hi yall i dont post on here very much. i usually just sit back and read, but i hope to be getting me a stang here in the next year and hopefully sooner and later. my patience is running out and i am looking for stuff i want to do now when i get it. i am hoping to get an orange one. i am pretty sure i want black wheels with polished lips. 10 wide on back prob 9 or 8.5 on front, i just dont know if 18 or 20's would be better. pics are appriciated also. i want to lower it prob with eiback pro kit. any performance loss with 20's, etc. (sorry for any bad grammer).

thanks.

 

Had to make the same decision not too long ago, ended up buying 18's (hopefully arriving end of this week)...

http://forums.bradbarnett.net/showthread.php?t=60506

 

thanks for the link that really helps.

 

also if i put 20's on will i really need to lower it. does the 20's fill in the well good?

 

Im riding on 20's in 255/35 rubber. The rim size makes the car look two different ways really. 18" rims allow you to put some beefy tires and give for a really muscular look(ex. tom281). While my 20's give me a sleek and retro modern look. I know my ride suffered some only being on 35 series tire and then I lowered. But I love the look.

And my ride handles amzing with the Steeda Ultralites. Either way, Im happy with my decision for 20". Although I do love the look of 18" with thick tires. To each is own

 

Personally I like the 20s. The original prototype came out with 20s and looked awesome! I Saleenarized my mustang and use 20X9 rims in the front and 20X10 rims in the back. Some people say that you will lose some off the line acceleration by using 20s but as long as you make sure the overall wheel diameter stays the same you will have no problems. The 20s are heavier though but I haven't noticed any loss since I supercharged my car at the same time. The 20s do give you better handling especially since I instlaled the matching Saleen suspension which also lowered the car. Good luck on your choice.

 

How bout 19s? I know that they are usually more expensive, and harder to find in specific wheels...but they are really perfect for the car IMO.

I run a slightly larger than stock 245/45/19 tire and it really fills out the wheel well.

 

I was all about getting 20's but I am staying with 18"s. Other then looks, 18's are better in every way: rolling weight and load on the spindle and brakes/price/resistance to damage/traction/etc. 20's are simply an appearance mod. They definitely do wonders for the looks of the car But 18"s with 14" rotors looks nice and full, all brakes look small with 20"s.. The best balance would be 19's but as was said, they have never caught on in quantity to keep the prices in check.

 

thats a good idea with the 19's. i am getting an orange oen and i want black wheels with polished lip. anyone know of 19's like this?

 

An herein lies the problem. The mustang is unique in that it is larger then most coupes, yet smaller then V8 sedans. The 19" is a magic size for them allowing them to run not-so extreme profiles yet filling the wheel wells. Problem is the market for 18's works perfectly for 3-series/IS/TL/etc, the 20's for crossover suvs, C300, charger, etc, and 19"s just never caught on in volume.

 

what about lowering. if i get 20's will it need the pro kit or not and 18's i will use pro kit for. 19's?

 

I'm kinda in the same boat...offered a custom set of 20's from boss at work, borrowed a 20" supersnake scrap to test the fit, and the 'all rim' look just isnt for me...heres a pic of what in my minds eye is the most perfect stance Ive seen to date- again its just my idea of the perfect look, lots of folks prefer the ultralow/big wheel look...everybody's got their own 'look' they want to shoot for.

this car belongs to 'MTAS' in here, I pm'd him about his wheels/tires- heres his car, and tire sizes:


<<Any way, here's the wheel info:
Front: http://www.americanmuscle.com/verde-...heel-18x9.html

Rear:
http://www.americanmuscle.com/anthra...8x9-18x10.html

Tire info:
Front Nitto 555 255/45/18, rear 295/45/18, non-drag radial.>>


I absolutely love the look of this car.

 

Like I mentioned before I went with the steeda ultralites and have the CDC Classic Chin Spoiler and Im SOOO happy I went with the Steeda over the Pro-Kit. I woulda left my chin spoiler at nearly every curb and sidewalk. The Steeda sits just bearly above the curbs. And my ride bearly suffered.

Again I can only speak good of the Steeda springs.

 

Your wheel size will have no bearing on the lowering springs. The profile of the tires gets smaller as the wheel gets larger so the outside diameter does not change. If you use the proper tire sizes and profiles, your car will not know the difference of the wheel size. With a similar offset and tire width, it makes no difference whatsoever of what wheel size you use.

It's called a plus 1"/plus 2" etc upfit. There are tables that tell you if you get a certain size wheel width and diameter-what tires to use to get a certain overall diameter that matches the stock size. From the factory, the 18's and 17's(and even the base 16's) are the same outer rolling size, as an example of how it works.

As for springs, well I went with ultralites. Good all-around spring. The FRPP/Eibach springs are good too, and a little extreme on the drop, but cause no issues(you pretty much have to change shocks/struts though). BMR makes a decent set too, maybe the best of the bunch-with two levels of drop to choose from. Again, the lesser drop can probably get by with stock shocks, the lower one needs dampers. Tons of threads on all of them in the tech forums.

 

thank youall for info. i love the tire wheel combo also. ausome stance of that stang. thanks yall.

 

Dont forget one thing, 18's look good and still give you some rubber to smooth out the bumps and pothole. Once you go to 20's you can not hit curbs,potholes, anything or you take a big chance of wheel damage. I know my daughter learned that the hard way with her Maxda 3, it has real low profiles tires, she bumped the curb, ripped the sidewall and scrathced her rims. Bottom line with low profilees like 19 or larger, you have to be real carefull, cause they will not take a curb or pothole with out damage, and tires and rims arent cheep. Just something to think about.

 

I think Mr. Saleen and friends knows what they are doing and they use 20s. I went with the Saleen 20s and they improve the look of the car and the handling response. With 20s you do lose some road comfort but If I were looking for road comfort I would have bought a Cadillac with 15 inch rims and 80 series tires. You don't have to worry about curbs as much as you did in the past because most of your low profile tires come with curb protectors that is an extra bead that forms an extended edge of rubber that projects out from the rim. You will hit that long before your rim scrapes the curb. It worked for me when I did some parellel parking on a visit to NYC where I had to get the car as close to the curb as possible. I rubbed the curb with no damage to the rim. Now if you really hit the curb hard or jump it with the sidewall I would expect some damage. To me the 20 inch rim is the better choice for a sporty car such as the S197 mustang. Ford used 17 inch rims so that you can use snow tires and chains...MEH! 18 inch rims = snow tire size + 1

 

One of the basic automotive design rules states that, in order to achieve the perfect proportion, the height of the wheel (rim + tire) should be exactly half of the height of the car. Therefore:

18"
pro: handling
con: looks (not too bad though, imo)

20"
pro: looks (fills the fender arch properly, especially combined with lowering springs)
con: handling (prone to "tracking")

 

You are right with the formula but check the numbers. My Saleen Clone stands 56 inches tall which means I should have an overall diameter of 28 inches. If I used the stock wheels and tires my outside diameter would be 26.74 inches. If I used the Stock 18 inch wheels I would have an outside diameter of 27.03 inches using the recommended tires. Using the 20 inchers with the recommended Saleen tire sizes I get a near optimum 27.57 outside diameter. The 20's are the best fit. Tracking is more a problem with using an improper width than rim size. Saleen cars handle much better than stock mustangs and the other aftermarket guys are using 19's at a minimum on their cars. The shelby cars come with 18's and they still did that to make them drivable in the snow with chains if you could imagine anyone doing such a crazy thing.

 

It's pretty simple really. From a performance and cost perspective, 18s are the way to go. If you are more interested in the current "in" look, then the bigger the better. But you give up performance (acceleration, braking, handling, fuel economy, comfort, etc.) for that "look".

So, you have to decide what is most important to you: looks? Or performance? Unfotunately, this is definitely one case where you can't and won't have them both.