C5 Z06 Tire options (265/40R17 front, 295/35R18 rear) have greatly diminished over the past few years. When I bought my last set of tires in 2018, the only choices were Goodyear SuperCar, Michelin PS4, Toyo Proxes T1 Sport.

Today on Tire Rack, zero options exist.

For those who have a C5 Z06, what are you doing for tires?

 

I have Goodyear F1s (manufactured 2019) mounted on the OEM Z06 wheels, which have about 75% tread wear remaining. I am expecting that tire size options will continue to dwindle when it comes time to replace, so I put Plan B in place last year.

Plan B was to buy a wheel and tire set from Tire Rack that would provide me with a range of tire choices down the road. I bought Flow One F4's and Continental Extreme Contact DWS 06 Plus. The F4s are sized as follows: Front 18 x 9.5 & 50 offset; Rear 18 x 10.5 x 54 offset. The tires are sized as follows: Front 265 / 35 / 18; Rear 295 / 35 /18. The rotational diameters front and rear are the same as OEM specifications.

The F4 wheels weigh about the same as the OEM Speedlines used on my Z06. Each Continental front tire weighs 6 lbs less than the Goodyear F1, and each rear Continental tire weighs 2 lbs less. That totals up to 16 lbs of unsprung / rotational mass weight savings, which means better stopping and acceleration.

So, now I have two sets of wheels and tires. I use the Goodyears during warmer months, from May through November, and the Continentals during winter months. I expect that when the Goodyears wear out (or age out) the OEM Speedlines will go into storage, and I'll be using the Continentals year-round. The Contis have proven to be excellent tires in terms of grip and performance despite their all-season designation.

 

I just put some new Nittos 555's on my 01 Z about 2 months ago. Frt 275/40R17 (555 R2's) and Rr 315/40R18 (555 G2's) on the stock Z wheels (17x9.5 and 18x10.5). I did have to remove the brake ducts inside the rear wheel wells for them to fit, which was very easy (but I don't track this thing & it is my daily driver now-I don't 'dog it' nor do I baby it either). I have put quite a few miles on them now and haven't heard or seen any signs they were rubbing anywhere ( inside the wheel wells or on the fender lips.. and I have looked very closely). IMO they fit the car perfectly and look much much better than the factory GY F1's (or any of the other OEM sized brands) I have had since purchasing it new (for my wife in 01) during the 185,000 mikes she and I have driven it. I did have to go to 2 diff Discount Tire Co's before finding someone who was willing to help me find the bigger tire(s) which I was wanting to put on it, that fit the stock wheels (and didn't upset the tire stagger the ABS/AH wanted to see.. which these obviously don't). They did have to be special ordered in, but I ordered them on a thurs (before a long weekend) and they had them on the following tues. Neither the salesman or I knew if they would fit, but if they hadn't, all I was going to be out was the freight. Here are a few pics...

laterz...mike

 

@mbinsat Thank you for your input! I am glad to hear these tire sizes "fit" with minimal modification.

I plan to track my car, so I am looking for something good for a road coarse and near the factory size.

Has anyone had success with 275/40R17 front & 305/35R18 rear tires? Nitto NT01 and Toyo R888R come in those sizes.

 

This will work well--- have you had a chance to check availability?

I went through this mess with my 04 Z06 CE last week. I had a difficult time as it seemed nothing (nothing) was available. Discount tire, tire rack , Pep Boys, Costco, WalMart and several local GY, firestone dealers could get NOTHING.

I ended up with a set of Continental sports but the sub variants were different.

So, before you get attached to a set of tire, see what is available.

 

You can run 315/30/18s on the rear. I did it for years. No issues. However, I would stay away from 315/40/18 tires. A 315/40/18 is nearly 28" tall!! You are effectively installing a higher diff gear, maybe effectively a 3.2 gear, or thereabouts. Also, it will put a lot more strain on the diff gears. It will also throw off the brake proportioning, and effectively reduce the braking power. The C5s, and early C6s had a tendency to spit their diffs onto the track when enough launch rpm combined with sticky tires. Running 1-1/2" taller rear tire is going to cause new problems, and exacerbate existing ones. I'd NEVER do this. My .02......

 

I have had no problems with the ABS since putting the 315/40/18 on back in the middle of April.. and I've put a couple of thousand miles on it-both highway and around town-since installing them. I think the slight height increase in the fronts (from 265/40 to 275/40) must have kept the stagger within the proper range. The car does sit a little higher, but not very much-I was thinking it was about a 1/2", but it could be 3/4" (according to your 1 1/2" overall gain for rear). It still feels like it is sitting level too-it doesn't feel like the rear is 'jacked up' (in relation to the front) at all. I don't think it makes much diff, but about a year ago I also put the C6 shocks and anti-sway bars on both ends. I can't tell much of a change in the gearing either, but I don't think the higher gear ratio amounts to much more 'strain', and the car seems to run the same as it did beforehand (naturally with a lot more traction-the old tires were completely dead and smelly...lol).

[On a side note.. I have already been down the replacing 3rd member road 4-5 yrs ago.. and I had to go thru 3 of them (from 2 diff dealerships)-brand new from Chevrolet-before finding one that didn't start whining almost immediately after putting it in-I guess a run of them got sent out that weren't assembled properly (and there was no warranty on the normal $1000 labor to install-thanks GM). I am not a big burnout/dump the clutch guy either (with this car anyway..lol).]

I have not noticed any difference with the brakes-they seem as good as they ever were-and just yesterday, I had to stand on them.. hard.. and they did exactly what they should have (IMO the C5 and newer vettes have an incredibly good and robust system). I agree with all your concerns in theory.. but what I have discovered doesn't.. and it kinda surprised me too. The speedometer is off just slightly now.. about a 1-2 mph diff at 35 mph. I know this b/c there is one of those speed limit signs that tells you how fast you are going (on one of the streets I regularly drive)-and it's a favorite spot for a radar trap-so I usually use the cruise control during that stretch. Before new tires 35 mph (showing momentarily on the DIC when setting cruise) would always match the 35mph sign-after new tires 33 mph (in car) shows 34-35 on sign and 34 (in car) mph shows 35-36. As I said in my orig post.. I don't don't baby or abuse this thing much (I've got a 6 sec 240mph racecar I can get most of my hauling *** needs taken care of with), but I will let her rip occasionally. This thing has always been a blast to drive (esp in 2nd gear around wide sweeping corners/curves where you can steer it with the throttle..lol). I typically turn the traction control/active handling off immediately after starting the car-that thing can get you in trouble very quickly and unexpectedly when it activates while you are trying to quickly take off from a stop while turning either direction (like turning from a side street onto a fast moving busy one). Apparently it thinks the car is on the verge of losing control.. so it suddenly hangs you out (at basically a fast idle) with cars bearing down on you fast-usually from both directions... But, I've forgotten to turn it off enough times (since getting new tires) w/o any alarms going off or codes being set, that I think I can safely say everything is OK with the stagger it is seeing now. I do think the C5 TC/AH has it's place-it is great for the average mundane driver (who doesn't ever drive their car very aggressively) and/or the ***** show-off.. who can fail spectacularly in a car like this (examples galore on YT).

[Another side note:The TC/AH in the C7's is a whole diff story-it's very tuneable-as I found out when a buddy let me keep (and play with) his 2017 GS model for a few months-that thing was COOL too.. (except I really disliked the lack of sidewall on the 335/25/20 rr tires)]

Back to my C5.. I specifically wanted the 40's on the back b/c the stock setup always looked very puny to me.. but I'm an old hot rod guy who likes to see some sidewall.. and now the frt and rr tire sidewalls at least look proportional to each other (and fill the wheel wheels much better). I know for the ultimate cornering you need the tires that look like fan belts wrapped around the wheels, and I understand why, but it looks stupid to me. With the new trend towards performance tires having very little (to almost no) sidewall, if you run over some pea gravel (or anything bigger than a grass sticker) you prob will feel it, and if it's not 'your day'.. you're liable to not just get a flat tire-the object will push/poke it right through the wheel too... I was in the collision repair and dealer parts depts until a few yrs ago, and I saw this happen too many times to count. I know the purists and hard core track guys will disagree with my reasoning, but I have def driven this thing hard enough to determine that for most street driving, these new tires are just as good as the 2 or 3 sets of GY/f1's we went thru.. and the sets of OEM sized Bridgestones, Uniroyals (and I think maybe even some Firestones)-all 3 of which I have tried, once the GY/f1' became almost impossible to get (since buying this thing new for the wife.. 185,000 miles ago.. way, way back in 2001). They're def good enough for me, anyway...

I'm not trying to be smartass or an a-hole.. but I really disliked the puniness of the OEM tires in relation to the rest of the car.. and I think it looks close to perfect now.

Sorry this got so long... good thing I had nothing important to do.. laterz-mike

 

My speedo odometer, running 285/40/18 rears, is off 3 miles every 100 actual. It's off 2-3mph at 70mph actual. As for not noticing any difference....Probably not in normal street driving. However, if you tracked the car, either strip or oval, you definitely would notice a small loss in performance.......

 

Hi,

I'm also in the market for the new sets of tires and need them asap.
I tried to look for 275/40R17&295/35R18 and other recommended sized above but no luck. However, if I can wait for 2-3 months, I can get Michelin PS2. My tires will explode by then...
I chatted with Tire Rack and he recommended me to get wheels with popular sized tires which don't require any adjustments.
Here is his recommendation;
Wheels for 2004 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 (tirerack.com)
Tire Search Results (tirerack.com)

Unless there is other options, I have to go with new wheels....

 

Well there is an option recommended by Disc Tire.

Never heard of this brand but General GMAX RS but size combination is 275/40R17 and 285/35R18 or 295/30R18.
Do you think these tires will look and ride well on C5Z6?

What do you all think about going 295 down to 285?
How about keeping 295 and going 35 down to 30?

Thanks for your input!!!

 

The vast majority of track and autocross guys get another set of Z06 rear wheels and run 315/30x18 on all four corners. There are a decent number of tires in that size. There might be some slight rubbing in the front, but nothing significant unless you have the car lowered beyond what is possible on the factory bolts.

Spec Corvette runs this setup, and have begun selling their own 18x11 wheels with the proper offset for this. OEM Z06 wheels are getting scarce, so having another option is great. Plus the Spec wheels look great. I run them on my car and am very happy with them.

 

Thanks a lot for your input! Looked up spec corvette wheels. Nice but out of my price range unfortunately...

 

On TireRack, there are a few options but they're harder to find than just using the recommended search criteria. If you search for only rears, 295/35-18, you can then look at additional sizes available for that tire. Adjust the front size to 255/40 (my pick) or 275/40, and you can find some options. They don't show up in the standard search because the service descriptions are different.

 

Pictures posted at the request of a Forum member: Flow One F4 wheel and Continental DWS 06 Plus tire package from Tire Rack (refer to Post #2, above for complete details).


Stock ride height in front

View of passenger side front wheel well looking down from hood

Stock ride height in rear

View of passenger side rear wheel well looking down from rear window area

Passenger side profile

 

I'm pretty sure but it is "Gloss Gunmetal Silver", right? Looks really nice.

 

Correct.

 

Thanks. Tried your way but did not find good combination which are in stock right now...

 

Thanks. I think I will end up with getting 18" front and 19" rear.

 

I had this same problem last year. I ended up going with the Continental ExtremeContact Sport tires in 255/40R17 and 295/35R18 sizes. I went with the small fronts instead of the 275/40R17 because I wanted to keep the sidewall proportions close. The 275/295 combination just looked too awkward to me (big front sidewall and smaller rear sidewall). However, a lot of C5Z owners are comfortable with that set up so it's really up to you. For track purposes, the 275/295 might actually work pretty good.

Here's what the Contis look like on my C5Z ...



Front (255/40R17)


Rear (295/35R18)

 

The problem that is currently being posed is that the Continental EC Sport is on backorder currently in 295/35/18, 275/40/17, and 255/40/17. So even though you were able to get them last year, these tires are not currently an option for us to purchase.