mustangmama

I recently bought a 2011 California Special that came with stock 19" rims. I am wondering if I can put 18" rims on it with snow tires for winter. I have been told that the low profile winter tires may not perform as good as the 18" tires but am not sure if the 18" rims will fit over the brakes.
I searched the forum and a few threads on 17 and 18 inch rims but not much on the 19". Any help is appreciated.

Ltngdrvr

Sure you can use 18's, the CS has the same brakes as any regular GT.

Ethanjbeau

Sure can. I have 18's on my CS.

https://themustangsource.com/f783/20...-gt-cs-485630/

theres a link to the thread i made for my car. The second page has a picture of my car with the 18's and snow tires. Got the whole package from tire rack.

mustangmama

Thanks. Seems that there is a bit of short supply on 18" rims in Calgary. cost of shipping through tire rack is over $400. Does anyone have any recommendations for sourcing tires and rims in the Calgary area? This is my 4th GT. All the others tok 17" rims so I haven't had to deal with this for a while.

SD CALSPCL

Have you asked Tire Rack about the 17's? On line they don't list them for the GT, but in a magazine ad they specifically show the 2011 GT with a 17" tire and wheel package, for a about $1050 US. I was looking at the 18's and 19's but have been reluctant to spend $2000. It might be worth a call.

Ethanjbeau

I originally got 17" from tirerack and had to send them back. They didn't clear the front brakes. I even ended up damaging the rim a little when I put one of the the front ones on and tried to turn it. But they took it back and I had to get 18"

SD CALSPCL

Ethan..thanks for posting. You saved me an order and return. I was just about to order the 17's from the Road & Track TR ad.

Guess it will be the 18's.

mustangmama

yep my son tried my 17 s on the 2011 and they didn't clear the brakes. so we are on the hunt for 18" wheels before the next storm hits Alberta.

Ethanjbeau

no problem! thats what everyones here for!

Bert

the tread width is more important than the profile -- you want a relatively narrow tread width so the tire bites in / cuts through the snow rather than floating on top / plowing

with the narrower tread width you will end up with a higher profile to get the same overall diameter

so -- if you are buying new wheels, think about the width and don't buy super-wide wheels; get the narrower wheels to go with the narrower tires

(I am not sure of exact size and you do still need to make sure they will clear the brakes)

trane

I'm surprised to hear of buying 17" for a 2011 GT. Tire Rack doesn't offer that option as part of the fitting app. People checking for deals at Tire Rack would do well to be very careful between choosing Mustang Coupe vs. Mustang GT Coupe, for example. If one were in a hurry, it could be easy to miss that.

Ethanjbeau

When I ordered mine with 17" I made sure everything was correct beforehand. The customer service from tirerack pretty much said that their database wasn't updated and was allowing 17" tires to be ordered with the GT. Why? I have no clue but it was fixed by the time I returned my 17". I've had to return 2 sets of tires to them now (the other was from another car, my error with that order though) and they're always good about returns and whatnot.

trane

Thanks for the feedback. I guess it just goes to show you that model-year changes are always subject to increased vigilance on our part in case things aren't quite what they should be from a supplier.