Bought wrong size tires

[540vette]

I recently bought four 06 z06 wheels for my car. They are18 x 10.5 rear and 9.5 x 17 front.
I also bought Falken 265/40/17 for the front which fit great and 285/35/18 for the rear. Which is where I am having the problem. The tire that is called for is a 295/35/18 but Falken dosen't make them so the guy I bought them from(tires direct) said the 285's will work. I mounted the 285's on the rear wheels and when I put them on the car they didn't look right. The tire looked to small for the width of the rim.

So now the problem is do I buy 4 tires so I have a matched set. Buy the right size in another brand just for the rear, 2 different thread styles. Or the should I buy a set of 9.5 x 18 wheels for the back and mount the 285's on them. The back spacing on the 9.5 x 18's are 54 mm.

 

[bwing]

I recently bought four 06 z06 wheels for my car. They are18 x 10.5 rear and 9.5 x 17 front.
I also bought Falken 265/40/17 for the front which fit great and 285/35/18 for the rear. Which is where I am having the problem. The tire that is called for is a 295/35/18 but Falken dosen't make them so the guy I bought them from(tires direct) said the 285's will work. I mounted the 285's on the rear wheels and when I put them on the car they didn't look right. The tire looked to small for the width of the rim.

So now the problem is do I buy 4 tires so I have a matched set. Buy the right size in another brand just for the rear, 2 different thread styles. Or the should I buy a set of 9.5 x 18 wheels for the back and mount the 285's on them. The back spacing on the 9.5 x 18's are 54 mm.

I'm assuming you mistyped the year ('06) as the size wheels you're referring to come from an '01-'04 Z06. My personal preference is to have ALL 4 tire treads matching. If you purchase narrower width rear wheels you'll lose handling/braking gains. I would probably buy 4 new tires that are the correct Z06 size and try to sell the Falkens.

 

[540vette]

No I didn't mistype. I bought 06 Z06 style wheels for a C5.

As for the tires how much handling will you lose in les than a quarter inch difference in thread size. Because that is the difference between a 285 and a 295.

 

[bwing]

Ok, when I read your post I thought you said you had purchased '06 Z06 wheels and they're a much larger size than the C5 Z06 wheels.

As far as tires go, if you're not going to autocross or race your Corvette I would have to guess that you won't notice much with the Falkens you already have. Actually, I was talking more about the width of rear wheel because you had mentioned getting 1" narrower wheels.

Sorry for any confusion.