Suspension Experts Please Step In.........

[Perry V]

I need ur help....... I'm planning on getting some C5 rims for my '97 bird...

My car currently has 16's with 235/55 tires.
The C5's will be 2 17's @ 245/45
and 2 18's @ 275/40

Now i'm concerned with how my car will look with new rims, and i'm assuming that i will have to lower it.... if i am to get new springs i will get adjustable ones, that way i can customize it the way i would like it.. here's the ones i'm looking at:
http://www.eautoworks.com/html/ORD-A...pring-4514.htm
now, should i upgrade my struts(shocks) as well? I'm not very familiar with my suspension parts, and am kind of a newbie to this part of my car.... but i am putting out close to 300hp with my V6 and i will need to hook up a lot better...i just don't know about stiffness etc. any recomendations? or will the stocks do? (probably a dumb question)

will the wheel gap be that much bigger with the new rims?

thanks for any feedback.... it is appreciated...

[Wicked 3800 V6]

Dunno about the wheels and fitment issues, but they should fit fine.
As for the hooking up, bigger wheels tend to hook worse. Daily is OK, but if you're drag racing, some nice 15's with stickies would work much much better.
-Rob

[Perry V]

Ya, this is my daily driver...for street purposes only...i think the c5's will look good and the goodyear F1's will hook up a lot better than the bald Eagle GA's i'm running now....

u think i need to redo the struts as well with the springs?

thanks

[Wicked 3800 V6]

You don't have to lower it, that's more a matter of personal taste. But if you do, you'll probably want new shocks.
-Rob

[Perry V]

won't there be a bigger wheel gap though? I've heard a lot of ppl making fun of f-bodies when they've put on 18's calling them 4x4's etc... If the wheel gap remained the same as mine is right now, i'd probably wouldn't lower it....but putting the new/bigger rims on, i think that gap will get bigger.

that's just from what i've gathered, no personal experiences here..

thanks for the replies

[Dominic]

The vette tires use a special low diameter front, high diameter rear, tire size to maintain sidewall height (to make it ride a teensy bit better and to allow EMTs to work).

If you put these on a Fbody I recommend you run P255/45R17 up front and P275/35R18 in the rear. Both tires will be identical in height and won't throw off the speedo [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

The wheelgap though will remain the same if the tire height is identical to what came on the car stock, and this happens to be the case if you go with the tire sizes I just recommended.

If you wish to lower it, there are many good ways to do that, and the coil over setup isn't something you need to do unless you know you need it for the adjustability.

I would personally just install some Eibach drop springs with either Koni Single Adjustables, or Bilstein revalves.

[ April 14, 2003: Message edited by: Dominic ]</p>

[Arctc Wolf]

The fender gap in the rear will be less, but it will make the rear stick up in the air more, maybe a couple 1/10's of an inch. if you go w/ a coil-over kit, you'll be able to drop the height as much as 2 inches. buy it straight from Ground Control and get a set of Koni shocks w/ them.

[ April 14, 2003: Message edited by: Arctc Wolf ]</p>

[O0oSKAMo0O]

good idea for the groun control THE BEST.
i tried z06 wheels on mine and it stuck out too much. the regular C5 wheels work.just put some rubber on them.

[ April 15, 2003: Message edited by: O0oSKAMo0O ]</p>

[StockV6Cam]

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Perry V:
but i am putting out close to 300hp with my V6 and i will need to hook up a lot better<hr></blockquote>

Did everyone else miss this? How exactly do you have 300hp? I doubt you even have that much at the flywheel. I was looking at your site and your only power producing mods are intake, headers, cat-back, and the 6lb. powerdyne supercharger. You're probably more like 250 or 260 at the flywheel.

[Perry V]

first off are u trying to say that at 6-7psi my car's only putting out an extra 30-40 hp? I hope not.... the 9psi kit is rated to add 100 hp.... i'm assuming that with 6-7lbs of boost that the blower will be putting out somewhere around 70-80hp..... plus all of my other mods, i have no cat, 3" exhaust all the way.....i'm not saying i'm at 300 hp (YES AT THE FLYWHEEL!) but i am saying i'm close, probably in the 285-290hp range...which shows cause i can beat a stock LT1 like nothing.

If u got info, back up ur case, but if ur thinking that the 6psi puts out 40 hp, there's somethin wrong with ya.