TobyZ28

Looking to get some new wheels, narrowed it down to either 17x9's all round with 275/40R17's or a Staggered 17x9 17x10.5... offsets i think were around 44-46mm.

Thoughts so far though:

• I would prefer the staggered look from the rear.
• Website's like carid/tirerack all seem to limit me to 275's for all 4 even on the staggered setup (?!) this seems a bit odd, i would imagine a 295-305 would work a bit better for the rear!
• Cost is a factor so i'd really like to aim for getting it all mounted /balanced/shipped at once, so piecemealing the tires/rims may n
• I'm assuming i shouldn't have fitament issues based on research so far for a lowered car (1") with 10.5" rears!

Q1. Is there any point in going staggered if i go with 275's all around? Seems kinda silly.
Q2. I drive the car fairly hard, dream is to road course it in the future - would i be better off not going staggered for that alone?

Injuneer

You tacked your last question onto a thread about 18 x 9 wheels, and I provided a lot of info on 18" tires. Apparently you weren't even asking about the same size wheels as discussed in that thread. That's the problem with hijacking someone else's thread.

For the rear you can use 315/35-17. They will fit correctly on wheels 10.0 - 11.0" wide. And the outside diameter of the 315/35-17 (25.7") is identical to the outside diameter of a 275/40-17.

There are no 295 or 305 section width tires for 17" wheels that would be correct for a 4th Gen, unless possibly in "track only" tires. Even 315's seem to be getting harder to find. I've had 315's on the back of my Formula for 15 years. Wheel offset is critical to avoid rubbing.

JakeRobb

For neutral handling on a road course in our cars, equal tire size on all four corners is preferable.

This can change depending on other factors, like swaybar selection. If I'm reading your sig right, you have Strano's 35mm front bar but the stock rear bar? For ideal handling, you might want to get Strano's matching rear bar as well.

If getting the absolute best lap time is a goal, plan on 315s at all four corners on 10.5 or 11" wheels. There are more high performance tire choices for 18" wheels than for 17", and 18" will allow bigger brakes.

For my own road course use, I'm running 275s on 17x9" wheels at all four corners. I'm just doing HPDEs, not real road racing. At this point I'm not skilled enough to get the most out of what I already have.

TobyZ28

Thanks JakeRobb, this is great info - I think I'll go for equal on all 4's! I'll take a look at 18's just see what options are out there (hopefully Injuneer will feel a bit better too). I doubt i'd ever approach the level where i get serious enough to need larger than 9"s though - in it more for the fun!

You mentioned brakes, I was thinking i'd likely go a set of LS1 spindle/brakes as newer/larger brake setups seems to cost a mint. Would I be missing out in a big way by not going larger, i'm hoping brakes larger than LS1's would get me 90% there to the point of diminishing returns - If so then i guess i'll need to definitely go 18"s!

Rear Sway Bar is on the list (after sfc's, brakes, gears! haha), front + lowering the car was night and day. Did a road course event up here shortly after (years ago) and it was to this day the most fun i've had on 4 wheels by far!

JakeRobb

I put Baer's 6P setup on mine. 13" rotors (to fit under my 17" wheels) and six-piston calipers. They take C5/C6 pads, which is nice. I run Hawk HP+ pads on track. I had initally thought the 6P was too expensive (close to $2k), but then picked them up on sale for about $1400.

The factory LS1 brakes are capable, but they have woefully inadequate cooling for extended track use. The biggest reason I upgraded was so that I could go to a rotor with directional cooling vanes, which helps "pump" air through the rotor. It's still not enough, though -- I really need to do cooling ducts. I searched high and low and couldn't find anyone selling an LS1-compatible 12" rotor with the directional vanes.

Another relatively inexpensive option for big brakes on a fourth gen are the 14" setup from a first-gen CTS-V. You can do the whole setup for under a grand. 18" wheels required to clear the calipers.

There's more to the story with my brakes, but I'm typing on my phone. I'll try to remember to come back and post more.

TobyZ28

Thanks all for the help, went 17x9's all around with 275 tires. Car looks great with the new wheels but as expected those stock brakes are much more visible now and will need an upgrade . I'll be likely tackling that next year!

TobyZ28