Looking for wheels and tires, need help with offsets and tire widths.

[Ares67Coupe]

Well like the title says, time to purchase new wheels and tires for the mustang. The stockies aren't doing it for me anymore. SO I would like something fairly large in the rear, but not so large it affects the handling, but at the same time it has to be able to handle the power being put down by my motor. I was thinking something in the 15s or 16s, (POSSIBLY 17s) looking at AR TT-Ds and TTs. Maybe 15x8 for the rear, 15x7 for the front? Any suggestions, I am completely new to how to handle offsets etc for mustangs. Sorry if this comes up a lot, I couldn't find any answers to suit my needs. Thanks!

-Chris

 

[slackr]

Have you tried here:
http://www.dodgestang.com/mustang.htm
Nick has some good stuff there.

 

[Ares67Coupe]

I did some research using Nick's website.

16x8" all around with 4.5" back space all around.

245/50-16 rear and 225/50-16 front, tires Michelin Pilot Sports.

 

[jerry S]

I did some research using Nick's website.

16x8" all around with 4.5" back space all around.

245/50-16 rear and 225/50-16 front, tires Michelin Pilot Sports.

this is the optimum setup for you. I am running the same cept for 235/50-16s in the rear because my toyos aren't yet avail in 245

 

[68stangman]

I run AR TTd 15x7 all four. I've got 225/60 front and 255/60 rear. I tried to find 15x8 with proper backspacing, but the D's only come in 15x8.5 with the same backspacing as the 15x7 => sticks ou too far. The 255's look great out back and with the 60 height, they've got a lot of mean meat from the side. I had to roll in the lips around the wheel well though to keep from rubbing. I don't know if you can get different backspacing with the TT II's.

I've been told that you really limit your options if you go with 16 in. rims on the 67/68. It is better to go with 15's or 17's than with 16's.
I was originally against using 15x7 on the rear, but now that I got the 255's and see how it looks all together, I would only go with a wider rim if I used a wider tire like a 275.

Two points when considering tires/rims:
- Can you safely use the rim with the backspacing
- Will the new overall tire height on the rear affect drivetrain ratios and relationships


I included the comment on tire height because It "felt" like going from a 2.79 to a 2.43 rear end for me. That was acceptable because I intended to change my gears. I now have a 3.80 posi on the way!

Hope this helps...

 

[Ares67Coupe]

Yes it does help a lot, I'll be getting a new rear end as it stands, so I can take care of the rear ratio problem fairly easy. 16s limit options on the 68s eh, ok well I'll definetely take that into consideration, the only thing I worry about with jumping to a 17 is the major increase in tire price and inital cost for the wheels as I will be buying R-Compound rubber for the wheels and it gets pricy as is, and really doesn't need any help, that is one of the reasons for the 16s, they fill out the wheels wells, don't look to small on the car and also offer fairly wide tire options without too much tire height. I'll look into the 15s though, are there any other companies that offer wheels similar in looks to the AR TTs, and TT2s? Crager? Etc?

 

[Jester67]

I've been told that you really limit your options if you go with 16 in. rims on the 67/68. It is better to go with 15's or 17's than with 16's.

...

What do you mean by limit your options??

 

[dodgestang]

What do you mean by limit your options??

Not to put words in anyone's mouth but he may have meant limit in so far as with a 16x8 you can not go past 4.5 BS because of the ball joint where as with a 17 you can increase to a slightly larger BS and fit a slightly wider tire in because of it......that's the only thing I can think off...since you can pretty much order any wheel (or one that looks a lot like it) in any size with any backspacing for the right price these days


I am glad you were able to effectively use the chart to figure out a size with both work on your car and look good.

 

[68stangman]

...with a 16x8 you can not go past 4.5 BS because of the ball joint where as with a 17 you can increase to a slightly larger BS and fit a slightly wider tire...

That sounds familiar. That was probably it. I wasn't sure of the reason and therefore the . I just remembered something detracting about 16's.

I didn't go with 17 because I wanted more than 3" of side wall.

So it probably wouldn't matter in the 15 to 16 sizes. It would just depend on the way you want your tires to look in the wheel well. Another thing that will affect that is the sidewall can change slightly when changing rim widths with the same tire.