choopes

Rear wheel of my 93
All the corvette I see that have these rims have them turned the way you see in the pic. The back of the car is on the left. I watched a you tube vid the other day. Talking about the advancements thru the years. It said the rims are supposed to be turned around the other way. The purpose is to force air into the wheel to help cool the brake components. I have never heard of this! I have owned my 93 for over 21 years now. Interesting that when I bought it, the previous owner had put new tires recently put on the front. The front only were turned around. I changed it around pretty soon after getting it home.
So what is right?

novaks47

What you have pictured is correct for late model C4s, they pull air from behind the wheel and push it out. Earlier ones had the blades flowing forwards.

EDIT : I forgot to mention that each wheel should be stamped with the correct location, on the inside of the wheel. LF RF and so on.

topfuel67

I just recently put tires on mine. The rims actually have "Right Hand" or "Left Hand" cast on the inside so there is not confusion. Plus if you look at the picture on the cover of the factory service manual it shows the correct direction for each year. The way your picture shows.

Railroadman

But....but....the YouTube video said.....

I'll join the chorus - what you have now is correct.

choopes

This is good info! Thanks! I will pay better attention next time I have them off, I am sure they are right. How weird that the video I saw showed them backwards.

Sprongs

Corvette Sawblades:

10180879.....L. Front-17x8.5
10180880.....R Front-17x8.5

10180881.....L Rear-17x9.5
10180882.....R Rear-17x9.5

detroitrust

What brand and size tires. I'm having a pis of a time finding tires in the 255/45/17 front and 285/40/17 rear set. Nittos fronts are gone. Conti Extremes are available but i don't think they are applicable unless it's hot as hell when running them.

topfuel67

I put Mickey Thompson Street Comp tires on all 4. My RPO shows all 4 of my rims as the 17x9.5s and calls for the 275/40s all around. I am really happy with these tires so far. Very good traction off the line. Very smooth. Very quiet. I don't drive my vette in the rain (if it ever did in So Cal) so I can't tell you how winter performance is. I really like having Mickey Thompson on my sidewall too instead of sumoyokomomma or something.

Sprongs

Look at Michelin PSAS4 or General G Max AS-05
245/45/17 Front
275/40/17 Rear

WVZR-1

The 8 1/2 - 9 1/2 'stagger' is actually '93 through end of production. Ideally it seems that if the car is thought a 'keeper' then another pair of the 9 1/2" wide and do the 275/40 on all four.

skybolt31

That is what I did, bought a second set of wheels and put the 9 1/2 all around. Interestingly, the VW guys lust after the 8 1/2 rims and the guy that bought mine was so happy that he did not have to buy two sets to get 4 of them.

RollaMo-LT4

Not as weird as you might think.
Very few of these cars are still with the original owner that purchased the car new.

Over the years most have had several owners that didn't really know much about the car they purchased.
So, if the wheels were on backwards they really didn't know any better and just kept them like that.

Also, since the so called direction of the wheel changed from early to late model, it confuses a lot of people.
But as mentioned, the wheels are stamped on the back as to where they were placed at the factory.

detroitrust

Back up the bus! So, you guys are running 9 1/2" wide rims on all four corners and covering them with 275/40/17's?

What does that look like up front and do you see a the difference between the 285 down to the 275? I love the stance of that fat *** rear tread.

skybolt31

Yes, that is the way the '88-'92 cars came from the factory so it is really nothing new. I can't say I noticed any difference other than the speedometer was closer to what it should be and I could swap tires front to rear.

KurtK

As I recall, the 94’s with the Z07 option had 9.5 wheels with 275s on all corners. I bought a couple of 9.5 sawblades for the next time I get tires, will go to all 275s.