17's VS 18's

I really like the 17" deep dish.

If style is your only goal, get 18+'s.

you should get better traction with the 17's, I went 18's, click the link and see what you think!!!

18's are heavy and tires are spendy.

I stuck with 17's due to burn off's.......

Someday 18's would be sweet for show only....

18's look great! but weight can be a fator I would have to guess, heres a pic of my car with 18 oem's

Go with 18's, they look alot better and handling will get better too

HoustonGT said:

Go with 18's, they look alot better and handling will get better too

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Not necessarily, on both counts.

300bhp/ton said:

Not necessarily, on both counts.

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Well generally, yes. But I know what you mean.
with 17" Wheels, you will get better traction assuming all factors are the same (ie: using the same type of tires on both the 17s and the 18s). And 18s will look MUCH better, and fill the wheel well gap MUCH better and they will handle better and help making turning more solid. Traction for drag racing or launching MAY be a problem however. I personally have never driven with 18s yet, so I can't say how good or bad traction is over 17s.

Another problem with 18s is that they are very heavy. And any weight added to the car as a "rotating mass" (as wheels are) is very bad. rotating mass-weight is the worst kind of weight for the car. So by adding bigger heavier wheels there will be a loss of power. So with 18s now there is a loss of power AND traction. I have heard some people say on here that they went with 18s and could actually feel that the car got slower. Thats debatable I guess Personally I will be getting 18s (probably in the winter or next spring of 06) and will be getting the STEEDA Ultra Lights. These wheels are lighter than almost (if not) every 17" wheel on the market, as well as lighter than stock. So if you get 18s, you might want to consider some STEEDAs as they will not make you feel any power loss from adding typical 18s.

ANOTHER problem with 18s is that it will throw your speedo off a bit, so you will need to get it recalibrated. I dont know if a SPEED-CAL can do this for you...can it anyone? So if it can't, you may need to buy a superchip.

I just got 17" Cobra wheels 17x9 and 17x10.5" (with Nitto DRs) and personally if they weren't from my friend who needed the cash, then I wouldn't have gotten them, because they are heavier than stock, and don't look as nice as the 18s I want will. So I will probably sell them soon...

18's will not necessarily throw off your speedometer or fill in the wheel well gap. It all depends on the tire you get and its overall diameter. Many of the common 18" tire sizes such as 275/35/18 & 245/40/18 are basically the same diameter as stock 245/45/17's. The 265/35/18's that many people run are actually smaller diameter than stock.

pdl2flr said:

18's will not necessarily throw off your speedometer or fill in the wheel well gap. It all depends on the tire you get and its overall diameter. Many of the common 18" tire sizes such as 275/35/18 & 245/40/18 are basically the same diameter as stock 245/45/17's. The 265/35/18's that many people run are actually smaller diameter than stock.

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well by "fill the wheel well gap" I dont meen ACTUALLY filling it all up. I mean if you take the tires off, and just look at the 17" wheel in the wheel well...the 18 will look better and look more like it is supposed to be there. Yes I know you can vary tire sizes to LITERALLY fill the gap better.

UDTBadkarma said:

well by "fill the wheel well gap" I dont meen ACTUALLY filling it all up. I mean if you take the tires off, and just look at the 17" wheel in the wheel well...the 18 will look better and look more like it is supposed to be there. Yes I know you can vary tire sizes to LITERALLY fill the gap better.

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agreed...18"s do look good on our cars as long as the tire has a decent profile size to go along with it.

UDTBadkarma said:

well by "fill the wheel well gap" I dont meen ACTUALLY filling it all up. I mean if you take the tires off, and just look at the 17" wheel in the wheel well...the 18 will look better and look more like it is supposed to be there. Yes I know you can vary tire sizes to LITERALLY fill the gap better.

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well that all depends on your point of view, if the overall diamter is the same then with a 17" rim there will be more rubber and less metal compared to an 18" rim.

So looks wise it purly personal (although the current trend is to run rims that resemble pram wheels)

Personally I quite like the old school look of the fat sidewall like this:


As for performance, well it all depends what the car is being used for and how could the suspension is. Any SN95 Mustang GT has pretty primertive suspension and a higher profile tyre will aid in lateral axel location for street use. Remeber the tyres are the first component of the suspension and should be regarded more than just for appearances sake.

MUSTANG_GT_98 said:

I am looking into getting some rims for my 98 stang. My question is what would be better some 17' deep dish or some 18' Saleen replica.
Option 1
Front 17 by 9 with 275/40
Rear 17 by 10.5 with 315/40

Option 2
Front 18 by 9 with 265/35
Rear 18 by 10.5 with 295/35

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The saleen replicas I have are 18 x 10 in the back, I don't know where you get them at 18 x 10.5.
The 18's look alot better, and with my bfg dr's traction has not been an issue at all at the track, 1.80 60'. I got the 17" 03 cobra replicas for my cobra and everytime I saw one with 18's I regretted not getting the 18's

I am not going to give an opinion on which size but I will say that you should try to get genuine Ford rims if possible. If not get a decent brand and avoid crappy cheap eBay rims. I have seen too many posts complaining about the quality of cheap rims. Do not get bigger rims than you can afford by buying eBay crap...