Best wheel size for road racing?

18" Wheels are supposed to give you MUCH better handling. But 17" wheels have MUCH better traction, due to the thick sidewalls.

18" wheels and tires are also more expensive, but are the perfect size for 99+ stangs IMO.

The only reason to run an 18" wheel is if you upgrade the brakes.

the only reason you would have better handling or traction is in you tire size not wheel diameter.

18" wheel is is heavier all things being equal and it raises the height of the car .5 on an equal size tire.

exotic brake setups will usually not fit under a 17" wheel though. you can't get big 4 piston calipures and huge rotors on with a 17" rim sometimes.

that being said I like the looks of 18" better and I would run them just in case you get tired of the factor brakes.

I have the Villians on my 04 GT with the 4 piston Brembo upgrade. I run several track days a year, and went with the 17" wheels for the weight and tire cost advantages. I may have a pic of the car from a track day this year, I'll look for it tonight.

hognutz said:

The only reason to run an 18" wheel is if you upgrade the brakes.

the only reason you would have better handling or traction is in you tire size not wheel diameter.

18" wheel is is heavier all things being equal and it raises the height of the car .5 on an equal size tire.

exotic brake setups will usually not fit under a 17" wheel though. you can't get big 4 piston calipures and huge rotors on with a 17" rim sometimes.

that being said I like the looks of 18" better and I would run them just in case you get tired of the factor brakes.

Click to expand...

On an equal size tire..............okay? Say 245/45-17 and 245/45-18 I guess you're right, but what kind of idiot would do that? My 265/35-18's are a tad bit smaller in overall diameter than the stockers.

18's on a 99-04 usually do look very nice.

The 18" STEEDA Ultra Light wheels I want to get are like 5lbs lighter on every wheel than the stock 17" bullits at the moment. so 20lbs lighter all around...

The key here may be, are your going to do track days or road race. If its road racing your after then racing rims should be your consideration, along with all the other components you will need on your suspension to be competitive. Conversely, if its track days you are doing, then you might find that tire replacement costs on 18" rims may be more then you want. I can get one and sometimes two track days out of my tires.

Go to www.tirerack.com and pick a set of 17" tires and 18" tires and look at the delta between the two. There you may find your answer.

As far as 17", I would recommend any Cobra R offset replacement rim, this will give you the ability in the future to upgrade to Cobra R brakes.