May 29th 2024
The ultimate C6 Corvette wheel fitment guide
So you need some new wheels for your Vette, good news, you’re in the right place. You might have an idea of what you want, but don’t know what specs to order; or maybe you don’t even know where to begin, you just know you wanna ditch the factory wheels. Either way, we got you covered.
In this fitment guide we’re specifically looking at the C6 Corvette, model years ranging from 2005 to 2013. Fitment isn’t too difficult on these cars as the factory fitment is actually pretty decent. Before we start showing you specs, we’ll go over the basic info you’ll need to know regardless of the wheels you choose.
Quick links
Basic fitment info
- Lug pattern: 5x120.65 (5x4.75)
- Lug thread: M12 x 1.5
- Center bore: 70.3 mm
- Lug torque: 103 ft lbs
5x120.65 vs 5x120 on your Vette
The lug pattern that Chevy uses is 5x4.75 (5x120.65), unfortunately, this rules out a lot of wheels, but on the bright side, we can fix this.
First, the lug pattern is very close to 5x120, but not exact. Can you run 5x120 wheels on your C6 Vette? Technically yes, but like we said in the C5 fitment guide, it comes down to what you can vs should do. You’ll find plenty of cases of people running wobble lug nuts on 5x120 wheels with no issues. It works, but honestly, feels a bit dirty. An alternative is converting the PCD.
Converting to 5x114.3 opens up the doors to tons of wheel options including but not limited to JDM wheels. You have two options.
One method involves drilling the factory hubs and pressing in lug studs. Ideally, a machine shop should do this, but it is possible for DIYers too. Also, you’ll need to redrill the rotors to match.
Method 2 involves using parts from a Cadillac CTS, including the hubs and brake rotors (or redrilling the rotors). This is a direct bolt-on option that could be easily reversible in the future. We’re not going to cover all the details of the swap, but you should check out Level Up Garage, who offers a spacer kit for the swap, plus shows how it’s done.
Narrowbody vs widebody vehicles
Only the base model is a ‘narrowbody’. The other models, such as the Z06, ZR1, and Grand Sport are a total of about 4” wider in the front and 5” in the rear. Choosing wheels for the narrow body cars can be particularly difficult, so we divided this guide into a narrowbody and widebody section including examples of both.
Staggered and double-staggered wheels
They’re gonna be staggered one way or another, the question is ‘traditional’ staggered or double-staggered. Normal staggered setups use a wider rear wheel and tire compared to the front. A double-staggered setup uses the same wider rear but also adds an inch to the diameter - so 18x9 front and 19x10 rear, for example.
Every model comes with a staggered setup from the factory, some with a double-staggered setup - if you own a Vette you probably know about this already. Some people like switching from a factory double-staggered setup to a normal staggered one, or vice versa. We’ll look at examples of both so you can decide what you like best.
Examples of C6 fitment
C6 Narrowbody fitment
Everyone loves talking about what fits widebody models, how about narrowbodies?
| Fitment Facts | ||
| | Front | Rear |
| Wheels | BC Forged RS45 18x9 +53 | BC Forged HSC04 19x10+78 |
| Tires | Michelin PS4S 245/40R18 | Michelin PS4S 285/35R19 |
| Notes | Stock ride height, zero rubbing issues. See more details + pictures here! | |
Starting with something pretty tame, this is about as OE+ as it gets. This setup retains the factory 18/19” double stagger. If the tire sizes look familiar, that’s because they’re the same sizes you’ll get from factory (although PS4S are baller tires). This is stock ride height and it’s not pushing any boundaries so naturally rubbing won’t be a factor. This setup is great if you’re happy with the factory fitment and just want a different look.
This car is featured in our Fitment Gallery, head over there to see more details!
| Fitment Facts | ||
| | Front | Rear |
| Wheels | Weld Laguna 18x9.5 +50 | Weld Laguna 19x11 +70 |
| Tires | Mickey Thompson Street Comp 245/40R18 | Mickey Thompson ET Street 305/35R19 |
| Notes | Stock suspension, no rubbing. double-staggered | |
Get your mullets ready, this is about as American as it gets. This 2007 C6 base is on double-staggered 18/19” Weld Laguna wheels. This setup doesn’t deviate much from stock, but does it need to? It looks pretty good as-is. The factory 18/19” diameters are retained, however the front and rear will poke an additional ¾”. Nothing crazy, but it’s a simple, clean setup.
The rears are wrapped in Mickey Thompson ET Street tires which are basically DOT compliant slicks. Not only are they stickier, they’re a couple of sizes wider as well (305/35). This makes this car a very effective dual-use street/strip vehicle.
| Fitment Facts | ||
| | Front | Rear |
| Wheels | CCW Classics 18x9.5 +42 | CCW Classics 18x10.5 +55 |
| Tires | Nitto NT555 G2 275/35R18 | Nitto NT555 G2 305/35R18 |
| Notes | Stock height, no rubbing. | |
Of course, we wouldn’t have a Vette fitment guide without showing off some CCW Classics. This 2009 is running fairly aggressive specs, although the offsets are still pretty high. Narrowbody cars simply can’t run low offsets. You’ll notice this car is rocking 18’s all around rather than being double-staggered. Does it look better? That’s up to you to decide.
These specs result in the slightest amount of poke. Normally we try to avoid poke, but muscle cars wear it pretty well (as long as it's not excessive). 275/35 tires in front and 305/35 are plenty wide for all kinds of different motorsport: drag racing, autocross, circuit racing, you name it…
With more aggressive fitment, you might have to consider shaving a bit of material in the fenders, but it depends on alignment settings.
C6 Widebody fitment
If you have a Z06, ZR1, or Grand Sport, this section is for you. Good news, these cars can take some seriously wide wheels and tires, so feel free to go crazy on the specs.
| Fitment Facts | ||
| | Front | Rear |
| Wheels | Forgestar F14 17x9.5 +35 | Forgestar F14 18x11 +45 |
| Tires | Falken Azenis RT615K+ 285/40R17 | Falken Azenis RT615K+ 295/40R18 |
| Notes | Double-staggered setup, no rubbing. | |
This Grand Sport is fitted with a double-staggered set of Forgestar wheels. The interesting thing is the owner chose to downsize 1” from a factory 18/19” to 17/18”. This is definitely more of a ‘drag pack’ look - downsizing the wheels to use a meaty tire. This look probably isn’t for everyone, in fact, most prefer to upsize wheels on widebody vehicles.
As far as width and offset, these specs are very similar to factory for OEM+ fitment. You can expect zero rubbing issues.
| Fitment Facts | ||
| | Front | Rear |
| Wheels | Forgestar F14 18x11 +55 | Forgestar F14 18x12 +50 |
| Tires | Nitto NT555R2 315/30R18 | Nitto NT555R2 335/30R18 |
| Notes | Alignment: -2 degrees of front camber / -1.5 degrees of rear camber | |
Here’s another C6 on Forgestar F14’s, but this time it’s a Z06 that’s geared towards track driving. We see a regular squared setup with 18’s all around. This is about as close to a square setup as you’ll find on this platform; it shows just how wide you can go with tires - 315/30 … in the front, and 335/30 in the rear.
Believe it or not the front isn’t poke much more than stock despite the wheels being 1.5” wider. The higher offset makes it so most of that width is backspacing rather than poke. Rear fitment is about ½” wider than stock. Forgestar F14’s come in all kinds of specs including various concavity. If you’re looking for Forgestar wheels, we got the best play to buy them.
| Fitment Facts | ||
| Front | Rear | |
| Wheels | Advan GT 19x9.5 +22 | Advan GT 19x10.5 +34 |
| Tires | Toyo R888R 275/35R19 | Toyo R888R 305/30R19 |
| Notes |
5x120 wheels |
|
Here's what 19's look like all around. This car is lowered on BC Racing coilovers. We had to at least a couple examples of what happens when you JDM-ify this platform—we see it all the time on the C5.
This car is running BMW specs, so 5x120. Still, they look right at home here. Again, we'd recommend converting to 5x114.3, but lots of people run 5x120 with wobble nuts.
| Fitment Facts | ||
| Front | Rear | |
| Wheels | Work VS-XX 18x10 +14 | Work VS-XX 18x11 +9 |
| Tires | Falken Azenis FK510 235/40R18 | Falken Azenis RT615K+ 265/35R18 |
| Notes | BC Racing coilovers | |
How about 18's all around? This is is more for the stance fans.
As we can see, this car doesn’t have those 12” wide wheels, but instead it uses low offsets to get the fitment right. In addition, it’s our only example on coilovers. This is the most aggressive fitment we’ve found, but the stretched tires allow everything to fit without rubbing. A square sidewall would almost definitely have clearance issues.
Work is a brand that caters to the 5x120.65 lug pattern and just about anything else you can think of. However, not all JDM wheel brands do this. You’ll find Vettes running Volk Racing TE37’s, however Volk doesn’t offer a 5x120.65 option, only 5x120. Like we said earlier, we recommend sticking with a true 5x120.65 drilled wheel to avoid vibrations. If you want JDM wheels for your Vette, check out SSR and Work Wheels. Or, see dozens of other brands that offer 5x120.65 options.
Wrap up
C6 fitment isn’t that complicated. The factory fitment isn’t terrible, so you can use your stock wheels as a guideline, add ½”-1 to the width, get a slightly lower offset, throw on some wider tires to suit - this strategy works for both widebody and narrowbody cars. The big decision is whether you go staggered or double-staggered; both look good, however, double-staggered is probably the more ‘traditional’ look on this platform.
You won’t find a ton of stanced-out, air suspension builds like you will with the C5… at least not yet… If you’re one of the first movers who built a show-stopper C6, feel free to upload it to our Gallery. In fact, feel free to add any type of C6 to the gallery, OEM+, track build, etc. Help out your fellow C6 owners or get inspiration for your own build.