I need some help & advice. I have just started looking for rims for my green 97 Z. I kinda like the ADR Sterling 18" in the silver finish with polished lip.

The only problem is, they are only 8.5" wide. What is the widest tire, (275/35/18 perhaps?) I could put on this rim, and how would they look on my camaro? Are 285's possible in the rear? I was looking at 9.5" front, and 10.5" rear rims, but the ADR's I found are only 8.5"

The description states that the rim has an Offset of + 35. I am not sure what that means. How does this effect the tire.

Also, I havent been able to find any f-body cars with ADR Sterings on them. Could anyone post pics if they have them.

And finally, can anyone give me there advice on these rims as far as looks on a Camaro. I want a great looking rim, but don't want what everyone else seems to be getting, (Z-06, ZR-1, TT2, etc). I love those rims, but I want to be a little different, but not ricey!

Any help or advice given is greatly welcomed!!!!

 

phew, thats a lot of questions...

widest tire on the 8.5" wide wheel.. it depends, if you want the "flush look".. most would go with a 255/40/18 tire, but there have been people that get wider-275, 285 etc tires on wheels that wide. the only problem, is the bulge..

i personally think it is better to have the correct size tire on the wheel tho, low profile tires bulging or almost pulling off the wheel looks like someone doesnt know what they were doing imho..

generally, from what i have read(and purchased) these have been some common recommendations for wheel/tire size combo's. the tires sizes are suggested to keep the speedo from being too far off with the changes(i'll get to the offset part in a minute)
wheel tire offset
16x8 245/50-16 35
17x8 245/45-17 35
17x8.5 255/45-17 38
17x9.5 275/40-17 56
17x11 295/35-17 50
18x8 245/40-18 35
18x8.5 255/40/18 38
18x9.5 275/35-18 56

these sizes should work well on a 4th gen, the 17x11's are special tho, and require a search by themselves for fitment..

the offset of the wheel, has a relationship with the width of the wheel.. the higher the offset the farther the wheel will be placed in the wheelwell.. thats why on the 8" wheel the offset is around 35, to push all the wheel to the outside to make it look flush... for the wider wheels, like the 9.5", you have to have it pushed into the wheel whell more, so it doesnt stick out.. now the offset's i listed are only suggestions, there is a little math to finding out how exatly those ebay wheels will fit on your car.. (yep, another search)

as for adr sterlings... here is a pic of a t/a with some chromie adr sterlings on it... he has the 18x8.5" wheels with 38mm offset on the front and he had them custom widened on the back to 10.5"
http://www.ls1.com/forums/showthread...hreadid=272343
nice imo

another note on buying wheels that arent the norm, be prepared to do a lot of searching, and there is always the option of searching for bmw wheels that will fit your car.. bmw 3 series.. there has been some debate about the difference between the 120.65mm (4th gen) and 120mm(bmw) bolt patterns. its a really small differece and there have been a good amount of people that have bought bmw wheels, and driven on them without any problems.. only prob with bmw wheels that i had was that they rarely came in wider than 8" and most bmw wheels just dont go together with maro's and bird's...

i hope this answered some of your questions, i too have been looking for wheels that arent the norm, but dont look trashy or too much like "tacky import style" (cant say ri*ey anymore..) on our rides...

good luck

josh

 

I wouldn't go much larger than a 255 on a 8.5" rim. It will start to look tacky if you get much wider. But as the guy stated above you could get the rim widened, and then get a wider tire.

 

You can have your rim widened? How is that and where do u get something like that done? What about the cost involved?

 

Here's an article on rim widening.

 

get your wheels widened here

 

Just buy something wider!

 

Thats exactly what I did