I am in process of looking for wheels/tires. I think I know the type (Wheel Replica Magnum 500s and Nittos), but have a question about width. The wheels come either 9" wide or a combo with a pair of 9" (255/45/18) and 10" (285/40/18).

The 10" wide sounds like it would have better traction, especially on the occasional drag strip days. But is their a price for running 10s vs 9s? I realize you won't be able to rotate them, but are there other factors that are not as obvious? The upfront price between the two set-ups is marginal, so that is not a factor.

My car is not lowered (and won't be) and it is not a daily driver.

 

more beef is better in my book and the staggered look sets it off even better

 

I've got the Shelby CS69's in 9" front and 10" rear, and the DD 10" rear looks mean!

 

I would go 10 for looks and traction. When I up my boost I plan on having my 9.5 rears widend.

 

What kinda power are you putting down right now?

 

Honestly the 10" would not give you much better traction than the 9" at your power level. What you really want is height, but the 10" will give you more surface contact just not need if you are a bolt on car.

With that being said I would still go with a 10" Wheel because it looks much better!!

 

Yeah, right now I only have a hair over 300 rwhp and about 310 rwtq, including 4.10 gears and a one piece DS. I plan on keeping it NA also.

I would not mind getting the 10s mainly for the looks, but I was just wondering if there were any not-so-obvious negatives to getting 10s vs 9s.

 

No negatives except tires are more expensive

 

430 at the wheels...

 

I did a lot of tire price searching and found that one tire that is a hair bigger or smaller than the next may be a lot cheaper. So you might be able to save some decent bucks by getting the next size bigger or smaller tire. Ya gotta shop around fer shore

 

and you can no longer rotate them...so 10"s don't offer any more traction than 9"s? That seems kinda hard to believe, unless im misunderstanding ya.

 

rotate left to right broly.

 

I know you can "rotate" them like that but it doesnt change the fact that the back tires will stay back tires, where most of the wear and tear happens, being rear-wheel drive cars.

 

If you're like me you burn off the rears way faster so rotating with the front's doesn't do any good anyway. And if your rears are wearing so unevenly that you would want to switch left to right you have some serious suspension issues going on.

 

You can't do that with directional tires. You have to remove the tire from the rim, flip it, mount it and then put it on the opposite side of the car. I know, cause that is the problem I face every year. Since camber cannot be adjusted on the car you will get uneven tire wear on the front tires if you do not rotate them often. Since the tire has to be removed, you can only hope the company you use does a good job or you will end up with marks on your rims. I only rotate mine approx every 20,000 kms which is not often enough but I don't want to risk damaging the rims more than necessary.

 

Other than what they said, the wider wheels and tires are heavier. More unsprung weight. My rears are about 4lbs heavier each than the fronts (see sig for sizes). That said, I don't really notice a difference since the lower profile is still so much more responsive than stock.