Huskernation

I am thinking a bit ahead here but I am wanting some better grip for the summer. I have a 2011 gt with 3.31 gears and the 18" wheels with all season tires. It would be nice to keep my rims but don't know if I can put wider than 235 on the stock 8" rims. If I can please let me know. I have been looking around a bit at 19" rims and different widths as well. With the gears I have in the car what do you think would be the best for better summer traction? Should I spend the money for wider rims and tires or can I get better results adding wider/better tires to the current rims. It just seems to me that with the hp of this car the tire/rim setup I have is not enough even with 3.31 gears.

Ltngdrvr

Your current tires are all season's so a summer only tire, either in the stock size or you could go up to as much as a 255/45/18, will give much more grip on the stock wheels.

Huskernation

Excellent thank you! So putting 255/45 on my current wheels would not be a problem, not pushing it too much? Should I stagger them at all or would that not matter much at this tire size?

Huskernation

Ok took this review off TireRack, hope this is ok.

I have a 2011 Mustang GT 5.0. I have been very impressed with this tire! Dry road traction is excellent and wet roads present no issues either. However, YOU MUST INFLATE TO AT LEAST 35PSI! The dealer had them at 32PSI and initially, I thought the tires were going to be disappointing at best. Then I read on here that 35+ PSI wakes these tires up and man, they weren't kidding! I now take very high speed, sweeping turns with ease and confidence. Before I upped the pressure, I would get tire spin and sliding when hitting a tight, sweeping turn with too much throttle. Amazingly enough, these tires grip and perform so much better with additional pressure; 36PSI seems to work best for my Mustang GT. I'm talking wet, dry or anything in between, 36PSI is the sweet spot for my car. Who would have thought that the OEM tire, which this is for my car, would provide such tremendous confidence and pleasure in a car putting down 400hp? One of the reviewers below me really hated these tires on his car. I'm left to wonder if he/she ever checked the tire pressures? When you have a car that weighs 3600lbs and is rated at 412hp and 390lb/ft of torque stock, you HAVE to run some excellent tires. Ford did an awesome job when they selected these. I cannot see myself using anything but these tires for daily driving. Of course, I'll get set up with some DR's for the track. But even with these Pirelli's, I was able to pull in a 12.79 1/4 mile time! Minimal spin leaving the line and impressive high speed performance! Braking on these tires is just as impressive on either dry or wet roads. Over all, I'm very pleased with these tires and typically, I'm highly critical of tires, nit-picking everything about them. There's just nothing to nit-pick with these

Maybe a tire pressure increase is good enough?

Huskernation

By the way I was reading up on the same tire I have.

m4a1mustang

Tire pressures could help, but 412 hp is going to EASILY overpower a 235 width all-season tire.

Even the 255 width summers on the Brembo cars aren't anywhere near enough tire for the car. Hell, my 275 width stock Potenza summer tires on my 370Z barely kept up with the car at full-on acceleration and that car didn't have quite the grunt the 5.0 does.

Huskernation

Not surprised to hear this. I am looking for a good option that won't cost more than say 2k. I would love to keep it at better tires and keep in mind I am wanting better but not best. My last rwd sports car was a 350z but that car was not like this one (and this one is soooo much better!).

Dave07997S

255s on a 8" wide wheel is not going to be ideal. A 255 tire at a minimum requires normally a 8.5" wheel with 9" being the ideal width. On a 8" wide wheel you can fit a 245 on there but even that won't be ideal, I wouldn't go wider than the 235s on there but switch to a summer tire.

Dave

2010MustangGT

Tirerack has an extra size listed at 285/40/18 which has a section width of about 1 and 1/6th of inch greater on each tire. The side wall is 3/100 of an inch smaller- trivial really. So it remains the same height.

Im sure some one with a 2005+ is running these (be it this forum or not) on an 18 inch rim. look around.

m4a1mustang

A fellow (former-) Z-owner.

If you want to keep your current wheels, the maximum width you can run and stay within tire manufacturer's spec is a 245. You can run a 245/50/18 or a 245/45/18. Your speedometer will be a little bit off with either of those sizes as the 245/50 is .3" taller than stock and the 245/45 is .6" shorter.

Your traction situation would be better, but still not great. Ideally you would upgrade to a wider wheel so you could fit at least a 275 width in the rear.

For under $2,000 you could definitely accomplish this with a set of OEM GT500 wheels (18x9.5") which I think run for around $160 a piece and the summer tires of your choice. If you experience any winter weather just keep the stock 18s and slap some winter tires on them and you're golden.

Ministang

Not entirely true. While it isn't ideal, a 255/45-18 tire will work just fine on an 8" wide wheel according to the manufacturer's spec charts, which are available on the their web sites or on Tire Rack. Every chart I've seen lists the recommended wheel width of 8"-9.5" for a 255/45-18. Handling will definitely be better on a 9" or 9.5" wide wheel, but an 8" wide wheel is perfectly acceptable, and isn't unsafe in any way.

LEwis26

Get a set of the Boss wheels.
http://www.blueovalindustries.com/ad...ls/wh3600.html

10 in wide rear wheel. Should be able to get a 295 and possibly even a 305 on there.

SD6

Those Boss wheels are a deal and a half. Great price for wheels and look fantastic.

wjones14

Not sure if I agree with this one... and normally Dave is very good with information here.

I swapped my factory P235/55ZR-17 Pirelli all-seasons for Kumho P255/50ZR-17 all-seasons on the 17" x 8" Bullit rims. The tire manufacturer says the 255 will fit 7" to 9" rims, so with 8" being in the middle of the range, I would think 8" rims would be fine.

I put these tires on two years ago. Since then, in July 2009 and July 2010 I took the car to Watkins Glen for track days, driving flat-out for 2-1/2 hours each session, up to 130 mph and really cornering hard. The car sticks much better with these tires than the stock 235s, and I have had no issues whatsoever. I would definitely go with the 255s again.

PS: those are the 255s doing their thing at Watkins Glen in my avatar picture.

Dave07997S

I'm sorry guys, I'm confusing a 255 width tires on a 19" wheel. On a 18" wheel you have the extra sidewall so the tires don't get pinched in, so yes it will be the minimum to have a 8"wide wheel with a 255, but it won't be ideal. I believe in running the widest wheel you can to support the sidewall.

Dave

Huskernation

Thanks for all the input. It's good to know I have some options even if I keep my factory rims. Now I need to decide if I want to spend the money for wheels and tires or just tires.

Huskernation

I do like those wheels thanks for posting. I also really like the rtr wheels but they are a bit higher in price.

Siber Express

AM has the OEM style wheel in 10" width, you could get away with running a 285/40 18 on the rear with the OEM look
http://www.americanmuscle.com/silver...8x10-0511.html

kn7671

Ditto this, exactly what I was going to recommend. Get the 18x10's for the rear, then you will have two sets of wheels and tires to rotate on the front only, or when you know the weather is going to be bad, throw the factory all-season's back on the rear.

Dave07997S

Those Boss LS wheels are uber heavy, over 30lbs.

I thought they would be lighter than this.

Dave