Confused girl needs help with wheels & tires
 

This is an area that I know nothing about! I want a more beefer look to my 06 GT. I like the width of the new Shelby Cobra tires, I want something to stick out a little more in the backend. My car has the original stock Pirelli P235/55/ZR 17's. I appreciate any help with this. Thanks :)

The New Mustangs need atleast 18" Wheels to look right.

Wheel Measurments are Circumference or Height/ Width in inches.

20/8.5" Deep Dish Bullitts, 225/35/ZR 20 Tires, Lowering Springs
http://www.sn95forums.com/hosting/us...ing/Imagea.jpg
18x9.5" GT 500's, 255/45/ZR 18 Tires
http://www.sn95forums.com/hosting/us...ing/Imageb.jpg
18/9.5" GT 500's, Prob. 255/45/ZR18 Tires
http://www.sn95forums.com/hosting/us...ing/Imagec.jpg
20/8.5" Deep Dish Bullitts, Sumitomo HTR Z-II 255/35/20 Tires
http://www.sn95forums.com/hosting/us...ing/Imaged.jpg

If you don't know where to look for wheels, American Muscle has a huge assortment of wheels and tires along with free mount/ balance and free shipping.

www.AmericanMuscle.com
AmericanMuscle.com Specific 2005+ Wheels section.

--Evan

Ford put a narrower tire on these Mustangs for some reason.

Your first option is to just get a wider rear tire and put on the stock rims. This will work to an extent, but not give you a really wide look.

Best bet, you need wider rims, then you can go wider on a tire.

I am not a bid fan of all these ugly-ass 20+ inch rims. I think they look completely stupid and make your car slower. I see no point.

I tend to disagree, I mean just look at the first and last pic.. If given the right drop 20's fill the wheel wells best on the 197's.. You might lose a tiny bit of speed due to the extra rotating mass, but I doubt it would be all too noticeable on the street. :argue: lol

Tiny bit of speed?

Going from 17's to 20's will cost you about a half second in the 1/4.

SN 197 with 17's..... You would need some pretty tall tires to make it look right.. Im saying for the average person, 20's look great..

Putting a hot tub in the back of a Mustang would look cool too, but make the car as slow as hell.

There is certainly a trend towards bigger rims....but they slow cars down and limit traction. The size walls are so stiff, that it become harder for the tires to hook.

Just not for me.

Dude, I HATE huge wheels on cars.. BUT when applied to the right car they can look nice.

Eh' I guess it's all in perspective or opinion..

IMHO 20's look perfect on the 197's. :dunno:

I can see it now, 20" rims on a Mustang II

Going from a 235 or 245 to a 315 or whatever also will add significant weight. For a normal car you wont be able to tell much loss between a 20" wheel combo and a 17" wheel combo.

Unless you are a track guy it wont matter at all, the look of a quality 19" or 20" wheel on the 05+ cars outweights the very minimal performance disadvantage.

JerseyJG,

Buy a pair of hubcentric wheel spacers and they will bring your factory wheels out more. They will look wider. Save you a lot of $$$ too! I forgot what sizes they come in...1inch, 1.5 inch? Just figure out how much you want the tires to come out of the wheel well and pick that size.

I remember reading an MM&FF a while back and they were test driving stock Mustangs and comparing to after-market ones such as those from Saleen and Roush.

They had a Saleen that put out more then 30 hp over a stock GT (not blown car), but was slower in the 1/4 mile that a stock GT because of the rims.

Going wider also adds weight. But, going bigger diameter is even worse because you add more to the rotating mass. Cars with bigger rims also require bigger brakes but folks rarely upgrade those. They forget that being harder to move also means harder to stop.

I remember watching Monster Garage once and Jesse was making fun of people for putting on larger rims w/o increase the size of the rotors and calipers. He comment was basically "any idiot dumb enough to put on bigger rims w/o upgrading the brakes deserves to drive into a tree", but that's Jesse for you.

Call me old, but slapping on a couple of flying saucers and squishing a car down to the ground just ain't my taste.

Another ?
 

Sorry guys, I should have been more specific. Would the stock tires from a Shelby GT "P255/45ZR18 - front" and "P285/40ZR18 - Back" fit on my stock 06 GT?

Thanks again for your help!

Umm, In one word. "No."

Just guessing, I'd say you have 17/8"s or 17/8.5"s? Wheel size?

Yeah I remember that episode but they where also going from what 17s to 22-24s. There is a much bigger difference between 18 and 20 and 17 and 22. Besides the 05+ cars have 18s as an option so its only 2" and really not that much more weight.

A guy I know from another site dynoed his car with his 20" rims and then his 17" rims to prove that there was no loss. Guess what there was a 18 whp diffirance. So I think an 18" is your best option for performance, and a 20" is good if you want to be like the rest of the sheepeople that do it. Cause, thats what they do on MTV. :poke:
And Yea wider tires add weight but if they add more traction then it is good weight.

Ok so then add a CAI to the 05+ cars and gain the 18hp back and then some, still have 20s that look great on the 05+ cars, and be happy. I think 20s look awful on my body style stang (99-04) but they fit the look and style of the 05+ cars.

Also 18whp unless you are a drag racer will not make much of a difference for a normal car that is driven daily or on the street only. Hell most people probably couldn't tell a difference.

While I agree with you that generally more width is more traction. But how many stock or bolton cars need any bigger tire. Unless the car is blown or a track car you can get plenty of traction with a stock width tire. So really its not "good" weight as you say.

I think it's really all about personal opinion..

Old schooler's prefer a nice mid size wheel and alot of tire, while many new schoolers perfer more wheel and wider/ shorter tires.

My personal opinion is that 20" 's look perfect on the 05+ with the correct drop, now the 'new edge' SN 95 not so much. :dunno:

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