I'm looking at some c-5 rims on ebay that are 17" front and 18" on back. The off sets on the front are fine but the rears are 58. I was wanting to know if this will work and what it would do to the level of the car. Will I have to be a lower profile tire on the rear or what. I don't want it to look stupid by being out of balance. Anyboby with some input.

 

What is the width on the 18" wheels?

You have to try to get as close as possible to your car's stock tire diameter as possible. If you do that, there will be no change in the ride height. That's why you would likely put a 40-profile tire on the front (e.g. 275/40-17 on a 17x9.5" wheel) and a 35-series tire in the back (e.g. 275/35 or 285/35-18).

 

I have the '97-'99 fat spoked vette wheels on my '95 camaro. I have 295-35-18 supercar tires on the backs. They only thing I had to do was slightly grind out the hub on the rear wheels and beat in the inner wheel well where the tire rubbed. It looks pretty good. I'll see if I can get a few pictures for ya tomorrow.

 

ive got 18in. Z06's on mine in the back, 9.5 in wheel with a 285/35/18 on the back, only thing i had to do was grind down the hub no issues with rubbing *shrug* oh and pics in sig!

 

The 18x9.5 Z06 wheel has a 61mm offset, resulting in a 7.60" backspace = no rubbing.

The 18x10.5 Z06 wheel has a 58mm offset, resulting in an 8.00" backspace = rubbing.

The 18x9.5" C5 (non-Z06) wheels have a 65mm offset, resulting in a 7.76" backspace = maybe, but only if its a really wide tire.

Hence the question to the original poster.... how wide are the 18" wheels? Sounds like they are 18x10.5 and he may have a problem.

 

The rims I'm looking at are c5 style 5 stars. they are 18x9.5.
Listed on www.aaarims.com.

I thought about running BF Goodrich g-force Drag Radials

Front 265/40/18
Rear 295/35r-18 91 BSW

If this will work let me know if not I'm open for suggestions. I'd really like to keep the tread pattern the same if possible.

 

what do you mean by "out of balance" you talking about having 17's on the front and 18's on the back by being out of blanance look ?
isn't no different than what i have ran on mine in the past.....lol!....19's front and 20's rear.....

 

I guess I haven't adapted to the set ups for rims. My last big rim purchase was for my Toyota truck the rims were 15x12 with 42' SUper Swampers on them. I didn't know if you could tell a difference from the 17 & 18 " rims on a car. I'll probably just go 18 all around.

 

It's not unusual to have smaller diameter wheels on the front... that's why you can buy a 17/18" combo from the C5 or Z06... 17's in the front, 18's in the back. As mentioned, the key is to select the tire diameter/apect ratio so they are approx the same, although even a small mismatch isn't going to be noticable.

If I read your post correctly, you appear to be putting "drag radials" on both the front and the back. You don't necessarily do that. There's no benefit in running the drag radial in the front. I run the 275/40-17 BFG g-Force KDW in the front and the 315/35-17 BFG g-Force T/A Drag Radial 2 in the back. Seems like a decent match up, although once you decide to emphasize straight line traction, you are typically compromising cornering traction. The two just don't go together very well.

You are also looking at the g-force T/A Drag Radial line (and not the Drag Radial 2).... BFG describes those as:
Not sure if the F-Body qualifies as a "sport compact" and how those tires are going to be on a heavier, rear-wheel drive setup. They appear to be intended for the import crowd.... not sure.

 

Thanks, for the input. Guess my tire selection shows my lack of knowledge on the subject.