First off I know it's a proven combo that Spin pioneered to take 18" front wheels and have them widened to 11". I didn't listen at first because I was going with the R888's in a 305/30/19. They have been good and still have some miles left in them. But I've become disenchanted with them. Maybe I'm forgetting what it used to be like running street tires and maybe these Toyos are just not as sticky with so many heat cycles on them but either way they aren't really cutting it anymore. I don't want to spend another $385ish a piece on another set when these run out. What I want are some MT ET Street Radials which are only available in an 18".

On the cheap end I have been looking at getting some 17" wagon wheels with some 275/40/17 MT ET radials on them as a ~drag package since I can get the wheels dirt cheap and the tires are only a bit over $200 each. Thanks to Joe_G for that tip. The thing is I don't want to be swapping out wheels every time I go to the track or to Mexico.

I Have also been looking feverishly for some 18" wheels, (thanks to dennis50nj for helping out) even as narrow as 9.5", with an offset that will fit on the back in order to wrap in 305/35/18 MT ET Street II's to replace the Toyos. The reason I'm looking for the magical offset 18" wheel is because it seems cost prohibitive to spend the ~$500-600 on new wheels, spend another ~$500 to have them widened, and then the ~$600 for the tires. I know the tractionmonster mod is what I should do. I klnow that. I just don't want to invest a lot now because the long term goal is a widebody. So I've been looking at various places on the net and plugging wheels into the offset calculator to find some that will work but I have not been able to find any. Oh, and did I mention that they should be C6 Z06 style so they match the front? I know, I'm a pain in the ***. So, anyone know of some off the shelf 18" C6 Z06 wheels from 9.5" to 11" wide with the proper offset to fit on the back of a coupe? I'm guessing the answer is no or there would be lot more people doing it but I figured what the heck.

http://www.1010tires.com/WheelOffsetCalculator.asp

Bring on the "don't be a cheap ***" flames but if anyone has anything helpful to add that would be good too.

 

I have a set of 17" wheels with DRs if you want that

 

Do the widebody. "don't be a cheapass"

 

 

 

Don't laugh Jeff or I'll sneak up north and swap out my stock body panels with yours while you are sleeping. And your pretty little dog, er, hood too...

 

i think the easiest way and cheapest if you cant find the z06 rim in the right offset would be by a 9.5x18 z06 replica in 56mm offset and mill 3/8 off the rim hub or turn it off with a lathe

 

 

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-p...nd-nto5rs.html

 

Not bad. Those actually look pretty sweet. If only they didn't stick out. Thats what I'm trying to get around.

 

I did find some 18x9.5" Z replicas with a 56mm offset on oewheelsdotcom. Those would stick out 17mm (.66") more than stock. It's the removing of more than 1/2" of material from the hub of the wheel that I'm not too keen on though.

BTW, I just ran Spin's combo through the offset calculator. Stock front is 8.5" wide with a 56mm offset. Add three inches to the back of it, split that in half and convert to mm is 32mm added to the 56mm makes an 11 inch wide wheel with an 88mm offset which only sticks out 4mm over the stock 10" rear wheel with a 79mm offset. Dude knows his stuff.

 

on the 9.5 you only need to take off about 3/8 56 mm+ 10 mm = 66 mm so you really only need to mill 9 mm less then 38. if you still have them, look at your original rims off the car and you will see how thick the hub surface is to the front to backs, and my 65 mm was in between

 

the 9.5 x18 65 mm sticks out 8 mm over stock 79 mm 19x10
the 9.5 x18 x 56 mm sticks out 17 mm over the stock 79 mm 19x10
now if you did the 10.5 x56 mm then that 29 mm or 58 mm would be 27 mm so you would have to mill off around 20 mm

 

Don't think I've seen a 9.5" with a 65mm offset (in a Z06 sytle). The company you gave me (forgot the name at the moment) only had C6 5 spokes. Too bad too because that might just work.

Yea, 9.5" with 56mm offset is 17mm over. Spin's are 4mm over and we know they fit fine so I'd have to remove 13mm or just over 1/2".

10.5" on a 56mm offset gets ugly. Yea, sticks out 29mm or 1.14" so if we mill off 20mm thats more than 3/4".

The wheels over at oewheel are pretty cheap. Getting a pair, or even 4, and having two widened is starting to look better and better...

 

Don't be a cheap a$$. I did the traction monster mod on stock wheels. 200 for a set of 4, 500 for the mod and 290 per tire. Killer upgrade. Efff the wide body

 

pm me..

ive have the 18x11 wheels spin suggested, with the nittos 555r2 305/35/18's

i borrow my buddies c5 z06 fronts with 275/40/17's on and it dead hooks twice as good.

no comparison between MT drags and nitto 555r2's when it comes to putting the rubber to the road..


so i run the 555r2's on the street and switch to mt drag radials for the monthly drag race.
-Carl

 

what im saying is me tonyb4 and every guy who ran a c5 9.5 rim was 65 mm they fit great, you can mill the 58 mm. 9 mm....thats less then 3/8s of an inch and they will be 65 mm and fit great

 

I'm in the same boat. Still have runflats (dangerous) and was thinking of the TOYO R888's for street driving. I have MT et radials on 17" wheels for the track, but would like the piece of mind on the street too. I wish there was an off the shelf stock 18" wheel that would fit.

 

So think I've got it down to ~$800 for two Zoh replicas widened. And the MT ET's are ~$100 cheaper each than the R888's so my ROI is four sets of tires. Now I remember why I didn't do this in the first place.

Now it makes it a little more interesting because I just found that I can get Toyo R1A's in the 305/35/18 for $180, which is $200 cheaper than the R888 so the ROI is cut in half. I think that the R1A should be as good as the R888 but neither will match the MT ET.

 

I just ordered the R1As after hearing problems with the R88s (why pay $200 more for worse tires?). I see the 335/18 is only ~1" wider than the 305.