Does Anyone Know If An 18x9.5 Wheel With 65 Mm Offset Will Fit Up Front. Basicly It Would Be Like Takeing The Rear Wheel Of A Zo6 And Putting It Up Front With A Smaller Tire. Some People I Have Talked To Said No Way, And Some Said Yes. Please Let Me Know If You Have This Size All The Way Around With No Problem I Have A 98 F-body.

 

Just so you know, the rears of a Z06 are 18x10.5.

 

i had a set from oe concepts that were 18x9.5 with 65mm for the front of my thirdgen. i sold them to a guy with a 95ta and they bolted right up and fit perfect he even had the ta slammed which surprised me as i had to use a 2 1/4" adapter.

 

Does a higher offset make the outer lip stick out past the fender? Or what?

 

Larger offset moves the wheel/tire deeper into the wheel well. With a 9.5" wide wheel, something around 38-40mm offset will put the front wheel close to the outer edge of the fender. 56mm puts a 17x9.5 wheel edge within about 1/8" of the steering knuckle, well inside the fender.

I'd be interested in knowing how close an 18x9.5 65mm will sit against the steering knuckle. The knuckle curves back away from the rim as the rim diameter gets larger. So it is hard to tell how close the 65mm offset puts the wheel.

 

I'm thinking of getting some new rims and the specs are Front 8.5" @ 38 mm offset and Rear 9.5 @ 35 mm offset.

From my calculation:
Front : 8.5/2 - 38/25.4 = 2.75"
Rear: 9.5/2 - 35/25/4 = 3.37"

Will that flush to the end of the fender?

Any imput is greatly appreciated!

Thanks!
Tom

 

You need to add the width of the "flange" that holds the tire on the rim to calculate the backspace, or the "front space" as you have calculated. The front wheel width (8.5") is measured inside the flanges, so the total physical width of the wheel is typically almost 1" wider than the specification, because of the width of the flanges (0.45 - 0.50" each).

So, your physical front wheel width would be closer to 9.5", and you get

4.75 - 38/25.4 = 4.75 - 1.50 = 3.25"

The rear 9.5's would work out to 3.875"

Some representative "front space" dimensions:

Stock 16x8 = 2.28"
Stock 17x9 = 2.78"
ZR1 17x9.5 56mm = 3.00"
ZR1 17x9.5 37.5mm = 3.73"
ZR1 17x11 50mm = 4.00"
ZR1 17x11 36.5mm = 4.50"
TT II 17x9.5 45mm = 3.48"
TT II 17x11 45mm = 4.21"

To me, the TT II's are the maximum "front space" you would want on a 4th Gen.

 

Thanks Injuneer, that makes a lot of sense.

I can never get the right width of the rims and it's always off LOL.

I'll post pic of the new rims once I get them.

Thanks again.