John - funny - my brother and I were at this weekly friday night car show off thing tonight and talking about the wheels on the 05. In the Mustang 40 Years of Fun book it explicitely states that Thai wanted 18s on the car. But take into account the fact that it is the first year for the car and besides keeping costs down on brand new designed wheels, I guarantee Ford had a warehouse with piles of 17 inch Bullitts in there from the 04s and decided they better use them. (and hence why the polished wheels are a $200 option)

stinks because like you said, would have been a lot easier to start out with the 18s..... but then again, its a tradeoff - not everyone will be driving around in a 2005 Mustang.....




BTW - Todd - count me on the list - I live in Boynton Beach - I know where Lakeland is.

 

Yeah, it makes the tire stick out a little more then I would like, but it's not too bad.

 

With the 05 Bullitts having a different offset, I'm not sure it was a case of having them already in stock.

I could have been perfectly happy with the stock wheels (and maybe even the stock tires) if they simply had an offset that would have pushed them out flush (or nearly flush) with the fenders. An offset of around +32 to +36 with 255's would have been perfect IMHO.

I'm sure the offset was discussed at some point on the 17" wheels for the 05. All new platform, all new car, why not make the wheels/tires sit flush or nearly flush?
(I had the "upgrade" wheels, and those are a brand new style to my knowledge) Who was the idiot at Ford saying "No, no, let's tuck them in an inch or two, I like the elephant in ballerina slippers look." :bang: The $1600 I spent on wheels/tires could have gone towards intake/DiabloSport/exhaust/4.10 gears.

 

I would have rather had 255/50/R17s out of the box. Good Year would have been preferred too, just like on my 03 GT Vert.

 

Good Year ???

 

D2Toys

My Centennial Ed. Vert Had some real sticky Goodyears. I loved them. They cost too much to replace though.

 

:nono:

You get what you pay for in a tire, Michelins are priced appropriately for the level of technology they employ. Within a catagory the typical Michelin will be as close to a no compromise tire as you can get.

Thats not to say it will be the top performer in any one area (ie; your kuhmo's and toyo's may offer better grip and turn in a better skid pad number, but at the expense of ride comfort, longevity and weather capability) and then again it might best a comparable tire in every catagory, but the Michelin will offer better balanced performance.

A poster above mentioned they got 15k out of a set of BFG KDWS's, I can personally attest to having gotten 40k out of a set of Michelin Pilot Sport A/S's and like most of the posters here I'm not gentle on my tires (however I also learned my lesson with my first mustang after I blew the tires off my 91 in 5k and then shelled out 700 bucks for some new skins all the way back in 94 when I made like, well no money)

I can get KDWS's in 245/45R17's for around about 125 per tire and I can get Pilot Sport A/S's for 225 a tire, right off the bat in the long run I am saving money. (15k x 3 = 45k @ 375.00 vs 40k x 1 @ 225.00).

Now if you like burning through tires like I did on the first set on my 91, your right, dont't waste your money on a Michelin, matter of fact just get the cheapest tire that matches the correct service specs for the vehicle and light'em up.

 

I say get these. Good Tread life and F1 type performance. They do cost a few clams though.

Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3

 

I say get these. Good Tread life and F1 type performance. They do cost a few clams though.

Goodyear Eagle F1 GS-D3


These are good too and cheaper

BF Goodrich KDW NT

then get a speedo fix

 

the Diablo and Xcal 2 will let you change the speedo settings so no probs there if you get that tuner