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A 275/35-18 and a 325/30-19 both have the exact same sidewall height. Both are 3.8". Much of the look depends on how you size the tires on your wheels. Sticking with what the factories are size for any given wheel combo is a good idea on how to get the look right IMO. Also IMO the 17/18 staggered combo is much more noticeable than a 18/19 combo in terms of telling that It's staggered.
Say you buy some factory C6Z wheels and you run a factory size 275/35-18 up front up will have a nice look with plenty of sidewall while not looking like too much sidewall. That tire is designed to fit a wheel that 9/9.5" wide. At the same time people will often cheapen out on the rear tires and run a tire that's not really wide enough to fit the wheels well. I've seen people mounting 305/35's or even 295/35's on a 12" wide wheel and while they might fit and take air they are not made to be used on a wheel that wide and ut just pushes the sidewalls out and effectively shrinks the intended tire diameter and gives you a very low profile look.
If you look at my car running OEM C6Z tire sizes you can see that the sidewalls look pretty much the same F/R.
Lots of cars posted above that would look great with 17s or 18s all-around to replace those 19s.
It's definitely a matter of personal opinion, but the OP did ask for "thoughts", which is the same as asking for opinions, which means he'll have to expect some positive and negative reactions to the item in question.
Having said that, I do agree that it shouldn't really matter what others think, unless perhaps one is on the fence and hoping that some outside opinions will help them realize a preference. Regardless, no amount of pictures/examples is going to change the minds of those of us who are certain about our preferences either way.
^^^Lots of those cars look bad *** with the 19 rears! I have C6Z wheels on both my F Bodies and the one with the factory springs rides just as good as any 17 inch wheel. JROC's car IS tight as hell with those wheels,, and I gurantee it holds just as good as any*
19"s CAN be pulled off, especially on a Trans Am. However it has got to be the right set up. It has to have a deep staggered lip, proper offset, correct drop and depth to the wheel design. Which likely means it will be a high end pricey wheel. I put on 18" CCW Classics on my 02 SS and with the staggered lip the car ate them up. Does not look too big in the least and think I could have easily gone 19"s.
If you're not going to try to pull all of this off, then I do agree with others on here that 19"s look WAY too big as well as some 18"s. The cars posted in this thread with no lip, to me, look way to big and reminds me of wagon wheels JMO.
I have 19's on my car in this photo. My car is somewhat of a beater though. I want it to look nice, but that is not it's first priority. C6 corvette wheels, 19x10, go for about $75 each in near perfect condition. My choice of 19 was made because RE-71 ax tires don't come in a 305 or above in 18", only 19".
Like lots have said (JROC probably said it best), it's all preference. Just look at lots of pics and go with what you like. No matter what size you go with, you'll always find people that don't like your setup.
Those talking about performance issues with 19s or staggered 18/19 are reaching - what is so much different about the Corvette design that made GM engineers go staggered on that car? If you're comparing a 19 to a 15 with drag slicks at the track then obviously there's a difference, but if you're comparing an 18 to a 19 with same tires then I doubt anyone could feel a difference.
It also comes down a lot to wheel design for me. I prefer something with a bit more tire and a bit less rim generally, but I don't like HioSSilver's 18s at all style wise as much as some of the 19s posted by others. Again who cares, it's personal preference.
I would say the best advice is to just look at as many pictures as you can and decide based on that. You can't really just "reason" that 19 isn't much bigger than 18, you have to see how that particular wheel looks on a 4th gen in that size with the size of tire you plan to use.
I think its the performance mind set this forum generally has, 19s in no way shape or form will be better on these cars than 18s for all aspects of performance. And before you say "But Corvettes and 5th gens have 19s and 20s!" - repeat after me, "My 4th gen is not a Corvette, 5th gen, 6th gen, bugatti Veyron etc."
What works on other cars won't always work on these cars.
Also you clearly have not searched this forum or used google. There are thread with hundreds of posts and pictures with 4th gens and 19" wheels or at least wheels available in 19s that fit our cars.
I'm not saying this as a slight against you or your setup but I find it funny that a lot of people on here say that performance is the reason not to run larger wheels. Yet those same people are just fine running the cheap knock reproduction wheels or even the reproduction wheels that are even bigger (wider) than the original they copied. If performance was really as big of a deal as some people make it in threads like this, they would be running the lightest wheel setup they can for their intended function.
Those talking about performance issues with 19s or staggered 18/19 are reaching - what is so much different about the Corvette design that made GM engineers go staggered on that car?
Not much, just weight, weight distribution, the whole suspension design, suspension geometry, suspension travel, wheel rate. So basically everything about the car and suspension is completely and totally different in every way. We are comparing a solid axle three link suspension to a double wishbone suspension with composite leaf springs.
If you're comparing a 19 to a 15 with drag slicks at the track then obviously there's a difference, but if you're comparing an 18 to a 19 with same tires then I doubt anyone could feel a difference.
Just driving around on the street maybe not, but on a road course the lap times will likely show a noticeable difference. And don't go saying "but we don't road race so it doesn't matter" because that is the performance difference Im talking about.
Also take a look at what cars like the C6R and Camaro GT4.R are running, they are 18s even though production cars were running 19s or 20s...
I'm not saying this as a slight against you or your setup but I find it funny that a lot of people on here say that performance is the reason not to run larger wheels. Yet those same people are just fine running the cheap knock reproduction wheels or even the reproduction wheels that are even bigger (wider) than the original they copied. If performance was really as big of a deal as some people make it in threads like this, they would be running the lightest wheel setup they can for their intended function.
The weight difference with the knock off wheels is grossly over exaggerated, my speedline 17x9in WS6 wheels were just 1lbs lighter than my knock off 17x9.5in ZR1 wheels. And going wider is better for lateral grip, so how is that bad when doing something like a 17x11in wheel?
My intended function was a street car on budget that can handle great and I can take auto-xing. For ~$450 I got a set of brand new, decent wheels with the exact sizes I wanted and that I can swap the fronts to 17x11s to match the rear to have great grip for honestly not that much weight. After tires are added a lightweight 18x11in wheel tire combo is not any lighter than a regular 17x11" wheel and tire.
Not much, just weight, weight distribution, the whole suspension design, suspension geometry, suspension travel, wheel rate. So basically everything about the car and suspension is completely and totally different in every way. We are comparing a solid axle three link suspension to a double wishbone suspension with composite leaf springs.
Those are all things that are different, but does any of that have anything to do with the staggered wheels? My whole point was, what specific design feature of the Corvette makes staggered wheels good, and what design feature makes them bad on an F-Body? Just naming differences that may or may not be applicable doesn't mean anything.
Just driving around on the street maybe not, but on a road course the lap times will likely show a noticeable difference. And don't go saying "but we don't road race so it doesn't matter" because that is the performance difference Im talking about.
Also take a look at what cars like the C6R and Camaro GT4.R are running, they are 18s even though production cars were running 19s or 20s...
I'd be pretty shocked if you could see noticable lap time differences with same car, driver, type of tires, type of wheels, only difference being 0.5" of sidewall. This is just opinion because we haven't tried it, but out of all the modifications people do to these cars, I think the performance difference of an 18 vs 19 is very miniscule.
At the end of the day it's still personal preference. I won't be putting 19s on my car anytime soon because I don't like the way they look.
I think 19 inch wheels are a perfect looking size on our cars.
I don't personally like that style of wheel very much, even if it were a smaller size. But the argument was made above that having a deep lip format would make the 19" seem to be a better fit - in this instance, I don't think it helps. Even with the deep lip, the diameter looks too big, especially up front with the rubber band tire sidewall (though the rear is a bit better with the taller sidewall).
Here's my ride on 19" x 9.5" XXR wheels. The deep dish makes them look a bit more like 18"s, but I don't feel like they look oversized for the car. The driveway angle makes the rear look a little higher than it actually sits (the passenger side looked lower), but otherwise, the pics are pretty true to life.
I've got a 2000 WS6 with stock 17" rims. I want bigger rims but for the cost, 18" doesn't seem like it will make much of a difference. But 20's just seem TOO big, so I settled on 19".
Which are nearly impossible to find.
So, does anyone have 19's? What are your thoughts?
... here are some 19' wheels on different cars, i really like the white car and the black one, they look correct to my eye, green car has 20's in rear ... ...
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