GS Wheels

[3 Deuce]

Anyone with a GS, or GS wheels on another C 4...how do you polish the machined lip on the wheels and how do you apply weights when you balance them? Finally, CWS wheels offers the 17X11 rears with a 50 or 36 offset. Is the 36 offset for cars that don't want to use the mini flares?

:confused

 

[Billy]

3 Deuce,

I think the 36mm offset is for earlier C4s. I just installed GS (reproduction) wheels and tires on my car (see related thread) with the 50 mm offset. I was worried I would need the flares, but as it is, the 11 in. rear tires look pretty good with the stock body. They do appear to stick out a little (less than 1/2 in.), depending on what angle you look at them, but the look is what I was after. If I can get a hold of a digital camera, I'll try to post some pictures.

Billy

 

[froggy47]

Hi Billy,

I also have an LT4 & want to go w/ 9.5 & 11.0. to replace my 8.5 & 9.5.

You're saying it's just a simple bolt on swap, no spacers etc. required.

Does your front end "track" the grooves/wear in the road more with the 9.5 front?

What size tires did you do?

Thanks.

 

[Tuna]

The wider the front tires, the more likely they are to "track" the grooves in the road - one reason the GM switched the Vette to the smaller tires in 93 for the base car but kept the 275/40 on the Z07/Z51 cars.

I'm running the 9.5 and 11 combination on my 92 but with the ZR1 offset (36mm) rear wheels. They stick out - I use the GS flares to cover them. With the GS offset (50mm), the flares aren't really needed.

 

[froggy47]

Thanks!

 

[Billy]

froggy,

My wheels/tires are:


FRONT - 9.5" WITH 56MM OFFSET 275/40 ZR17
REAR - 11" WITH 50MM OFFSET 315/35 ZR17

I've noticed no tracking difference (so far) with the new tires and the overall look is very muscular. With the 50MM offset, I don't thin you'll need the flares. Hope this helps.


Tuna,

Great looking car. Mine is while also (but my new rims are black). I've been thinking about the same paint scheme, but with the center stripe going all the way around the front bumper. Are the fender accents painted or decals? How much did the paint/accents cost...thanks.

 

[Tuna]

Tuna,

Great looking car. Mine is while also (but my new rims are black). I've been thinking about the same paint scheme, but with the center stripe going all the way around the front bumper. Are the fender accents painted or decals? How much did the paint/accents cost...thanks.

Hi Billy,
Thanks.
The first stripe I had done went all the way around like the GS - that was 1996. In 2000 I had the whole car redone and decided to stop the strip on the top just to be a little different. The base white was changed from Artic White to White Diamond and the stripe and hashes are all paint. The body shop that I used made me a very good deal of $2500 for the whole job - white diamond, radar blue stripe with 1/4" pin stripes, red hashes and clear coat and it's all paint. They even installed the flares for me.

Hope this helps.

 

[Rich96c4ce]

'84 to '87 used common offsets, '88 to '96 used common offsets, and real ZR1 used common offsets, but you really need to know what you have and what will really fit. ZR1 wheels (made during the "88-'96 period) had wider rear fenders than normal corvettes. Real ZR1 wheels are 17x11x36 mm offsets and are silver. They will stick out such that you'll wish you had fender '96 GS eyebrows. '96 GS coupe rear wheels are 17x11x50 mm offset and black, and will fit nicely on '88-'96 coupes for a real steroidal look, but with minimal need for eyebrows. '96 GS roadsters used only 8.5 and 9.5 width wheels because the roadster inner body is wider than the coupe's. BTW, there are no OEM silver GS wheels and there are no OEM black ZR1 wheels. Those are aftermarket products.

A good source of information about ZR1/GS style wheels and their fitment to C4s, see Autumn Fleet Sales (AFS wheels).

This link is about wheels in general:
http://www.afswheels.com/v2/content/default.asp?page=72
This link is about Corvette wheels:

http://www.afswheels.com/v2/ecommerce/shopdisplaycategories.asp?wt=wheelsection&StepaFlag=yes

choose: Corvette, then choose: ZR1

I just bought a pair of GS style wheels 17x11x50 in silver, to match my Collector edition 17x9.5s. Great wheels, great company, great price on ebay. I have Nitto 555R Extreme Drag 315/35x17s from Discount Tire Direct. Great tires, great price, great shipping, great company. The wheels and tire are great and make the GSCs pale in comparison. In dry, the ASR would come on occasionally in turns, and often in wet. Now it doesn't come on any more. When, except when you hit second, and then its too late to help. Those Nittos are amazing in wet weather.

I'll try to figure out how to list photos here to show the tire/fender coverage.