Z51 Package question
 

As a 'new' Corvette owner I fortunately looked at the door label and found that 275/40/17 size tires were on all four wheels instead of 285/40/17s in the rear, and 255,/45/17s in the front. I ended up buying the BFG Comp 2 A/S, which will be nice to rotate front to back, but can someone explain the 'whys' of the Z51 package having 4 equal tires vs the staggered setup?? Is the Z51 package that much superior to the standard or is it for just serious track drivers. I'm learning so don't make it too complicated. Thanks in advance.

I think that the 275 vs 255/285 setup was less about the handling of the 275 setup than it was about the 255 setup. In short, the 255 front tire made it easier to drive as there was almost 1" less of rubber on front tire to steer. The resulting 285 rear was just to keep the ratios correct. Many of us that had 255 fronts ended up converting to 275s later, in my case I went 275 front and 315 rear.

The biggest question is did someone change the wheels when they changed the tire sizes? the 275 cars had 9.5" wheels on all four corners while the 255/285 had 8.5" on the front and 9.5" on the rear. Putting a 275 on an 8.5" wheel isn't going to fit the best, nor will a 255 on a 9.5"