a dumb question

[CURLEY2]

hello everybody, i have a question that i think should be easy to figure out but probably sounds dumb to some folks: my vette has different size tires on the front and back, can i have them all the same size? the current ones have 245-40 18 in front and 245-45 18 in the back (or is it 275-45-18)? either way, it is too dark to go look again but can i just have 4 of the same tires all the way around? i thought they were different sizes for a reason but that's why i am asking. every tire company i looked into says the stock tires are different sizes. thanks, i appreciate you guys answering this "dummy" question for me!:cool

 

[XLR8]

Doesn't sound like a dumb question to me, Curley. I'm sorry I can't answer you but hopefully someone will be along soon that can.

Jane Ann

 

[Tuna]

The '93 through '96 C4 with the base suspension or just FX3 got different size tires front and rear. The Z07 or Z51 cars got the same size except for the GS coupes.

Front should be 255/45/17 - rear should be 285/40/17. The wheels were different also with the front being 8.5 inches wide and the rears 9.5 inches wide.

If you truely have 18" wheels on your car then we need more information about their width.

I have seen people using the 275/40/17 on all four wheels even with the narrow/wide wheel combination but most tire companies do not recommend that as it pinches the side wall too much. Ditto going the other way 255/45/17 all around.

The Z07/Z51 cars (non-GS) had 275/40/17 tires all around with 9.5" wheels all around.

What size wheel/tire do you really have?

 

[CURLEY2]

Hello Tuna, thanks for the wealth of info. if you can see the pic of my car you will see the rims that came with it when i bought the car. the tires that are on it are these: front 245-40-ZR18 back 245-45-R18. these are bridgestone potenza tires also. i would like to have the same size all the way around, with the 245-40-ZR18's being the ones. can this be done? Tuna, thanks again for your help and not making me feel dumb, i've seen that done to people more times than i can remember. you guys and gals are gonna be famous!:cool

 

[G Winter]

Do you know the width of the rims. Are they the same front and rear? If they are diff. front being narrower then like Tuna said putting a wider tire on the front is a problem. Same with putting a narrower tire on the back. The solution would be to by matching wheel size for either front or back.
Tire width to rim width match is critical to tire life and safety.

Glenn

 

[CURLEY2]

hello glen, i just know what size the tires are on the car now. i don't know what size the rims are, i assume they are 18 inch rims because of the "18" on all the tires. i just want to be able to put the same exact size tire on all the way around instead of having a wider set on the back and not so wide set on the front. what do the numbers tell me on the tires? like what is the 245, 40, mean in terms of size? i wish to put 245-40-18 all the way around so that future tire rotation is possible. right now i can't rotate them with the rear ones being a "245-45-18" and the fronts being "245-40-18" (these are the actual sizes of my tires). thanks for your help!:cool

 

[vette079]

18 inch is the height of your rim.
It´s how wide the rim is, 8.5 or 9.5 inch.
This determines what size (width) tire you can mount on the rim.
Probably yours are 8.5x18 all arround, lika TUNA mentioned. A tire shop should have a very simple tool to measure up the rim width without removing the tire.

This is original on a ´93

http://corvetteactioncenter.com/specs/c4/1993/93specs.html


I´m from Sweden and have heard of a guy in Stockholm who has 315 (17´s I think) all arround.
Don´t recall what year vette, but it´s a C4.

Shouln´t be a problem to have same size tires front and rear, as long the rims are the same size.

I have 275/40-17 on 9.5x17 all arround ,but that´s because it came that way in 1991 on standard vette.

 

[Tuna]

There isn't any reason that you can't have the same size tires all around on your car unless the wheels aren't the same size. The 'big' deal with the C4 is that they should be the same diameter front and rear even if they are not the same width - it make the ABS work best as that's the way it's programmed.

Now check the rim width on the wheels you have, then check for tires that accept those rim widths and buy accordingly.