Buy OEM C5s now or wait....

[SeanC]

Hey guys,

I need an opinion on what to do...I could buy a nice pair of C5 thin style spoke rims off of a 2000 Corvette, but they will have the wrong offsets and the wheel will sit a little further into the wheel well. Its a good deal, and I figured I would get a pair of affordable rims for when I have to get new tires (within a year or so).

Should I buy these rims, or should I wait and try to find aftermarket reproduction c5 rims that have the correct offset? Its really hard for me to pass this deal up, but i'm not sure if I want to have to deal with the whole offset/spacer situation....What would you guys do??? I keep going back and forth on what to do...Thanks!

[creeper]

is this a 4th gen they're going on? I ran y2k's on mine and they really don't sit in all that far, most people wouldn't notice

[SeanC]

They are the C5 thin spokes (I think thats considered Y2ks-not overly familiar with corvette wheels). They are being sold in the classified section if it helps out.

Fronts (17X8.5") are a +56 mm offset, rears (18X9.5") are a +65mm offset

And yes, they're going on a 96' Trans Am

[Slow-V6]

I have them on my car

http://www.fquick.com/garages/viewgallery.php?action=viewimg&id=280902
http://www.fquick.com/garages/viewgallery.php?action=viewimg&id=280903

Love the way they look. Dont know how much you are going to be paying but I found my set on the Corvette Forums for 350.00 with tires that had 80% of tread on them. The vette guys seem to just want to get rid of them for very cheap. The guy I got mine off of lives in Hershey PA so it was a 2 hr drive to pick them up.

[SeanC]

Man I LOVE those wheels. Thanks for the pictures. You're not running them with spacers or anything, correct? As far as I can tell, they seem to have the right offset (cant tell its technically off). Also, what size tires do you have on them? Are the 17" in the front and 18" in the back?

[Slow-V6]

They are 17's in the front with 245 40 17's and in the back they are 18's with 275 35 18 I believe. I have no spacers but had to bang in the inner fender well in the rear so the tires would not rub. These rims might cause your ABS to not work. They have not caused mine to not work but I have 4 channel ABS. Wolfblitz has these rims on his Firebird and he has 3 channel ABS And I believe they mess up his ABS.

Those are phone pics so they are a little crappy.

[SeanC]

I feel like I read that somewhere else too...Any clue why it would cause this problem with the ABS (I'll be honest - I dont know much at all about the ABS system)?

Did you go with a 275/35R18 tire in the rear and 245/40R17 because they had a smaller diameter than the stock corvette tire size?

[Slow-V6]

They are whatever the Corvettes used for tire size! I got the rims with tires that had about 8k miles on them for 350.00.

The ABS issue has to do with wheel and tire height I believe. The stock tire size is either 235 50 16 or 275 40 17 on Fbodies. Thats the size on all 4 wheels. The Vettes have the staggard wheels and also differnt size tires!!

[SeanC]

Gotcha, wasn't sure if you changed tires since you bought them. Really hoping i'm not going to have trouble with the ABS system. Thats going to be a nightmare to try to figure out how to fix if I do. Hopefully not! haha.

I'm checking the rims out this weekend. Apparantly they have some tread left but not a ton...may have to wait until I wear down my current tires before replacing the rubber on the new rims (not made out of money unfortunately :cry: ). The rims do not come with lug nuts; any idea where I can get new ones?

Thanks for the help so far!

[creeper]

mine had those same tire sizes I believe, if not a 275/40/18 in the rear (rear tire was about 3/4" taller than the front) and I had no problems with ABS

[Slow-V6]

Use your stock lug nut with the black caps!! To fix the ABS problem you have to match the tire size and trick the CPU in thinking your still running your stock tires!! Dont be inpulsive on buying these rims for that price. As I said before you can find these rims for free on the Vette websites!

[SeanC]

Thats really good to hear haha. The rims come with the stock Corvette tire size on them (275/40R18 and 245/45R17), so I guess i'll see how they fit first. I'm hoping that I will be able to go a tad wider in the rear, but its doubtful...

[maroman88]

i had no problems with the ABS with stock C5 rims on my 95 Z28, litteraly took them off a 98 corvette and put them directly on my 95 camaro, just needed to smack the inner wheel wells in a bit

[MonmouthCtyAntz]

i had no problems with the ABS with stock C5 rims on my 95 Z28, litteraly took them off a 98 corvette and put them directly on my 95 camaro, just needed to smack the inner wheel wells in a bit

x2......

[SeanC]

slow-V6....I really doubt you can find these for free.....If I could that would be amazing though

And thats good to hear that you guys didn't have problems with your ABS.

Question...The wheels are not being sold with lug nuts. Should I buy replacement lug nuts for a Corvette? (i'm assuming that the Corvette lug nuts fit on f-body studs, right?). I'd rather not use caps on my current lug nuts (think it would look nicer with real chrome lug nuts).

[Slow-V6]

slow-V6....I really doubt you can find these for free.....If I could that would be amazing though

And thats good to hear that you guys didn't have problems with your ABS.

Question...The wheels are not being sold with lug nuts. Should I buy replacement lug nuts for a Corvette? (i'm assuming that the Corvette lug nuts fit on f-body studs, right?). I'd rather not use caps on my current lug nuts (think it would look nicer with real chrome lug nuts).


I hate to tell you but a member on here Wolfblitz got the Y2k's with tires for free! The Vette owner got a set of Z06's and hated the Y2k's and just wanted to get rid of them. I believe all Justin had to do was wash the dudes vette!

As far as the lug nuts I dont know if they are the same as a Vette. I do have some chome painted caps for the lug nuts but I am using the flat black painted caps for my T/A because the black caps look better with the rims.

[SeanC]

That is unbelievably lucky haha. I bought the Y2ks I was looking at. They are in fairly good condition (some defects in the chrome). I just couldn't pass them up...I can't wait to get them on the car!

I found out from Injuneer that corvette lug nuts will fit f-body studs and vice versa, so I ordered a nice new set of chrome c5 corvette replacements :)

[Slow-V6]

That is unbelievably lucky haha. :)

Its not lucky all you have to do is see if a Vette has aftermarket rims and if they do see if they still have there stock rims and see what they want for them. I bought my set with good tires for 350.00 then I bought another set without tires for 150.00 so that I would have a backup set in case I hit a curb or something. In Justins case the guy just didnt want them in his garage I guess and just gave them to him.