ssimaniac

Did you get these?

Falken HS439 Tire- 255/55R18 109V BW

m4a1mustang

American Muscle has them for 579 shipped. I like the AM ones better for a winter application because you can fit a narrower tire.

ssimaniac

I can't seem to locate them? I also know they have a 15% off coupon. That would be a good deal.

m4a1mustang

I will find the link when I get home. It should be listed under" 2010 GT500 Wheels."

Overboost

http://www.americanmuscle.com/2010-m...00-wheels.html

ssimaniac

Touche, thanks fellas. They're $144 but for the 18x9, not the 10.

I'm still debating on this. So far today, it's been about 22F outside. The rubber contracted so much overnight that this morning, it felt like I had fat bulges in my tires until they warmed up. I might just get the SVT 18" for 599 shipped and find some cheap winter tires for it. I think anything is better than the summer P's

smitty

Interesting. Since many tire manufactures claim limited snow ability for many all-seasons, how could the gov't. assign blame to an owner who was running them? Unless of course they were bald... then it's an owner maintenance issue.

orange3.9stang

If you are going to use them for WINTER, why would you want the 10" wide ones ?? The 9" is what is needed to mount the recommended 255/45-18 size Snow tires (req. 8-9.5" rim width).


Found 18x8" wheels that will fit GT-500 on D-T-D and there are 8 total variations available for $150 each and a 4-wheel installation kit is $45. There currently is a $50 instant rebate and shipping is free, so delivered price would be $595.

These narrower wheels would allow you to to mount 235/50-18" snows, however D-T-D has none in this size. Tire Rack does stock this size and the cheapest tire they got is the top rated Studless Snow ...
Michelin X-Ice Xi2 for $164.00 Each (T speed rated, 27.3" dia, 8.1" tread width).

They also show these Performance Winter ...
Michelin Latitude X-Ice for $193 each (H Speed rated, 8.2" tread width)
Bridgestone Blizzak LM-60 for $202 each (H speed rated, 8" tread width)
Pirelli Winter 240 Sottozero for $209 each (V speed rated, t-w N/A, 27.1" dia)
Dunlop Wintersport 3D for $228 each (V speed rated, t-w N/A)

The recommended 255/45-18 Bridgestone Blizzak LM-60 is only $214 each on Tire Rack (H speed rated, 27.04" dia, 8.5" tread width) ... so going down to the 235 size really is not much of a savings unless you go with the 118 MPH rated Michelin X-Ice Xi2.

After this little bit of research, I'm glad my car is a V6 that will accept 17" wheels !!

Doug

yasuro

i went with 245/45-18 on the GT500 wheels from rehagen.

ssimaniac

Doug,

Will the Michelin X-Ice Xi2 235/45R18 fit the 18x8 wheels without any potential problems? I'm thinking of getting these rims with those tires

http://www.americanmuscle.com/machin...18x9-9410.html

m4a1mustang

235/45 will fit an 8" rim just fine. The only issue is your tire diameter will drop from 27" to 26.3" which is going to be a pretty big difference in terms of your speedometer and your odo. It could even throw off the ABS and TCS systems.

That said, the X-Ice Xi2 might be a little too much of a snow tire for our area. I'm looking at the Wintersport M3s and the Pirelli Sottozero 240s, maybe even the LM-60 since they're all right around the same price range. I think you'll find that the X-Ice outperforms the three I mentioned in snow (but especially in ice), but it gives up a lot more on dry pavement than they do.

orange3.9stang

The 235/50-18 size is what I recommended ... the dia. is 27.3" vs. 27.03" of stock Brembo 255/40-19 tires (less than 1% difference). As Steve said, the 235/45-18 would be quite a bit smaller (26.3" dia or a 2.6% difference).

I've got the X-Ice Xi2's on my car ... 215/65-17 size (approx. 6.8" tread width) and they are fine on dry pavement. They are 0.8" taller than my stock 235/50-18 (2.7% difference) which actually corrected my speedometer while slowing down my odometer (win, win). Much better dry pavement handling than the "Q" Speed rated Blizzak WS-50's I had on my '98 Mustang but probably not as good as the "H" speed rated Dunlop Wintersports M3's I had on my '04. As the 235/50-18 would have 8.1" of tread width (19% more) and 16% less section height I think they would be even more stable on dry pavement.

My Dunlop Wintersport M3's probably handled dry & wet pavement almost as well as the summer UHP-A/S rubber I had on my '04. They were not near as good in snow and ice as the Blizzak WS-50's though.

I feel that these Michelin X-Ice tires perform on all surfaces somewhere between the WS-50's and the Wintersports and that is just fine with me.

Winter driving is when you should take it easy on dry pavement anyway so you keep maximum tread depth on the precious winter tires. So I take corners more slowly, leave intersections at a more normal rate of accelleration, and give myself more room to slow down. All of which you should be doing anyway when road conditions can vary.

Doug

m4a1mustang

Thanks for the feedback, Doug.

I think I have settled on the Wintersport M3s. From all I have read they get pretty good snow traction (certainly less than a studless ice & snow like the X-Ice and the Blizzak WS-series) while still retaining better dry road handling than a non-performance winter tire.

I'm going to get them in 245/45/18 which is going to be a 26.68" tall tire vs. 27.03" stock, for a 1.3% difference which should be pretty manageable.

About to order the 18x9 GT500 replicas right now.

SD6

No snow here yet, but still lovin' the LM-60s. Gripping well and riding well, and no excess noise level that I've noticed!

This is pretty much what I paid for my setup, except I added TPMS sensors and a reset tool. And of course charge for mounting/balancing and extra shipping charges (wheels where $599 shipped, but didn't include shipping tires).

Shaun at Rehagen (Stinger1982) has a thread on them for $599 shipped.

Ya that's the first I've heard or something like this too. Although on the flip side, I guess I can see the problem with people driving around in summers or bald tires have a higher chance of getting into accidents and causing burden on the insurance system. Here's the exact wording they used.

Mark Jan Vrem with ICBC says, "If you are in a collision, and the subsequent investigation determines that the lack of winter tires was one of the factors, it's a possibility that it could affect your liability."

I guess it's not black and white, but they're giving themselves a reason to do it. Always seems like insurance companies want to spread the blame on both parties unless it's a black and white accident.

Awesome choice, but I'm biased since that's exactly what I got too!

Stinger1982

why would you buy a knock off wheel made in China for $144 when you can have an OEM REAL Ford wheel for $149.75, that makes NO sense?!

ssimaniac

Shaun,

Do you carry the Michelin X-Ice Xi2s? I'd get the $599 shipped wheels from you but I don't want to spend too much on tires.

Stinger1982

we are a dealer for tire rack so I can get you the X-ice's you are looking for, but we have concluded our sale of $599 shipped and are now offering $599+ shipping (we were actually LOSING money on ever sale at that price, I realize some places still offer this deal, but we cant take the constant loss)
we would be happy to extend our tire rack dealer discount (although sometimes the margins are small) to you on the tires and put the whole package togther for you.

I realize that this may cause the package to be $50-70 more for the whole package then if you buy the FRPP wheels somewhere else, but I want to be upfront and honest, but we will take good care of you.

m4a1mustang

It makes plenty of sense. The knock offs are gloss black and are a little narower than OEM. I wanted gloss black and a 9" wide rim at the very most. I didn't want the OEM wheels.

These are just cheap beater wheels to me, so I got the ones that I thought would work best for my application.

That said, im probably going to get at you next spring for the SVTPP wheels.

Stinger1982

sounds good on the SVTPP wheels (they are so sick looking in person)

paint the OE ones black

the build quality and balancability (is that even a word????) plus durablity if you hit a pot hole (cheap wheels are CRAZY brittle) of the OEM makes it worth the hassle of painting

m4a1mustang

We'll see how they do. I've never heard any horror stories about these wheels in the years I've been with Mustangs. I've seen them in person and they always looked to be of good quality (some of those Chinese factories actually put out really good stuff... it all depends... just like here in the US) so I'm willing to give them a try. If they do happen to break I'll be sure to replace them with a set of OEMs .