I have a 1996 Z28, which is lowered 2 inches... I opted to keep my salad shooter wheels, because I had them painted black, and the white cas with the black rims, with red calipers looks bad as sh#!

Anyways.. I still hace 245's on it and want to know if anyone has experimented with how wide a tire they can safely get on those rims.... while up on the lift, it appears as tho i dont hace alot of leway before the tire rubs the rubber "bump-stops"...

A lil help please?????

 

People fit 315's in the stock wheel wells. Takes a bit of hammering, but it can be done.

The problem with the stock 16x8 is the lack of any decent tires wider than 255/50-16. There just aren't many "high performance" 16" tires in the wider sizes. BFG make a TA Radial (mid level tire) in 265/50-16, but that's a 26.5" diameter tire. That lifts your car 1/2" higher than stock, and pushes the tire 1/2" farther into the fender, making it a possible problem with a lowered car. They make 16's in widths up to 295, but now you are talking tires that will not really fit in the stock wheel openings because of the huge diameter. And, the large diameter tire hurts your performance like swapping in numerically lower rear gears.

That's why most people opt for the 17" wheels on the 4th Gens. It offers more options on wide tires.... 275/40-17, 285/40-17 and 315/35-17.

 

Yeah, there just isn't the choices in 16" tires that there used to be.

I recall, in the mid 80's Michelin made a 315/40-16 that was designed and intended to fit on stock Corvette 16x9.5 wheels. But nowadays, 17"+ is the way to go for wider tires.