I have a 2001 Mustang GT Convt. OE wheels & tires are: 17" X 8", with an offset of 30mm; 245/45-ZR 17 Goodyear. I have not modified the suspension.

My goal is to increase my rear tire traction. My car is an automatic and I have changed the rear end from 3.23 to 3.73 gears. I have added a Vortech V-1 supercharger and I dyno at 404 hp. My current tires are overwhelmed at launch and get "re-overwhelmed" when I shift into 2nd gear.

I want to replace the wheels with 18" X 9" in the front and 18" X 10" in the rear. The offsets would be 34mm in the front and 24mm in the rear. I am going to use Wheel Replicas' Bullet-Anthersite/Machine Lip wheels.

I am going to mount Toyo tires, the Proxes T1R series. On the front I want to use 275/40-ZR 18; on the rear, 295/35-ZR 18.

Will these fit? Will they rub anywhere? What will they look like? Will the car appear "over-tired"? Will this setup give me a lot more traction upon launch?

Thanks.


Jim Heaton

 

First off, welcome and congrats on your car. It sounds pretty awesome! That setup will definitely give you more traction when accelerating and should also keep your car from sliding sideways if your tires do begin to spin. The wider tire setup will also give you more lateral grip, so you will be able to turn and little more sharply without the tires breaking loose. The tires you picked are pretty low profile, so I dont think the wheels or car will be overwhelmed by rubber.
The 18x10s should fit fine in the back with no cutting or otherwise mangling of your car necessary. I think the fronts will fit okay as well, but I'm not 100% sure about that, so hopefully someone can confirm it. Good luck with everything.

 

Those wheels will fit fine. There's a chance that you might have to flip your quad shocks, but that's it. I've seen cars get away with not having to do it, and those that have. And it's been mostly the tire size that required the quad shock flip. So, I don't think the 295's will cause you to have to do that.

I agree that it definately won't look over-tired as you say. It will look fine.

 

To Flashbang 756 - I am not sure what the "quad shocks" are. Could you tell me? Thanks.

Jim

 

Yep.....quad shocks are miniature shocks on your rear end that are there to reduce wheel hop. They are perfectly visible when you remove your rear wheels. You just have to remove them and turn them upside down and re-nount them. Shouldn't take more than 10 minutes or less.

 

I've checked with AFS Wheels ( I think the same wheels as Wheel Replicas) and been told those rims will fit any GT, I was looking at the same rims, however since I have IRS, 2 of the bolts on the IRS rub on the wheels and I can't use the 18x10 in the rear. So as long as you are sticking with the solid axle you should be fine.

 

Just a note: be careful with the 275's. If the offset is the same as the stock wheels, they may rub if the tires have curb protectors.

This happened when I put factory 17x9 Cobra 10th anny rims on my 2000. There were no issues with the factory Goodyears (275 40 17), but then I put Bridgestone's (same size) on that happen to have curb protectors, and they would rub slightly when the tire was turned just before the stop.

Of course, to remedy this problem, you simply don't steer the wheel all the way to one side or the other.