I'm thinking about buy some painted c5 thin spoke from a forum member on X-site. The thin spoke are the 18x9.5 and 17x8.5 stock sizes. I just bought some fire-hawk wide oval tires from a fellow member that are size 255/45/17 which I think will work fine for the 17 x 8.5 front thin spokes. I just looked on Tirerack.com to see what 2 wide oval tires would cost me for the 18 x 9.5 rear thin spokes and it appears the only 18" Wide oval tires are a 295/35/18. I think that the 295/35 will be to big for the 18 x 9.5 rear thin spoke.

Am I correct that the rears are to big ?

Any knowledge on the above would be greatly appreciated ,

PatsFan

295/35/18 was the standard rear tire for the C5 Z06 which had 10 1/2" x 18 wheels.

I don't know if the 295s will fit on a 9 1/2" wheel. There are some tire manufacturer web sites (Cooper Tires comes to mind) that give recommended tire sizes for a given wheel width. You might want to check there.

if you have a paper copy of a summit racing catalog, in the tire section, most if the tires list appropriate rim sizes and the tire width and diameter.

chris

All that info is available on tirerack.com

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/Spec.js ... +Oval&tirePageLocQty=


Rim width range for that one is 10"-12"

On that note I've crammed a 275 onto a 8.5" rim which was 1" less than rec width, and it looked a little sketchy. You're only 1/2" off which is better.

If you're stuck on matching up front/rear, why not just get the same size wheels so you can rotate em? Right now I'm running some assymetric, non-directional tires on my Y2Ks, I can put any tire on any corner without remounting.

Thanks for the help guys. I also researched it a bit on a c5 fourm and they run the Firestone 295 on the thin spokes. I guess the firestone WO 295 are about the same size as the goodyear 285.


Thanks again for all the help ,

PatsFan

I wouldn't do it. Although Tire Rack may not show it, I'd be surprised if the Wide Oval wasn't available in the correct size rear tire for this wheel which is 275/40/18. And actually 245/45/17s are correct for the front but the 255s would be okay too, for that.

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Actually 255/45 17 is the correct size tire for the 8.5 inch front rim. That was the stock size tire and rim for the '94-'96 Corvettes :thumbleft:

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You're right and that's why I said it'd be fine.. But for the standard C5, it was 245/45/17. Ideally he'd want to check height, revolutions per mile, etc. for whatever combination he ends up with. Too much variation from stock and it can play havoc with the ABS and ASR, if so equipped.

It looks like the Firehawk is not available in 275/40-18.
The only 18's I can find are 225/40 - 18 and 295/35 - 18

Rob, I'd keep looking for a 10 inch rear wheel if you want to use that 295/35
But as CentralCoaster said, it's only a half inch off.

Who knew tire decisions would be this hard. :thumbleft:

I've occasionally squeezed 315's on a 9.5 inch rim and raced on them. I plan to run 295's on 9.5's this year in the front all season.

The 315's look a little funny, though. Not sure how the 295's will look. It's safe, but it's a BEEEATCH to get them on, especially R compounds due to the stiff sidewall.

If you peruse the CF racing section you'll see lots of guys that do this. Not optimal, but it will work in a pinch.

The tire mfr isn't saying 285 is good, and 295 is going to make the tire explode or fall off.

Go for it.

Sometimes I drink my milk a day after the expiration date, and it hasn't killed me yet.