I am checking to see if I can squeeze some 16's on the GT. I can't see why not. And i believe that the rotor/calipers are the same on the v6's with the 16 inch rims(please let me know if this is incorrect). If you are from Canada, Canadian tire is having a sale on Steel Rim / Tire combos.
After reading a story about a GT, where someone stole the rims from it. They used 16" V6 rims, but had to remove the brake calipers from the front so rims would fit.
If you look at how close the brake calipers are to the inside of the 17" rim, I don't see how a 16" rim would fit.
I kept the standard 17" polished rims for winter when I upgraded my summer wheels. YOu cannot go 16", nor do I think you would want that in the GT if you are going to drive it in the winter.
My 99 GT was a great winter car as it was the first year with the traction control. I had Goodyear M+S tires and were quite good, if a little noisy.
This time I went with the Michelin X-Ice tires, based on my experience with the Michelin Arctic Alpin, which i have had on two cars. On my previous ride, a Volvo S60 T5, the car was sensational in the snow, especially with DSTC.
Now the Mustangs only have traction control, but the benefit of RWD coupled with TC will make the car a good winter car.
I drove last winter with my stock tires and rims and had no problems. No problems with traction and no problems with salt eating the rims. Just give her a good cleaning once a week and everything is ok.
Id park it for the salty season, I feel guilty enough driving my other vehicles in the winter. If you absolutely have too i know a guy with an 05 gt that just drove his with the stock wheels and he said it handled good in snow.
I'll probably be storing the GT for winter unless I don't get busy and hunt down a winterbeater. I'll check out Canadian Tire though for rim availability just in case.
I drove last winter with my stock tires and rims and had no problems. No problems with traction and no problems with salt eating the rims. Just give her a good cleaning once a week and everything is ok.
Do the new Mustangs have Traction Control like the older models did? I am looking at possibly picking one up, but do not know how it will fair in the winter season, even with snow tires. I would love to hear impressions from those who have them. I am looking at adding snow tires, and then purchasing some summer chromies.
Yes the new GT's have traction control, not sure about the V6's. I saw some 05 stangs driving on our streets last winter. I don't know if they had snow tires on though. We usually get 3-5 major snowfalls a winter causing rough streets. The rest of the time if you stick to the major streets they're clean so I'm not worried of getting stuck, it's the heavy salt the city uses that kills the car and wheel rims especially. I haven't found steel rims available yet.