With many voicing their opinon in favor of large wheels with minimal tires and little fender well gap, I wonder if there are others who would prefer slightly smaller wheels with more tire and a bit of suspension clearance for urban driving. I have no plans to ever race this car and hope to use it as a daily driver. Slowing for RR tracks and pothole dodging gets old.
I hope Pontiac offers an option. Those that are obsessed with the biggest wheel they can wedge under a fender are never going to be happy with what ever Pontiac comes up with, and are likely to replace the stock wheels anyway. Many will be totaly happy with the 18"ers on the prototype. Some may want something smaller with more tire for bit better ride quality. I also hope for a styling option. Maybe between light contemporary spokes and a more retro style with holes. I not sure what I want yet, I just would like the option. Any thoughts?
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Thanks again Bob, for building my car! Envious/Ebony VIN #0051
This is a two seat roadster not an Escalade. 20" chromies would look stupid on this car. The appearance of wheel gap does not get better with bigger wheels. It gets better with a lower suspension. The reason everyone thinks bigger wheels looks better is because most cars that go bigger also go lower. In some cases much lower.
I put 19s on the vette and lowered it to get rid of the wheel well gap. If I can swing a Solstice to put beside the vette I'll probably put on 18s and lower it. I doubt that I will stick with the factory wheels. I like my cars to be unique.
Hey Troy, you got some pics of your Vette and wheels? BTW, I believe 19's are fine with a Vette because it has the power to move them. I do think the Solstice will look good with 18's as most cars do, but don't think the 170hp base Ecotec will turn them without a huge acceleration penalty. A base Ecotec should come with 17's stock that way if I want to wring her out N/A or autoX I can stick with lightweight 17's and not look stupid. LOL
This isn't a great shot but it gives you an idea. I'll keep looking for a better one. The gap on the front is lower now. There was a frozen bolt that I hadn't freed up before that pic was taken.
Ah, sweet ride man. Yeah, I was going to say there is something wrong in the front unless the C5's require a "different" type of set up for auto X. LOL
I can't tell what type of rims those are in that pic. Looks like ADR M-sports maybe....
I was just looking at a '98 C5 for the same price as I paid for my Tib 18 months ago. Oh well, it was the right car for me at the time. If I could go back in time though.....
Can almost promise the base car will not come with 18s & even 17s are unlikely. Don't forget the "base" '84 Fiero came with 185x80x13s (no, the "80" is not a mistake - look it up), midstream cars got 14s and only the GTs received 15x7s (15x6 on front of 88).
I would expect the tires (as just about everything else except the driven end) to follow the Chevvy Cobalt. Those specs are:
P195/60R-15 Touring
P205/55R-16 Touring
P205/50R-17 Performance
P215/45R-18 Supercharged
Base automatic Solstice will probably get 16s, and maybe manual trans the 17s (General is now charging extra for M/T (see GTO) so hope we get a few extras thrown in).
Those who have seen my maunderings before may remember that I said that a 245 was a silly size for a non-race tire, a 2800 lb 50/50 Solstice would not be able to load sufficiently for peak cornering though looks great standing still.
Hope they do not use the Cobalt wheels though (hope the Cobalt SS does not use the wheels shown on the Chevvy web site ) as they appear to be four-bolt. Last four bolt wheels I saw used by GM was on the old RWD H-bodies and used to break one at every autocross. 5 on 100 would make a lot more sense. 5 on 115 for 17s or 18s expected to take high side loadings would make even more sense.
Must admit that an updated "Snowflake" would keep the Pontiac image though have seem some very strange wheels out of the wide track people lately. Just please, no spinners...
I won't be autocrossing either, so prefer minimal wheel gap - that is one of my biggest pet peeves with some of GMs cars - something that BMW and Infiniti generally do a great job of. Thus, I voted for the 18s. I think 19s might be a bit much for this car...
BTW, is this really off-topic? Seems pretty on topic to me
Location: Wilds of Canada, or the Pac NW, or the Upper Penninsula of MI...
Quote:
Originally Posted by padgett
Can almost promise the base car will not come with 18s & even 17s are unlikely. ...
Base automatic Solstice will probably get 16s, and maybe manual trans the 17s (General is now charging extra for M/T (see GTO) so hope we get a few extras thrown in)...
Those who have seen my maunderings before may remember that I said that a 245 was a silly size for a non-race tire, a 2800 lb 50/50 Solstice would not be able to load sufficiently for peak cornering though looks great standing still.
...
Sorry Padgett, gotta big time disagree with you. I'll bet you a lunch that 18" are standard. They showed P245/45R18 tires at the Detroit Autoshow, and stated over and over that this is the car you can buy for "around" $20,000. I asked about wheels and tires and they said: "This is the production car, that's the size wheels that will be on it.."
Granted, that is just the showperson, but there's article after article out there emphasizing the 18's as a feature. It will have 18 inch P245 wheels and tires standard - they would be crazy not to after all this harping on it.
As far as peak cornering, I respectfully think your statement is oversimplification. There's plenty of data that shows a 245 wide tire is or can be a very appropriate size for great cornering. The new honda s2000 rear tire is exactly a 245 wide tire. Z4 is running with a 225/255 split (at curb a little heavier than Solstice). The extension of your statement is that heavier loaded tires corner better - this is obviously not the case. If it was, than the corvette would still be running around on 185 tires (max load for the width, right?)
[TIRE LESSON FOR THOSE WHO CAN'T SLEEP:]
Peak cornering is highly dependent on distribution of footprint pressure, and the wider the t
