jlb

Does anyone have these wheels...pics on car???

subzero05

they look great,but unless you can get them custom built from AR, they only come in a standard 17 which is too small IMO

MSP

Anything bigger than 17" is not truley holding true to a Muscle car herritage in my opinion.. 17" wheels are perfect.. Now this is not to say that 18" wheels are bad.. In fact they are great as well...Those wheels are perfect at only 17"s.. I would buy them in a heartbeat.. I love American Racings wheels period..

Those wheels are made in 17" first, because they were meant to be actually usefull for racing.. Of course any size wheel can be usefull for racing, they just take more HP to get the car going.. The smaller the wheel, the more power the engine can actually usefully put to the ground, without wasting HP on wheel diameter..

Take (2) 350RWHP 2005 Mustang.. Equal in all aspects.. One has 17's, and 1 has 18's.. In a 1/4 mile run, the 17" wheel car would win..

Now amplify this upwards, and say the other car had 20" wheels.. Well, he would get smoked bad by the car with 17"s...

So we all know 15 or 16" wheels are just too small these days.. This leaves the 17" wheels, the actually the best performing wheel money can buy...

Also, lets say your towing a Boat up a steep hill.. One truck has 14" wheels, the other has 17" wheels... Both have the same engine and tranny setup but different cams... The truck with the 14" wheels, actually has slightly less TQ... They both get to the top of the hill at the same time.. This is because the 17" wheel truck, had to use more power to turn the 3" difference in diameter, instead of using it to push the truck and boat up the hill, while the 14" wheeled truck had an easier time, with slightly less power..

This is also the reason the V6's can sell themselves on the SOTP dyno.. They are offered stock with the 16 in wheels, where as the GT come with 17's.. So the 16" wheel in the V6 allows the smaller engine to feel more torqey.. Notice on the V6 with the stock 16" wheels you can spin the tires alot easier? Add 17's, and the launch is alittle more easier to handle than with the stock 16's..

I said all of that to say this.. Guys who put wheels larger than 17" on their Mustangs, have chosen to give up alittle HP in favor of looks.. This is not a bad thing, but must also be accompanied by engine mods to produce more power to offset the loss of power to turn the larger diameter wheels..

Last bit... This is also apparent in the Pulley underdrive system.. Meaning when smaller pulleys are put onto the Crank, Waterpump, and alternator, the engine can produce more power..

So when you think of performance, bigger in some cases, is not always better.. Unless we're talking about cubic inches.. But there can be arguments against this to.. For now, we will keep this discussion to wheels.. LOL!

This is the very last scenario I promise.. So you buy these wheels in 18".. Visually it looks good, because there is less air visable in the wheel well... You go to Laguna Seca, to make some laps around the track.. You have GT suspension... Great..

Another guy buys these wheels in the 17"... He lowers his car one inch, and they look identicle, as far as visable space in the fenderwell.. He also has GT suspension...

The guy with 17" wheels is able to turn faster lap times than the guy with 18" wheels.. Everything being equal except for the wheels..

There are 2 reasons for this..

1. The 17" wheeled car has more power to the ground while coming out of the corners..

2. The 17" wheeled car has his car chassis actually closer to the ground.. He is able to enter the corners alittle faster, and exit alittle faster because of more useful engine power.. The car also has less air resistance because its lower.. Along with less body roll..

So there are enough reasons I have posted to stick with 17" wheels and just lower your car 1".. Performance wise its the best setup in the world, which is why the GT comes with 17's, and not 18's in the first place..

sams66

I thought the only difference was in total circumference, if you mount a 17" wheel on a 255/50/17 tire the size is 27" tall tire/wheel combo. if you mount a 255/45/18 tire size the size is again 27" tire wheel combo, how is that any different? other than the potential weight gain by going to 18"?

Sam

subzero05

that was a long post to discuss the benefit of a 17' wheel, but good points nonetheless.personally i think the 17's on the car is too small (for looks) , but if your only aspect is to save a "slight" bit for speed then have at it.

FinlayZJ

While you make a good argument, your logic is flawed in many places.

1 - You are only taking into account wheel diameter in your statements. You avoid tire size. An 20" wheel can have a smaller overall diameter than a 13" depending on what size tire is placed on it.

2 - 18" wheels with tires with a lower aspect ratio (given equal widths) than their 17" counterparts will be able to corner better. These tires have a more rigid sidewall and will flex less. Ever notice how Touring Racecars have rubberband tires with little sidewall? It's for improved cornering. Try winning a race with some 275/75-15's. The sidewall flex would be insane.

3 - You can always overcome larger tire size and weights with a gear change in the rear end. Braking will suffer with the added weight.

4 - Your lower is better arguement is wrong. The 17" rimmed stock car and an 18" rimmed stock car are nearly identical in ride height. Again, you failed to take into account tire size.


And for the record, i'm going to 18's for looks, and to get some 255's under it.

2L8IWON

You beat me to these wheels. I say them when they came out and have been dieing to put them on my ride. I was gonna get some custom built, nice classic look.

creedog

Sorry everyone but it does not matter who would win w/ what size tire/wheel combination. I already checked w/ American Racing, the Hopsters DO NOT FIT properly on this car! The size of the wheel makes no difference. Its the backspacing. They will not fit. Go to their website and check which ones they have available that will work w/ the '05 and up. They will not work, period. Sorry. I did my homework on this one because I wanted them real bad.

MSP

Of course this was meant that all were aware that tire size would generally keep a decent profile and be matched for both sets of wheel sizes.. I should have stated that both tire sizes would use the same profile of tire.. This argument is knit picking on the actual essence of the post.. Everyone should have assumed that the tire size would be kept the same, or else the argument is pointless..

However, the argument does highlight why I mentioned earlier on that the 18 in wheels is great as well.. Now personally, I would not put much more than an 18in wheel on a Mustang.. In fact, if you want the truth, 17in would be tops.. Reason being, they are easier to find..

Example

Your driving from California to Utah.. Somewhere after you left the Mustang Ranch in Nevada your 18in tire blows out.. Chances are, its going to be tough to find an 18in tire than for a 17..

The example is somewhat off topic, but resembles closer to the truth.. I personally need a good tire, which is not hard to find, or expensive to acquire..

jlb

Alas, you are correct...I checked the website for fit after I posted this...they DO come in sizes upt to 20", by the way but the backspacing won't fit...wonder if they'll custom size them. I found a Boyd wheel that is close that will fit...$298/wheel. I know it's high, but still cheaper than chrome bullitts...Here's a pic. Still, I'm going to contact A/R.

jlb

One more thing...most of the Boyd wheels are available as custom built, but they have some models that are "in stock" One of them is a a fitment for '94-present Mustangs. It has a 5.5" backspacing.
http://www.newstalgiawheel.com/produ...ls.asp?id=2313
The A/R Hopster is available in 17X8 w/up to 5.75" backspacing.
http://www.americanracing.com/wheels/detai...enter§ion=V
Hmmm...I'll try to find out more detail on this. This pic is of the Boyd wheel for the Mustang...$250/wheel.

creedog

They do "custom build" but the backspacing only goes up to a certain size that will not work for this car. I have checked w/ AR.

jlb

Wonder why 5.5" backspacing works on the Boyd's but not the A/R's... :scratch: