My brother has some tires/wheels that he had on his old mustang, but i think they might be too small to fit on my z. The tires say 275/60b/14...i think. so that means that they are on 14" rims, right? I'm not exactly sure what each number on tires mean. I know the first one is the width, but i dunno what it is measured in. And the last number is the rim size, Right? What is the middle number...and what is the letter for??

Jeff

 

Correct, they are for a 14" wheel.

-Eric H

 

Ok, so will my car look funny with 14" rims? They seem kind of small. and what are the other numbers and letter for???

Jeff

 

The first number I believe measures from bead to bead, basically the tread part, and it is in millimeters. The second number is the sidewall height, foir instance, truck tires will have a higher number here than the little rubberbands on 22" wheels. The letter is the speed rating, I think Z is the best. The last number is the diameter of the wheel in inches.

 

The first number is the width of the tire. The second is the height.

Honestly, I think your car wouldn't look good with a 14" wheel. But I doubt they would bolt on anyway. They probably have a different bolt pattern and backspacing.

-Eric H

 

Ok, thanx for the replies guys. I was jus wondering if they would fit, because if i ever went to the track, these are nice wide tires, and i think they might be DR's too, not exactly sure though. I think you might be right about the backspacing, they seemed really deep. Our cars have a 5 bolt pattern right?

Jeff

 

lol, well yeah, there are 5 bolts, but it is a 5 X4.75" bolt pattern. Get some pics, I have never seen 14's on an fbody

 

i think it would look hilarious

 

Ill elaborate just a bit. The second number isnt a set measurement, but a percentage of the width of the tire. Therefore, for example, a 275/60 tire is gonna have a (275mm*60%)=165mm sidewall height.


Also, if that size tire you gave was accurate, that makes for a 27" diameter tire which is a little over an inch bigger than standard camaro tires. So your speedometer and odometer will be a little off.

 

I seriously doubt you could fit a 14" wheel on a 4th Gen.... many of us using 15" wheels for slicks have to resort to grinding down the calipers (rear) and adding spacers (front).

 

Is this true Injuneer? That the sidewall is a percentage of the width? No offense IR, but I have never heard anything like that before...

 

Check near the bottom for aspect ratio

I like tirerack's better, its closer to what I said.

 

Yes.... that is 100% correct. A "40" aspect ratio tire has a sidewall height that is 40% of the widest part of the tire (section width).

For a 275/40-17

275 = section width, or widest part of the tire = 275mm / 25.4 = 10.83" section width.

Sidewall = 40% of section width = 0.40 X 10.83" = 4.33"

Diameter of the tire = wheel diameter + 2 sidewalls = 17 + (2 X 4.33) = 17 + 8.66 = 25.66" diameter

 

Thanks guys! I have never made the connection before, although I have heard of 'aspect ratio', just never really though about it. So a 315 with a 40 sidewall would be higher than a 245 with a 40 sidewall, right?

 

Yes:

315 / 25.4 = 12.40"
0.40 X 12.40 = 4.96"

245 / 25.4 = 9.65"
0.40 X 9.65 = 3.86"