BBagman

Will 84-87 16" wheels fit on an 88 with 12"brakes? will the calipers clear the inner wheel?
Thanks

Tom400CFI

What "12" brakes?

The '84 caem with something like 11.7" brakes and it's 18" wheels fit fine.

They should fit fine unless you're talking about some big aftermarket "12" brake package".

nutz4c4

..Base wheels for '88 were 16".Not sure when the offset changed tho..

BBagman

I believe that in 88 they went to 12'brakes with dual piston calipers on the base model and 13' brakes on the Z51. So if the 88 base had 16'wheels and 12'brakes… that answers my question!

Thanks

Tom400CFI

Good point...I missed that. Offset change happened in '88 so early wheels on an '88 would stick out a lot. It would look dumb.

BBagman

I'm thinking about putting an 88 knuckle with the dual caliper and 12"rotor on an early car to improve braking while keeping the stock 16'wheel

BBagman

I'm not sure if the 88's +/- 20 mm additional offset was due to the way the knuckle was made or the length of the wishbone arms or both? anyone know?

Tom400CFI

Both. Knuckle is different, lower arm is different.

WVZR-1

Actually both LCA, UCA & knuckle is different. Outer tie rod length was also changed to accommodate the tread width increase. There's many upgrades for the brakes but as to whether the wheel will fit with all of them is another story.

BBagman

Did the 88 cars have ABS? Did the base models with 16" wheels have 8.5 or 9.5 widths? or both with different offsets?Did the factory camber and caster settings change from the earlier cars ? track width change?

Tommycourt

I have an 88 Verte that has the Z52 package on it and it came with 17" wheels. And yes, in 88 they do have ABS brakes. The Z52 was an option for the car as most of them had 16" tires. My tire size is 275/40x17. Hope this helps.
Tommy

Cliff Harris

I put the J55 13" rotors on my car and the calipers scraped the inside of the Z51 wheels, which I was told wouldn't happen. 17" wheels fixed the problem.

DanZ51

Cliff, were your (factory) wheels made by Enkei? I remember reading that the Enkei wheels provided more clearance, not sure it this was true. I bailed and went to 17"s

BBagman

Thanks Tommy and Cliff,

ABS cars usually have more offset to for a more negative scrub radius which makes the car more stable under ABS braking…

Are the J55 13" rotors the same thickness as the 12"or 11.5"?

I wish i could compare an 88 knuckle to an early to see what other difference there might be other than the caliper mounting points.

DanZ51

ABS started in '86 on the Corvette. A few years before Chevy changed the front suspension "scrub radius".

WVZR-1

Buy one! '88 - '90 would be the same.

'88 16" wheels were only done in 8.5" widths, they were directional but aside from that they were identical on all four. There were no offset choices. Yes the alignment specifications changed.