Starting mods on my 2002 WS6
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 39
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From: Kansas City area
Starting mods on my 2002 WS6 Going to start work soon on my newest baby. I'm going to start relatively simple. I'm going to see what the inspection shop fails and go WAY overboard.
After that will be some minor tranny upgrades since the trans oil is probably from the factory by the look of it. So I'll go with a finned aluminum pan, autometer temp gauge, and redline oil.
Next probably wheel because the collector's edition wheel are probably insane expensive if I curb one.
This is where the advice stuff comes in. I am considering some 18s from OEWheel but I am not sure how this will affect my overall ride. Honestly I have never tried some 18s on an Fbody and I am curious if anyone on the site has any positive or negative feedback. I am currently leaning towards PN9224944 but I can't find a set of tires on their site that fits those wheels. I plan to contact them WAY before I buy but as I said I want to know what some members have to say about ride quality. I am trying to use 'vette stock tire sizes on those wheels (275/40-18 stock vette rears and 295/35-18 zo6 vette rears(narrow vette rears as my fronts z06 as my rears))
My main question is "Am I a moron for trying this?"
Followed by "How does this combo ride compared to the stock WS6 17s?"
Then "Has anyone tried tires with more sidewall to smooth out the bumps a bit?"
After that will be some minor tranny upgrades since the trans oil is probably from the factory by the look of it. So I'll go with a finned aluminum pan, autometer temp gauge, and redline oil.
Next probably wheel because the collector's edition wheel are probably insane expensive if I curb one.
This is where the advice stuff comes in. I am considering some 18s from OEWheel but I am not sure how this will affect my overall ride. Honestly I have never tried some 18s on an Fbody and I am curious if anyone on the site has any positive or negative feedback. I am currently leaning towards PN9224944 but I can't find a set of tires on their site that fits those wheels. I plan to contact them WAY before I buy but as I said I want to know what some members have to say about ride quality. I am trying to use 'vette stock tire sizes on those wheels (275/40-18 stock vette rears and 295/35-18 zo6 vette rears(narrow vette rears as my fronts z06 as my rears))
My main question is "Am I a moron for trying this?"
Followed by "How does this combo ride compared to the stock WS6 17s?"
Then "Has anyone tried tires with more sidewall to smooth out the bumps a bit?"
can't speak to f-bodies as I'm still running the stock wheels myself, but I've run 17's and 18's on my hondas that came with 14's and 15's and provided the tires are good tires (brand and model makes just as much a difference in ride quality as rim size) the only thing you will notice is being far more planted on the road in a curve, I would not go the other way with the bigger sidewall, way to much flex in the sidewall of passenger car tires.
Staging Lane
Joined: Aug 2013
Posts: 97
Likes: 0
From: SC
My brother put 22s on his 97 ta. We had to put some Monroe air shocks on the rear to prevent scrub due to the lowering springs. In my opinion they were WAY too big, but I didn't never feel a bad effect on ride quality. I wouldn't think 18's would be bad. That's probably the biggest I would go on my car. keeping in mind that I like to get some tire life for my money and never been a big fan of the wagon wheel look
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 39
Likes: 0
From: Kansas City area
No not a wagon wheel guy myself. But I am considering a pretty serious brake upgrade at some point so I don't want to just rebuy some 17s then have to turn around and buy ANOTHER set of wheels.
an easy "starting mod" is to remove the factory side molding, makes the car alot cleaner, plus in my experience the paint on them is always nastier then the rest of the car. but we NEED pictures to see what your starting with.
Staging Lane
Joined: Aug 2013
Posts: 97
Likes: 0
From: SC
Well 18's should look great. Haven't gotten to breaks on mine yet so haven't looked at any options really. The only thing I would keep in mind is making sure the tire wont hit anywhere. seen some bad scaring in side walls and tread that make them an extreme hazard. Working for Michelin has taught me a good bit about tires. I know a lot of ppl will push their luck (I have myself) but with a good scar in the side wall its crazy how thin it can get. just be careful on your set up and good luck
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 39
Likes: 0
From: Kansas City area
got pics of the car in my garage. Not sure how to post them in a thread
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Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 39
Likes: 0
From: Kansas City area
Truthfully I don't plan on peeling my side moldings very soon. Every piece of the car which I remove will have to be carefully preserved and stored in case I ever plan on parting with her. I have started a quick once over and some small details point to the fact that the previous owner may have had the same plans since when I did a sea foam clean on the intake the tube from the MAF to the throttle body was suspiciously easy to peel loose for a car with that age and mileage.
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youll be fine running 18s, there are a lot of guys here running them with no problems. is this a daily or second car? as for the photos, make a photobucket account (free) and upload your pics then you can copy-paste the img code into your post.
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Oct 2008
Posts: 39
Likes: 0
From: Kansas City area
Not my daily driver though I reserve that for vehicles over 40 MPG, gives me more gas money for toys.
Thanks for the advice though. I think I am going to shoot for 18x9.5s all the way around so I can rotate the tires however I want after protracted testosterone induced burnouts. Sadly I have to wait on OEwheel to get them back in stock but the wheels are a Springish project anyway.
