if not what's the biggest tire I can go with?

 

Help. please someone .so i don't go and order the tires and they won't fit. There the C5 vette wheels and that's what the specs say. so is that 8.5 gonna work for a 275 wheel?

 

What width rim a specific tire requires is determined by the tire manufacturer's recommendations. MOST manufacturers recommend a minimum rim width of 9.0" for a 275/40-17. Dunlop is an exception, accepting 8.5" minimum rim width. I don't think going 1/2" under the recommended minimum rim width is going to cause any major problems. How it "looks" may be a factor though. Might look a little "pinched".

What C5 17x8.5" wheel has a 65mm offset? The table I have from VETTE magazine shows all the 17x9.5" wheel as 56mm offset. A 65mm offset is going to "sink" the wheel/tire into the wheel well. The outer face of the tire will be about 1/8" deeper in the wheel well than a stock 16x8 wheel.

 

I had a set of 17x8 Enkei wheels a while back where the rear tires were 275/40-17's and they definetely didn't belong on that wheel. They were bulging out way too much. You could almost feel the rear sliding a bit when taking turns.

The fronts had 245/45-17's and they seemed pretty much perfect.

TS

 

...I've got the Y2K rims on my Trans am. They are the 8.5 x 17 ones
{from Performance Wheel} with 275x40x17 tires. I now have Kumho 712
& used to have BFG's KD's. They look great.... Bill.... {oh, when I bought
the tires I THOUGHT I had the 9.5 x 17 rims but when I had a flat
{actually TWO flats in two days} I saw 8.5 x 17 stamped on the back
of the rims.....