cheaper tire.?

Get what the wheel calls for (295X35x18) and sell your current tires to offset the cost. if you have to sell all four to keep a consistant brand so be it. your gonna have to take some loss for it but its a lessoned learned...research more before purchasing. Listening to one lousy sales guy who may not even own a vette is nuts.


I listened to some of the guys here. Ity wasn't just a sales guy.

If I buy the 9.5 x 18 wheels which are stock C5 sizes and put the 285's how will that be scaling down. The wheels I took off the car were 18 x 9.5 with a 275 tire.

Last edited by 540 vette; Apr 9, 2009 at 10:09 PM.
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Old Apr 9, 2009 | 10:31 PM
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I also bought some Falken tires I think they were the 452 or something like that. They were the correct size for my wheels on the website but when I got them and installed them they looked stretched to fit my wheels. After doing some research on them I found that those tires run small (wish they would have disclosed that when I bought them) I was told that they are more of an import tire. Hope this helps, and also they dont return tires that have been mounted also.
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