92 Camaro wheel backspace & offsets
 

I have just purchased a 1992 Camaro Z28 convertible heritage edition. It has stock 16" wheels (cast aluminum with painted highlights) and I would like to replace with a set of 16" chrome wheels. I am tryng to find out the backspace and offset info that I need to know to make sure I get purchase correct wheels. I also read on the internet that the rear wheels and the front wheels are different and that they are maked but I did see where mine were marked "front" or "rear". Any help would be appreciated.

Re: 92 Camaro wheel backspace & offsets
 

you can always take a tape measure and a straight edge and measure your wheels and find out.

i believe the camaro and firebird 16x8's have the same offsets/BS. Which is 16x8 with 4.5" of BS or 0 offset front and 5.125 of BS or -16mm offset in the rear.

4.5 will fit both front and rear is a 16x8.

if you go with wider wheel, you have to calculate clearance for the added width.

Re: 92 Camaro wheel backspace & offsets
 

Would a set of tires 18x8 or 18x9.5 with 0mm offset and 5.25 backspacing on all four wheels be good to run on the front as well as the back without spacers or adapters assuming you had 235/40R18 (18x8) or 265/40r18 (18x9.5)?

Re: 92 Camaro wheel backspace & offsets
 

I am interested in getting a set of 19" Variant Helium wheels for my 1991 Camaro Z28. I currently have BMR lowering springs (1.25" drop), BMR torque arm, BMR adjustable rear control arms and BMR adjustable panhard rod.

I can get the rims staggered: 19x8.5 +6mm offset for front; 19x10 +12mm offset for rear. That should give me BS of 5" for front and 6" for rear. I want to run 255/35 tires in the front (26" tall, 10" wide) and 295/30 tires in the rear (26" tall, 11.6" wide).

Can I run this setup without modification? Or, how much modification (anticipate maybe only rear) should I expect to have to do?

Thanks all in advance!

Re: 92 Camaro wheel backspace & offsets
 

235 would be fine. 265 would likely work too. Just gotta make sure the overall diamter of the wheel/tire falls at about 25.5" or 26"

I didn't do any math, but with ANY deviation from a known set up, you always have the potential for issues. Again, I didn't do the math, but it sounds about right. .....295mm tire on a 12mm offset might be an issue.

It's extremely common to run a set of 0 offset wheels, up to 9.5" wide, with a overall wheel/tire diamter of 25.5" to 26" inches. This combo, regardless of what diameter your wheels are, should fit most cars, even lowered cars, perfectly in the rear, and possibly some very minor rubbing up front, which is fixed with either an aftermarket brake/hub, or a simple .25" spacer. Even the 91/92 Firehawks came with spacers. Nowadays, most people are running some kind of aftermarket brake, and the rotor thickness acts as the spacer, making the spacer unnecessary. Still some people don't do any of that and have no rubbing.

Re: 92 Camaro wheel backspace & offsets
 

Abubaca,

Thank you for your response.

With the Variant Helium wheel, I can use a custom offset - 0mm to +45mm on 19x8.5 wheel and 0mm to +40mm on the 19x10 wheel.

I was just using the Car Craft Magazine Weld Wheels research that says for 18-inch rims: 18x9-1/2 with 5-1/2-inch back-spacing front, 18x10 with 6-inch backspacing rear. Use tires with an aspect ratio of 35 or less with section widths of 275 front, 275-295 rear.

A 9.5" rim, assuming that is 9.5" advertised, not actual, which would put actual at about 10.5", would need a +6mm offset to get 5.5" BS. A 10" rim, again, assuming that is 10" advertised, not actual, which would put actual at about 11", would need a +12mm offset to get 6" BS.

I didn't see anything about 19 inch rims.

Right now, I am running 18x8 +0mm offsets with 245/40 tires all around. I measured lateral gap between tire and outer fender edge to be about 1" in front and 1.25" in rear. Based on 19x8.5 +6mm offset front and 19x10 +12mm offset rear, my front wheels should move no closer to the fender edge and my rears should move only 1/2" closer to fender edge. Now, with wider tires, I will eat up about .20" of that gap in the front and about 1" in the rear.

Current tire heights are 25.7" so only adding 0.30" to tire height all around.

So, by my estimates, in the front, compared to my current setup: front - BS increase by 0.25" from 4.5" to 4.75"; wheel should move no further out towards fender (tire will eat up about 0.20" though); tire height increases by 0.30"; tire width increases by 0.40"; rear - BS increase by 1.50" from 4.5" to 6"; wheel should move about 1/2 out towards fender (tire will eat up about an inch though); tire height increases by 0.30"; tire width increases by 2".

Re: 92 Camaro wheel backspace & offsets
 

I might decide to go with the ESR AP8's. Those come 18x8.5 front and 18x9.5 rear, or 19x8.5 front and 19x9.5 rear. That will reduce my BS in the rear by 1/2".

I will still go with 255/40 front 295/35 rears (18's) or 255/35 front and 295/30 rears (19's). Or maybe 245's front and 285's rear.

The ESR's have a nice lip compared to the Variant Heliums.

Always a decision to make, LOL!

Re: 92 Camaro wheel backspace & offsets
 

If Car Craft ran a certain size, I think it's safe to say it'll fit.