Pictures of your mid year..

[firstgear]

Thank you for your kind words groovyjay.

When I decided to upgrade the complete suspension, the choice of wheels and tires became for me a one time, get it right the first time thing. Luckily I was able to obtain some information from some of our fellow members, and after a dozen or so e-mails with " Rich" I was able to make the final decision.

The problem we have here in Canada to order wheels, is the cost involved in the transportation, the taxes, and the brokerage fees that we are hit with when we receive the order. Each one of the wheels came with a bill of 142$ per box, for a total of close to 600$ for the shipement.

This was the deciding factor that eventually made the choice easier to make. I could not take a chance on making a nistake on the size, backspacing, etc. so I decided to go with a set of forged wheels from " Intro Wheels" http://www.introwheels.com/ in California. The main reason is because of Dave, who is on staff, and has had experience in setting up thousands of Corvettes with aftermarket wheels.

When I was ready to place the order, all I was obliged to tell him was the maximum size I wanted, what kind of suspension I had installed, the presence of any body mods, and he went with that. I was guaranteed that I would receive a set of 18 inch wheels, and that they would fit perfectly, without any interference what so ever, and that there would be no modifications of any kind to the body, or wheel openings. Guess what, he was 100% right on, and they fit a he** of a lot better then OJ's glove.

The choice of tires was another issue. Not having ever purchased these sizes 235/40/18 before, I went with the highest quality, most expensive tire I could find locally, and I am very pleased with the looks, and the specs. On all my previous cars I have ALWAYS, gone with Good Years, BFG, and other names that I could spell, but after looking at the performance level that I could expect from these tires ( Michelin Sport Pilot ps/2's ) the choice was relatively easy. The final road tests are not done as yet, but from what I hear from others that have taken the same route, these tires are outstanding wet or dry.

Thanks again for your kind words, and here is a close up

regardsBob

really nice...I have '64 coupe and have been looking at 17" wheels for her....I really like it with the disc brakes....reminds me of the Z06 look.....really nice...gives me more to think about...but also have the '60 I am working on and it seems that there is never enough money for both cars and paying my ex wife off......who seems to think that somehow I am still her money daddy after 3 years......will be glad when she is paid off.....until then....need to make the money stretch so for now I will keep looking and drooling over your wheels.....don't worry I will bring a towel to dry them off when I am done looking.....

 

[stepinwolf]

Thank you

firstgear

Thank you for your kind words on my choice of wheels. It became a difficult choice, but I got help from some Forum members, so they also should get credit.

I also like the old/new look ( check pic ) that it gives the car.

After 35 years of marriage, my wife left me for greener pastures about three years ago. Although it is difficult, and expensive to get through, when the dust settles, you will find that it is well worth the temporary expense and misery.

 

[groovyjay]

firstgear

Thank you for your kind words on my choice of wheels. It became a difficult choice, but I got help from some Forum members, so they also should get credit.

I also like the old/new look ( check pic ) that it gives the car.

After 35 years of marriage, my wife left me for greener pastures about three years ago. Although it is difficult, and expensive to get through, when the dust settles, you will find that it is well worth the temporary expense and misery.

Thanks for the information and the pictures. That sure is one sweet ride! Two more questions: Are you using 235/40/18 all around or just the rear? Could you possible fit 245 rears with your set up? What backspacing are you using? Thanks!

 

[groovyjay]

Shoot, that was three more questions, sorry :L

 

[stepinwolf]

Hey: a threesome is not that bad you know

Jay

I am using 225/40/18's on the front, and 235/40/18's on the rear. Both fr. and rr. are 18" x 7" and were ordered with 4.75" backspacing.

As strange as it may seem, both the front and rear wheels have more clearance around the tire, then the period correct 205/75/R15 that were on the car previously. The front could probably use a slightly larger size ( I was not smart enough to trial-fit the 235's in front before installing them on the rear ) because there is a lot of space all around the tire, even when the wheels are in the full locked position.

As far as the rear, there is not much room for improvement with out modifications to the wheel opening. It would not be possible to gain any size inside by reducing the backspacing , because the parking brake mounting bracket and cable, is less then .75" from the inner tire sidewall and would be a problem. As far as the outer side, if you were to increase, the size, when the wheel would move up into the wheel well area, you would be very close to contacting the fender lip. However I was told by the wheel manufacturer, that different tire brands, might allow more or less clearance, because of the way the sidewalls form around the rim.

If the fender lip were narrowed, or removed ( not visible from the side ) you could probable slightly increase rim and tire size, but this is speculative because I didn't measure anything for this modification.

Now for the performance

The difference in road holding capability with this setup is almost impossible to describe. It is uncanny to turn into a curve, and see how much more traction this setup has. It's scary to see how much it holds on to the pavement without any skidding, slide, or roll. You have most probably have heard this expression before, but it honestly feels as if I was driving a slot car. It's capabilities are now much greater then my ability to take the car to the new limits of it's performance.

Great combo, will never again run one of these cars with the narrow, skinny, correct looking radials, that are seen on most cars. I am in the process of building two more midyears, and both will have slight un-noticeable mods, in order to use the same ( or larger ) tire and wheel setup.

good luck with your choices
Bob

 

[groovyjay]

Jay

I am using 225/40/18's on the front, and 235/40/18's on the rear. Both fr. and rr. are 18" x 7" and were ordered with 4.75" backspacing.

As strange as it may seem, both the front and rear wheels have more clearance around the tire, then the period correct 205/75/R15 that were on the car previously. The front could probably use a slightly larger size ( I was not smart enough to trial-fit the 235's in front before installing them on the rear ) because there is a lot of space all around the tire, even when the wheels are in the full locked position.

As far as the rear, there is not much room for improvement with out modifications to the wheel opening. It would not be possible to gain any size inside by reducing the backspacing , because the parking brake mounting bracket and cable, is less then .75" from the inner tire sidewall and would be a problem. As far as the outer side, if you were to increase, the size, when the wheel would move up into the wheel well area, you would be very close to contacting the fender lip. However I was told by the wheel manufacturer, that different tire brands, might allow more or less clearance, because of the way the sidewalls form around the rim.

If the fender lip were narrowed, or removed ( not visible from the side ) you could probable slightly increase rim and tire size, but this is speculative because I didn't measure anything for this modification.

Now for the performance

The difference in road holding capability with this setup is almost impossible to describe. It is uncanny to turn into a curve, and see how much more traction this setup has. It's scary to see how much it holds on to the pavement without any skidding, slide, or roll. You have most probably have heard this expression before, but it honestly feels as if I was driving a slot car. It's capabilities are now much greater then my ability to take the car to the new limits of it's performance.

Great combo, will never again run one of these cars with the narrow, skinny, correct looking radials, that are seen on most cars. I am in the process of building two more midyears, and both will have slight un-noticeable mods, in order to use the same ( or larger ) tire and wheel setup.

good luck with your choices
Bob

Thanks for the great write up. I'm currently shopping for new wheels and tires and I'm going to get 18" all around. I'm using 20" all around on my 79 and I just love the ride, it goes like it's on rails and the grip is just amazing. I take it that you are using stock trailing aroms? With offset trailing arms I'm able to run 5.5BS on my 79, I can't see why this wouln't be possible on C2 too, since they share the same frame and suspension component. Only thing concerning me is how the C2 body interferes with the wheel travel. On our 63 roadster we sanded down the fender lips at the back, we were able to run 235/50/15 tires under there.

Thanks again!

 

[stepinwolf]

Wondering

groovyjay,

I have the regular arms on the car, and a new set of off-set's arms on the shelf, but with the present wheel filling up the space between the fender lip, and the outer frame rail, the use of the offset would only permit me to have a different back spacing, and not necessarily a larger wheel.

When I ordered the wheels from " http://www.introwheels.com/ I told him that I had the off-set's and it would not be a problem for me to make the swap if by doing so, I could use some wider rears, and he said that with or without the off set-arms, the 18" 7"s was the largest I could expect to use without clearance problems.

 

[attret00]

Why would I get a "Post Request from foreign hosts are not allowed" sign every time I try to upload?

 

[67HEAVEN]

Why would I get a "Post Request from foreign hosts are not allowed" sign every time I try to upload?

attret00,

Please PM me with the exact sequence of events that leads to this error message. We'll get it sorted out.

 

[67HEAVEN]

While we sort out the photo error, let's have a look at Randy's (attret00) fine '64 coupe.

 

[67HEAVEN]

Two guys played hookey this afternoon.

The sun was shining, and the open road was calling.

Care to guess where we went?

 

[67HEAVEN]

More clues.

Fuelie's sweet fuelie.

Little ol' me.

Yes, there are a few pieces left to install. Z28Canuck is helping me buff the stainless front and rear window trim (as per Rich Lagasse's excellent Corvette Fever article), and I'll be installing the side exhaust upper trim pieces this weekend.

Life is good.

 

[Vette66AirCoupe]

Is it me or is red just the bomb when it comes to Vettes? Perhaps I'm just prejudiced. :cool

 

[IH2LOSE]

Sooo

Can you guys still hear after driving thru the little tunnel?

Both cars look great.

Tell the canuck to hold on tight while buffing. I will be up by the buffalo NY border.How far away are you from there in travel time via a car

 

[67HEAVEN]

I will be up by the buffalo NY border.How far away are you from there in travel time via a car

Larry,

Travel time (depending on rush hour, etc.) is between 2.75 hours and 3.5 hours. Also, the border crossing could add an additional 30 minutes to 2 hours depending on how many terrorists are in line in front of you.

 

[67HEAVEN]

Can you guys still hear after driving thru the little tunnel?

I'll tell you true, I had forgotten the importance of wearing ear plugs. I ran with the windows down and by the time I got back home, I had a headache and my ears were ringing. Hello? Hello? Hello?

Stupid me. I've got a glovebox full of the ear plugs, but we were having so much fun I forgot to "plug in". :crazy

 

[Tripleblack51]

Great shots!!

Beautiful cars...

Tell me mid year coupes don't look great in red!

Thanks for the pics.

I will cruise with my buddy's 67 coupe and a few C5s tomorrow to a car show and post some pics.



Pedro

Two guys played hookey this afternoon.



The sun was shining, and the open road was calling.

Care to guess where we went?

 

[67HEAVEN]

Is it me or is red just the bomb when it comes to Vettes?

No, it's not just you.

 

[IH2LOSE]

Larry,

Travel time (depending on rush hour, etc.) is between 2.75 hours and 3.5 hours. Also, the border crossing could add an additional 30 minutes to 2 hours depending on how many terrorists are in line in front of you.

I am scheduled to be up there sunday morning untill tuesday night. If it was a shorter travel time i would have requested a meet and great with you guys.Ill have to wait until august

 

[stepinwolf]

Hadn't noticed

Brian, Bob, your car's looks great, sorry that I missed ( fuelie ) it in the original post. Where in the h-ll did you two get any sunshine lately. It's been raining here for the past nine days, and it looks like my Sanair Sunday will be cancelled tomorrow.

Did your destination have anything to do with go-fast cars ( as in racing )

Do I ever love Red Corvettes, but then I'm bias

Great shots guys