I saw a Marauder the other day and the wheels look just like the fan blades I have seen in pics of the 2005 Mustang GT. Does anyone know if they are the same. They look good on the Marauder.

Also, I am a drag racer and read the you will turn lower times with 18's vs. 17 inch wheels. Anyone know if that is true?

 

i dont think the wheels are the same from what i have seen. and i cant see wheel size makin a diff in the 1/4 but

 

Yeah they aren't the same thing.

As far as in the 1/4 ... I'm not sure but I don't think there would be a noticable difference.

 

18's can have 3 inch sidawalls, and 17's can have 4 inch sidewalls, so that ratio thing won't be what makes your 1/4 mile faster. It will be the fact that the 18's will have better rubber than the 17's.

 

Just because its a bigger size doesn't mean it will be better rubber. Its true it CAN be better but not always. You can get a 17" that would blow most 18s out of the water. (or off the strip as the case may be)

 

The wheel diameter affects how much sidewall you will have. Ideally you want 15" or 16" wheels to provide you with a decent sidewall.

The overall tire diameter affects your effective gear ratio. If you use a tire with a different diameter from stock, it will change the effective rear end ratio.

 

Anything that lowers weight will grab seconds, but I'm not sure how much 18's would help or hurt, unless they were some exotic material like graphite or titanium...

 

i know, I was talking 05 in specific, which is what these topics are supposed to be on. You got the pirellis and the bfg's.

 

Well the 05 18 may never even come, so I wasn't sure.

 

Since i'm getting the 17's even if there are 18's. I'll probably be getting mickey thompson's or BFG's after those pirellis run out.

 

I think it is more of a weight issue than anything. 255 45R18's should be heavier than the stock 235's. But, the 255's may be better for launching with a larger footprint. Or they could be the same or worse.....

But, worst case scenario, your quarter mile time drops by 0.1sec, I think it is worth it to have the look of the larger rims/wider tires.

 

The rubber weighs as much as the wheel, if not more. I cant see it being a weight issue.

 

dude the marauder's wheels and fanblades are NOT the same. but that isn't to say they arent nice

 

yea theyre not even close

 

here you go

 

Those might be a good substitute though....

 

Marauder wheels are 18x8.0, Mustang are 18x9.0

Also, the bolt pattern and offset are different (don't have the numbers on those).

 

With 18's, you're numerically lowering the gearing of your car, which would mean slightly less torque multiplication during acceleration than 17's and some more added weight. I think in a 1/4 mile the 17's would be slightly quicker. Not much. Even though the 18's have a larger footprint. The 18's will have a higher, if left unrestricted, top speed. Again probably not much.

 

The stock 17s are P235/55WR-17 while the stock 18s are P255/45ZR-18.

17" Tire diameter = 17*25.4 + 235*.55*2 = 690.3mm
18" Tire diameter = 18*25.4 + 255*.45*2 = 686.7mm

So in actuallity the 17s will have a theoretically higher top speed while the 18s will have a theoretically better acceleration. However, the numbers are so close that the difference will be imperceptible in the real world.

 

OK let me try to help clear this up if you have both 18s and 17s with the same overall tire diameter the 18s will have lass sidewall. In drag racing a certain amount of sidewall flex is good because it lessens the shock on your drivetrain and a couple other little things and in the long run the 17s should give you better times.