17's or 18's

Dave14 · Jun 24, 2005

I am going to buy the AFS bullitt rims but cannot decide between 17inch or 18inch. My car is currently stock height but I plan on lowering no more than 1 inch... Can I get some opinions on which size to go with?

Thanks in advance

Dave

Swarzkopf · Jun 24, 2005

17!

There are few reasons:

1. Tires are cheaper.
2. You will get better traction out back as the sidewall is larger on 17" tires and will flex a little (more than on 18" tires at least).
3. Many places will not mount tires on wheels bigger than 17", or will charge much more for mounting tires on wheels bigger than 17".
4. Many people (myself included) think that most of the time, 18" wheels look cheesy on older Mustangs.

Dave14 · Jun 24, 2005

Thanks for the reply, that helps alot. I will go with the 17's, they are about $80 cheaper on ebay too.

Dave

donjohn · Jun 24, 2005

what color is your car and are you going 17" deep dish? is your car lowered at all? what color bullitts...

all the necessary questions

illwood · Jun 24, 2005

I have 17 x 9 rims with 275/40R17 all around and I love them. You could probably pull 18" wheels off, but it's more difficult to get them to look right and 17" rims do have the benefits that Swarzkopf mentioned.

GRGT1994 · Jun 24, 2005

I vote for 17 inch wheels too. Maybe you could go 18 in the back and 17 up front? (I'd go 17 all the way around though).

91LX_5L · Jun 24, 2005

18s all the way...I would never go back to 17s.

Steve-Os95GT · Jun 24, 2005

18! Gotta, gotta go with the 18s. I put 18" Saleen replicas on my 95GT and I LOVE IT! The tires cost me around 225$ each. I put NITTO Xtremes on it which are very, very good street tires (the reason why they cost a pretty penny). 265/35s on the front and 285/35s on the back. It looks awesome. As far as replacing your tires and the cost, it depends on how often you leave tread on the road. I lowered my car 1.5" in the rear and 2" in the front and the 18s set it off HUGE! 17s are too small. It all depends on what you want your car to look like. Do you want it for looks (18s) or drivability (17s)? Me, I want looks. And trust me, you will like the 18s better (looks) then the 17s. My own .02

95GT Stock 302 bottem end. P. Products Typhoon upper/lower intake, MAC shorty headers, Cam, Underdrive pullies, MAC CAI, 1.7 roller rockers, Lifters, Edelbrock Performer RPM heads (out the box), Diablo Sport tune, 70mm TB. 3:73s, Subframe connectors, Lowering Springs, Caster camber kit, 18" Saleen rims w/ Nitto Extremes.
294rwhp 327rwtq

slytherin · Jun 24, 2005

IMO stick with the 17's.

Dave14 · Jun 24, 2005

donjohn said:
what color is your car and are you going 17" deep dish? is your car lowered at all? what color bullitts...

all the necessary questions

My car is red, the rears are deep dish, my car is not lowered yet but I will lower it about an inch and the bullits are chrome.

1TRIKGT · Jun 24, 2005

Id go with 17x9 front and 18x10 1/2 out back thats what im doing with my stang when I save up enough money

nmcgrawj · Jun 24, 2005

18's looking goofy on OUR year? Thats the biggest load of BS i have ever heard. Its simple, if you dont mind the minor extra cost in tires....then get the 18's. Either way, chances are you arent going to have great traction with a 17 or 18. Are you going for looks? Performance? You can always swap out to old v6 wheels or your stock wheels f and or the track.

With 17's there is still fender well gap unless you slam the car. 18's fill it up very nicely and dont look goofy. Show me one car that looks goofy with 18's from our year. I can almost guarantee you that if you take 2 of the same wheels in 17 and 18 that the 18 will come out looking better. Go ahead and try it....take a 18" saleen wheel and the same thing in a 17" replica...wont be close.

Thats not to say 17's dont look good. I had them first on my v6 and i too thought it looked great. But once you go 18's you wont ever go back unless you are going for drag wheels or something.

Its up to you and whats most important. Cost? Performance? Looks? 18's are worth it. Thats the bottom line.

mackey · Jun 24, 2005

18 Bullets look awesome. I saw chrome ones on a 94 and they filled the well great and looked awesome!

SN95StangMan · Jun 24, 2005

nmcgrawj said:
18's looking goofy on OUR year? Thats the biggest load of BS i have ever heard. Its simple, if you dont mind the minor extra cost in tires....then get the 18's. Either way, chances are you arent going to have great traction with a 17 or 18. Are you going for looks? Performance? You can always swap out to old v6 wheels or your stock wheels f and or the track.

With 17's there is still fender well gap unless you slam the car. 18's fill it up very nicely and dont look goofy. Show me one car that looks goofy with 18's from our year. I can almost guarantee you that if you take 2 of the same wheels in 17 and 18 that the 18 will come out looking better. Go ahead and try it....take a 18" saleen wheel and the same thing in a 17" replica...wont be close.

Thats not to say 17's dont look good. I had them first on my v6 and i too thought it looked great. But once you go 18's you wont ever go back unless you are going for drag wheels or something.

Its up to you and whats most important. Cost? Performance? Looks? 18's are worth it. Thats the bottom line.

^ What he said. IMO, My car looks anything but goofy with 18" wheels. And as far as getting better traction with the 17s, I have gotten a best of 1.825 60' time at the track with my 18" street tires, and that is after only 3 trips to the track, to learn how to launch.

FastFord · Jun 25, 2005

For me.. this is best answered with my wallet!! $$$$$ 18s look great, as fast as my tires wear, can I afford the extra cost for tires and mounting? I have been real happy with my 17s. I would rather add the $$ saved into a jar for future mods.. or maint issues. These are 10-11 year old cars.

WhiteDevil · Jun 25, 2005

18s can look really good on our cars, but they only seem to look good when cars are really low. Since he is only going with and inch drop a lot of times stangs with 18s look like they are too high off the ground with them on there. I do love 18s on most stangs but with only a 1in drop i would say 17s are the way to go.

Swarzkopf · Jun 25, 2005

18's looking goofy on OUR year? Thats the biggest load of BS i have ever heard.

Looks fall into the realm of opinion, meaning they are impossible to substantiate.

In my opinion, and in the opinion of many that I know, 18s look cheesy on Mustangs.

You are of course entitles your own opinion concering how 18" wheels look on a Mustang.

Its simple, if you dont mind the minor extra cost in tires....then get the 18's.

On tirerack, the cheapest 245/45/17 tires are $75.

The cheapest 18" tires I could find were 255/35/18 tires and are $128 on close out.

In my way of thinking that is not such a minor difference.

Either way, chances are you arent going to have great traction with a 17 or 18.

I've cut 1.8 second 60's with my 275/40/17 tires. I feel that that is pretty good traction.

I'd be suprised to do the same with an 18" wheel/tire.

Are you going for looks?Performance? You can always swap out to old v6 wheels or your stock wheels f and or the track.

With 17's there is still fender well gap unless you slam the car. 18's fill it up very nicely and dont look goofy. Show me one car that looks goofy with 18's from our year. I can almost guarantee you that if you take 2 of the same wheels in 17 and 18 that the 18 will come out looking better. Go ahead and try it....take a 18" saleen wheel and the same thing in a 17" replica...wont be close.

Thats not to say 17's dont look good. I had them first on my v6 and i too thought it looked great. But once you go 18's you wont ever go back unless you are going for drag wheels or something.

Its up to you and whats most important. Cost? Performance? Looks?

All subjective/opinion.

18's are worth it. Thats the bottom line.

Not to me. 90% of the time I see 18" wheels on POS mid-90s Luminas, Monte Carlos, Intrepids, ect. Most of the time a mid-90s Mustang is not a car that "works" with 18" wheels, in my opinion.

super302 · Jun 25, 2005

slytherin said:
IMO stick with the 17's.

nmcgrawj · Jun 25, 2005

Swarzkopf said:
I've cut 1.8 second 60's with my 275/40/17 tires. I feel that that is pretty good traction.

I'd be suprised to do the same with an 18" wheel/tire.

Not to me. 90% of the time I see 18" wheels on POS mid-90s Luminas, Monte Carlos, Intrepids, ect. Most of the time a mid-90s Mustang is not a car that "works" with 18" wheels, in my opinion.

Too bad Eddie(sn95stangman) just cut as good 60 on his third trip on his 18's

But you are right, it is opinion. But do me a favor, post up a picture of a car that looks "goofy" with 18's. I think you may have 18's confused with 20's.

The fact of the matter is that we have a huge wheel well that begs to be filled...17's arent the best at doing it but they get the job done.

Goofy? I think not BTW, i didnt measure before and after but its not lowered more than a 1.5" drop. Somewhere between 1-1.5 i think

Good luck deciding....

juiced_94gt · Jun 25, 2005

bigger is better...18's all the way, i would never go to a 17 EVER!! if traction is a problem buy some 315 35 18 drag radials!

17's or 18's

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