Questions about larger Wheels/Tires for a GT
Ok, one of the first things I want to do to the GT when I get her tomorrow is put wider wheels/tires on. The problem is that I know more about engines then I do about wheel/tires and often just end up listening to the sales guy at the tire store. Maybe with this thread we can get some questions answered for people like me who aren’t really sure about things like offset and contact size.
Ok, so what I’d like to be able to do is put 265’s or wider on her. I’d also like to go a little slimmer like 45’s. I don’t quite like the look of the 35’s or lower, because it just looks to me like you’re riding on rims, plus the ride is a lot harder with the thinner tire. But I’m not sure; maybe someone can explain tire wall height a bit.
Also, I know you can go wider in the back, like 310 and still have it fit, but how does that effect rotating the tires? You can’t put the rears in the front when they are that wide, and you can’t put the left rear on the right rear and vice versa because then the tire would be running the opposite direction than it was before, and I understand that is bad for the belts in the tire.
So for 265’s or better what size wheel and offset would I need? I understand that the current stock wheels are 17x8 45mm offset with 235/55/17 tires. The tire is I believe something like 26mm (roughly an inch) inside the wheel well. I don’t want the tires to stick out of the wheel well and look all ghetto or mess with the suspension or stress anything, so that means I’m going to have to play with offsets and such.
I’d like to go with 18 inch wheels, but outside of that I’m not sure what combo would work best, whether or not I should keep the front and rears the same for rotation and tire life purposes, or whether or not I should just get the fattest I can in the front and back, and not worry about rotating them. Do I need to go 18x7/8/9/10? What kind of offsets in the front and rear?
Lastly, I do like the Ford Bullitt or stock look. I would also like for them to be a lighter material (if possible) so that they are not considerably heavier then stock. No point in adding 300lbs of extra tires and wheels.
Well, thanks in advance.
Ok, one of the first things I want to do to the GT when I get her tomorrow is put wider wheels/tires on. The problem is that I know more about engines then I do about wheel/tires and often just end up listening to the sales guy at the tire store. Maybe with this thread we can get some questions answered for people like me who aren’t really sure about things like offset and contact size.
Ok, so what I’d like to be able to do is put 265’s or wider on her. I’d also like to go a little slimmer like 45’s. I don’t quite like the look of the 35’s or lower, because it just looks to me like you’re riding on rims, plus the ride is a lot harder with the thinner tire. But I’m not sure; maybe someone can explain tire wall height a bit.
Also, I know you can go wider in the back, like 310 and still have it fit, but how does that effect rotating the tires? You can’t put the rears in the front when they are that wide, and you can’t put the left rear on the right rear and vice versa because then the tire would be running the opposite direction than it was before, and I understand that is bad for the belts in the tire.
So for 265’s or better what size wheel and offset would I need? I understand that the current stock wheels are 17x8 45mm offset with 235/55/17 tires. The tire is I believe something like 26mm (roughly an inch) inside the wheel well. I don’t want the tires to stick out of the wheel well and look all ghetto or mess with the suspension or stress anything, so that means I’m going to have to play with offsets and such.
I’d like to go with 18 inch wheels, but outside of that I’m not sure what combo would work best, whether or not I should keep the front and rears the same for rotation and tire life purposes, or whether or not I should just get the fattest I can in the front and back, and not worry about rotating them. Do I need to go 18x7/8/9/10? What kind of offsets in the front and rear?
Lastly, I do like the Ford Bullitt or stock look. I would also like for them to be a lighter material (if possible) so that they are not considerably heavier then stock. No point in adding 300lbs of extra tires and wheels.
Well, thanks in advance.
