18” vs. 17” wheels on fox

dz01 · Nov 14, 2024

My 93 came with 18x10’s squared and 235/40/18 tires. That tire is definitely too narrow for a 10” wheel so when I replaced I went with 245/40/18 which filled out better but still not great. I could go wider in the back but not the front.

I picked up a set of 17’s with 245/45/17 tires. Pretty standard I guess. I honestly don’t like the look of the giant sidewall but I’m also used to the low profile. (See rear wheel pic)

The odd thing is my 18’s are 4 x 108 which I can’t find any 4 lug 18’s on line. Do they exist anymore??

I’m not doing a 5 lug conversion at this point. I wouldn’t mind picking up two 18x9’s for the front to match my current rims then go staggered.

nickyb · Nov 14, 2024

You check LMR for rims???

dz01 · Nov 14, 2024

nickyb said:
You check LMR for rims???

No site has 18” 4 lug except for one option on LMR. It’s okay but not the cobra style.

Noobz347 · Nov 14, 2024

<<< Not a huge fan of 18s on a Fox.

I prefer some fat 17s and springs that put it where it belongs.

I'm not a hater either though. Side-by-side the same rims on a Fox... the 17" version usually looks better. Maybe it's because of the sidewall or the tuck... It just fits better.

dz01 · Nov 14, 2024

Noobz347 said:
<<< Not a huge fan of 18s on a Fox.

I prefer some fat 17s and springs that put it where it belongs.

I'm not a hater either though. Side-by-side the same rims on a Fox... the 17" version usually looks better. Maybe it's because of the sidewall or the tuck... It just fits better.

Yeah it might be because I’m use to the 18’s. The 17’s I have are 245/45/17. Maybe 245/40 would look better. Side walls seem too much.

Noobz347 · Nov 14, 2024

dz01 said:
The 17’s I have are 245/45/17.

Put those on the front and track down some 275/40s for the back on some 17x9s

The sidewalls for both tires will be just about the same.

Mustang5L5 · Nov 15, 2024

245/45/17 is the proper tire size for a 17" wheel that maintains the proper 25.7" OD of the tire. If you start going smaller (245/40/17 is 25.0") you run into issues of the fender gap increasing which makes you want to lower the car more.

I had 18's on my Fox and just went down to 17's as well. After looking at the thin sidewalls, the 255/45/17 looks like a fat tire with a big sidewall, but that look grows on your.

If those are 9", you can try a 275/40/17 out back and 245/45/17 out front. Typical tire sizes for a fox/SN95.

AeroCoupe · Nov 15, 2024

Look though here and you will see several Foxes with 275/40R17 on the rear and 245/40R17 on the front. This combo needs to have lowering springs to get the look right IMO but that may be because that is what I run on my cars...

KRUISR · Nov 15, 2024

I've got 18x9s with a 255/35/18 on the front (25.2" tall) and a 275/35/18 (soon to be 285/35/18) on the rear.

Potomus Pete · Nov 15, 2024

dz01 said:
No site has 18” 4 lug except for one option on LMR. It’s okay but not the cobra style.

17's are the proper size for a Fox....Somebody find this guy a crown for best Fox. You dont post much, but you have the killer Fox. So nice for a stocker, and we hope to see more. If I was driving down the street I would freak out

dz01 · Nov 15, 2024

Noobz347 said:
Put those on the front and track down some 275/40s for the back on some 17x9s

The sidewalls for both tires will be just about the

AeroCoupe said:
Look though here and you will see several Foxes with 275/40R17 on the rear and 245/40R17 on the front. This combo needs to have lowering springs to get the look right IMO but that may be because that is what I run on my cars...

Thx. My car is lowered 1.5” so the 40 will make the profile smaller?

Noobz347 · Nov 15, 2024

dz01 said:
Thx. My car is lowered 1.5” so the 40 will make the profile smaller?

The 40 will shorten the sidewall but the sidewall will still be taller than the 245/45.

It will make the overall tire taller and sidewall will be half an inch taller in the rear... [roughly].

AeroCoupe · Nov 15, 2024

Noobz are you comparing the 275/40 to the 245/45?

Sidewall height is simply the tire width multiples by the aspect ratio divided by 100.

275 x (40/100) =110mm
110mm x 0.0394 = 4.334”

My understanding is that height is from the bottom of the bead to the top of the tread. So to know the side wall height above the you need to know the bead seat floor to the edge of the wheel and again from what I have read it’s around 0.75”.

4.334” - 0.75” = 3.584”

245 x (45/100) = 110.25mm
110.25mm x 0.0394 = 4.34385”

So with all that they will have the same side wall height.

Noobz347 · Nov 15, 2024

AeroCoupe said:
Noobz are you comparing the 275/40 to the 245/45?

Sidewall height is simply the tire width multiples by the aspect ratio divided by 100.

275 x (40/100) =110mm
110mm x 0.0394 = 4.334”

My understanding is that height is from the bottom of the bead to the top of the tread. So to know the side wall height above the you need to know the bead seat floor to the edge of the wheel and again from what I have read it’s around 0.75”.

4.334” - 0.75” = 3.584”

245 x (45/100) = 110.25mm
110.25mm x 0.0394 = 4.34385”

So with all that they will have the same side wall height.

I knew there was a formula. I eyeballed it. Your way is closer than I thought.

Also: There's an adjustment for the wheel width.

KRUISR · Nov 16, 2024

dz01 said:
My 93 came with 18x10’s squared and 235/40/18 tires. That tire is definitely too narrow for a 10” wheel so when I replaced I went with 245/40/18 which filled out better but still not great. I could go wider in the back but not the front.

A quick question - how did you come up with the sizing of your rims? Was it stamped on the back side of the rim, or did you measure the width? If measured, where did you measure from and to?

The reason I ask is looking at your pictures with the 245 tires on (I assume that is what is on them in the pics) the rims don't look 10" wide relative to the tires. They look smaller. If you measured outside of rim lip to outside of rim lip, that is not the rim width, you should subtract 1-1.5" off that measurement. Rim width is measured where the bead of the tire touches the rim, so inside of lip.

My 18x9s will be just over 10" to outside of lip. You can see that my 255s are not flush with the rim face. If you have 245s on 10" wide, your tires should be leaning back worse than this.

MUSTANGJOE · Nov 16, 2024

I was about to buy 18's for my fox but opted for 17's, the 18's looked to big and funny, at least on a coupe

1hot87gt · Nov 17, 2024

A company called CCW makes a 4 lug option in 18" for our Foxes. Get ready to open your wallet though. Also Makers Garage makes a reimagined Cobra wheel in 18" with a 4 lug option but even a set of them are over $2k.

They are out there but very expensive. I had a set of 18" CCW's on my car for about a year or so. Bottom line, car really isn't meant for that size wheel. It always rubbed, even slightly which drove me crazy, and rode like crap because you had to run such a low profile tire.

Now I have a set of 17" SC Replicas and I love them.

dz01 · Nov 17, 2024

1hot87gt said:
A company called CCW makes a 4 lug option in 18" for our Foxes. Get ready to open your wallet though. Also Makers Garage makes a reimagined Cobra wheel in 18" with a 4 lug option but even a set of them are over $2k.

They are out there but very expensive. I had a set of 18" CCW's on my car for about a year or so. Bottom line, car really isn't meant for that size wheel. It always rubbed, even slightly which drove me crazy, and rode like crap because you had to run such a low profile tire.

Now I have a set of 17" SC Replicas and I love them.

Looks good! What size rubber and are those 9” wheels?

dz01 · Nov 17, 2024

KRUISR said:
A quick question - how did you come up with the sizing of your rims? Was it stamped on the back side of the rim, or did you measure the width? If measured, where did you measure from and to?

The reason I ask is looking at your pictures with the 245 tires on (I assume that is what is on them in the pics) the rims don't look 10" wide relative to the tires. They look smaller. If you measured outside of rim lip to outside of rim lip, that is not the rim width, you should subtract 1-1.5" off that measurement. Rim width is measured where the bead of the tire touches the rim, so inside of lip.

My 18x9s will be just over 10" to outside of lip. You can see that my 255s are not flush with the rim face. If you have 245s on 10" wide, your tires should be leaning back worse than this.

The rears are 17x9 in the picture (I had one of each on the see the difference. The fronts are 18x10. The outside picture of car has 18’s all around. I measured outside of rim to outside of rim. Plus I think they were stamped on the inside.

1hot87gt · Nov 17, 2024

The fronts are 17x9 and the rears are 17x10. Rear rubber is 315/35/17 and the fronts are 255/40/17. To get the rears to fit and not rub was tricky.
First I had to use longer ARP wheel studs. Then, a 1/2" Baer spacer. I think it's 1/2". Bilstein quad shocks because they are narrower. I have LX exhaust on the car with the Cobra rear valance. When I tell you it clears by a 1/4", it clears by a 1/4". I've had this set up for years. I love it. Car makes a little over 500hp at the crank, so I need every little bit of that 315.

18” vs. 17” wheels on fox

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