Widest wheel for 81

[johnd]

I did a search but there was nothing really for what I wanted...I have a 81 and I am getting some rims for it and I was wondering what the widest tire for the front and for the back would be??

Thanks,
John Dykstra

 

[JHL]

Hi

Is it 15" wheels you are getting ??? it will depend a bit on the backspacing of the wheels you get but I have 295/50 rears and 255/60 fronts on the standard Corvette alloys with out any problem.

J.

 

[Glensgages]

JHL:
I was of opinion that 295s wouldn't fit w/o off-set trailing-arms, but you say yours fit, with no modifications???
Can you get me the height & side-wall widths of your BFGs, as measured on the car? I'm thinking of running over-sized 'stickies' my next time @ the local drag-strip; curious as to 'how-big' I can go...
Thanks in advance, GLEN!!!

 

[johnd]

I am really looking into getting 17" tourque thrust II'sor crager ss's with probably a 50 series tire. And is there a way to figure out what I should jam under there and still work on a stock setup.

Thanks,
John Dykstra

 

[69MyWay]

Check out 81LT4. He has squeezed a HUGE wheel under the back of his car with stock fenders. It looks fantastic! You can see the rear view in his avatar picture.

 

[JHL]

Glen

One thing I have noticed over the years is that not all manufactures tyres for a given size are exactly the same. For example I have 17" rims on my daily driver VW and I had to replace the two front tyres recently. The old original ones would very slightly catch the plastic trim going over a bad bump, I replaced them with same size tyre 205/40-17 but a differant style, more suitable for wet weather driving and surprisingly the problem was gone.

I have not made any measurements on my Vette and unfortunately it looks like I will be in the Czech Republic for some time and the car is still in England so I can`t help you with the measurments you need. I said no mods but I forgot to mention that the exhaust pipe had a slight bend in them to clear the inner edge of the tyres(i have resolved this by fitting sidepipes ). It is a close fit but even fully loaded with fuel and a passenger and some tools for a day at the track there is no rubbing at all. I have seen one or two other C3`s on various sites that have also had the 295/50`s. My friend had a 78 SA and he had 17" billet Centerline rims with 275/40 rear and 255/50 fronts againg with no rubbing problems.

You might be able to get some information on sizes in some of the tyre manufacturers web sites



Sorry I couldn`t Help
J.

 

[Glensgages]

JHL:
I agree; tire manufacturer's sizes vary. When I got my '82 three years ago, it still had the OEM Eagle GT 255/60R15s, which I soon replaced w/ BFG TAs of the same 'size'.
The BFGs are a bit taller & skinnier; I get a 'rub' now and again up-front (it seems the old GTs 'handled' better, too, but the TAs 'ride' nicer...).
I'm guessing the 26" tall x 8" wide (tread) soft-compound 'stickies' will fit OK in the back. They 'hooked' my Z28 good-enough to run 13-teens @ 105 MPH; I just hope they don't hook 'SO'-good that I 'shell' the '82 rear-end

 

[JHL]

My main concern with the BFG`s is there low speed rating, my Vette due to the gears probably doesn`t exceed it by much but it tortures them getting there !!! That being said like yourself I would rather have some wheelspin instead of a broken axle.

J.

 

[70 LS1]

I am running 245/45 17 on an 8" rim up front and 275/40 18 on a 9.5" rim in back. This is with stock trailing arms and no rubbing.