jdmvette

At the request of my good buddy Scotty aka NemesisC5, I've made this thread to share some details about how different sized wheel spacers look with L5 flared quarters and OEM sized C6 Z06 wheels with 345/30/19 tires.

I have my original 1/2" spacer set, a 5/8" set and the 3/4" set that I used for comparison.

The reason for the comparisons was because Scotty has the same setup and told me he uses a 3/4" spacer and I wanted to see how it looked on my car.

I took several shots using the various spacers. The method I used to show where the tire's edge sat relative to the lip of the fender was a bubble level.

I tried taking pics of the actual tire-to-flare position, but you really cannot tell the very small distinction between the spacer thicknesses in pictures. With the bubble level you can see the difference very easily. I wanted to show how far each set was tucked in relative to the flare.

In each comparison, I pressed the level right up to the tire's edge and the flare lip alongside the center of the wheel. I also drove the car around the neighborhood between comparisons so the suspension could settle to normal levels after being jacked.

In these first pics with the 3/4" spacers you can see that the tire is dead on with the edge of the flare.






The next pics show with the 5/8" spacer. Here you can see the bubble is about half way from the middle and the end.






The last pic shows my original 1/2" spacers. Here you can see the bubble is nearly all the way resting on the inside of the level.






Here's some shots of all 3 spacers together.



I originally had replaced my OEM wheel studs with some longer ones that came with my 1/2" spacer kit. With the 3/4" spacers, I had to get even longer studs because I felt really uncomfortable with the amount of threads I had remaining on the studs with the thicker spacers.


This is a pic of the latest ARP wheel studs that i am using. 2 1/2" threaded length under the head.




Here's some pics of the ARP studs with my 2nd set of studs and the final OEM studs.




It was a MAJOR pain to change to these ARP studs without removing the hubs. I had a much easier time installing the 2nd set of studs the last time. I won't go into stud installation details here but if anyone wants to know how I did it, shoot me a PM.


Here's why I was scared with those 3/4" spacers and needed to get longer studs!




And here's how the same 3/4" spacer looks with the new ARPs.



In the end, I found that the 5/8" spacers are going to be perfect for me. They allow the wheels to be tucked in under the flare but pushed further out than the 1/2" set...but not as far as the 3/4".

I hope this thread helps anyone out who is looking to get the L5 quarters and is wondering what size of wheels or which spacers they need to get.

Vetteguy2008

So with C6 Z06 offset rear wheels, you still need to use spacers?
Iforged told me my rear wheels were built with Z06 offset

RWE 427

Great Info! Thanks for posting up the detail for all of us.

jdmvette

if you have the 2" flares with the 19x12 +59mm wheels and you want it to look best. you can always run no spacers and have it tucked waaaay in if you wanted to.

Sportsdude

Thanks for the info

kww

Great write up-it would have saved me a lot of searching and phone calls. I'm sure it's going to be a great help for others looking to do the same mod.

NemesisC5

Jason, great write up as usual my friend. Your analitical & graphic comparisons help so many forum members it would be a shame to not post. Your "how to" posts are respected and appreciated by all of your "modaholic" friends here, Thanks Bro

peter pan

This is an awesome post as this is a mod I am looking to do and knowing the different spacers and how they align is perfect to know going forward

davek 515

To jdmvette did you say you were know using 3/4. Thanks for posting your pictures. So changing the wheel studs are a pain.

jdmvette

yes, changing wheel studs without removing the hubs is a major pain.

csexton

Good info.

Chuck

TxSqueeze

So you can run those wheels and the 345's without spacers on a C5 without a minitub? If they stick way in with the 2" flares, I wonder how far they would stick out with the stock fenders?

jdmvette

this is how OEM C6 Z06 wheels with 325/30/19s look on a c5.



if you read here the owner said these tires rubbed thru his wheelwell liner.

Cobra4B

Thank you for upgrading your wheel studs... so many overlook this important bit and are flirtin with disaster (stud failure).

C5R USA

Great info and write-up

Drewstein

That and they look like crap without the flare. You're better off getting C5 sized repros if you don't want the flare.

catch06

Yeah, and though Drewstein is not a poet, he's right, they don't look as good without the flare, though in my case the point was to get the flares eventually, all together is expensive. BTW, I have very narrow spacers on mine, 1/4 I believe...and they still rub in hard cornering etc...so yeah, I would have avoided a lot of pain from this thread...

Still very helpful, as the ammo I need to go back to the shop that installed the wheels, so they will know in the future...