OK, so I mentioned a personal disdain for big wheels all around. Here's a question: on late model Stangs, how small in diameter can you go and still clear the brakes? I mean, I still see pics of them running at the track with what looks like 15-inch wheels. Are there differences from year to year? If I buy an '05 (OK, that's a big stretch, but humor me), can I fling 15's on it?
dunno about an 05, but you can squeak by on 15s and clear the stock brakes on the 03/04 for sure, not sure about cobras, i think they have bigger brakes, but definately the GT. It doesnt look very good though, one of my neighbors did it to his 03, looked like total shit.
Now that I think about it, Tom B. put Welds on his car, and it looked pretty good. I guess the diff is whether you are going for that straight line look or not. I could see a set of original-style Magnum
500's on a new Mach I if the offset worked out.You stil working on that big-engine project?
yeah, still plugging away. ive been traveling, and after everyone on here pretty much reversed everything i was thinking, ive gone back to the drawing board for a bit. ill post more when i come up with something new.
The Bob Bondurant School may still have some left over for Mustangs. I'll have to check. Thanks for reminding me.
Refresh my bullet-riddled memory; you wanted to put a 385 into a Fox and go drag-racing?
street, with as big an engine as i could shoehorn in there without breaking the bank, and exceeding my limited skills.
"Limited skills" translates to paying others to do the work. Have you considered taking a basic mechanic's course at the local trade school or junior college?
Ive taken several, and limited skills means I want to do it all myself, so I gotta balance what I want with whats practical for me to accomplish in my garage. The only things I'm paying others to do are the body work (my asthma doesnt go well with sanding, mask or no mask), and reinforcing the frame metal (my welding skills arent good enough in my opinion).
OK. For the time being, I'll leave you with one Fox car combo I saw at the track a couple years ago. It was caged and subframed, running
28-inch tires (slicks) and 4.10 gears. The engine was a 429 mildly worked over with factory iron heads, installed with a motor plate to clear the Hooker Comp headers. The cam was not so radical that it wasn't streetable, and it was running 11.teens. Really big engines, IMO, are going to be unmanageable in a street Fox chassis. Good luck with your plans.
Picked up the March Hot Rod during lunch and, guess what? There's a pic of an '05 with 15's and a 4-inch cowl hood on page 30. I like it.
The ground clearance must be miniscule...
No, because you run higher tires when you go to smaller wheels. A
245/40/18 has a 25.72" diameter, and a 245/60/15 is 26.58".My car had low profile tires on it when I bought it. 15" wheels. I didn't like the large space between the wheel wells so I put taller tires on it. I liked the look of "more meat" also. The only downside is that I feel the car handled better with the other tires with the lower profile. That's where bigger wheels with lower profile tires are an advantage.
'98 Mustang - 3.8 - 5 Speed
To a point, if you are willing to sacrifice ride quality for "handling". On a daily commuter, I'm not so sure the trade-off is worth it. And how many drivers are talented enough to push their tires to the limit? Or crazy?
Handling aside, I feel the new billet monstrosities shift the focal point away from the car. Wheels should complement the styling, not overwhelm it.
To a limited extent. I haven't approached (guessing) .8 - .9 lateral G in a car since I raced in a full cage with a harness. Nor would I.
I'm doing wheels and tires on my '67, and going appropriately "old school" with year-correct styled steel wheels, 215/70-14 up front, and
235/60-14 in back.This is entirely appropriate for the car, and has been a proven combo for 35+ years. No white letters, no bling bling. I like a better ride, less abuse on the car and suspension, and more predictability when I do lean on it. My thought is that the engineers put thought into tires and wheels when they built the car. Deviating a bit is fine, but so little thought is actually put into such an important thing in the name of "style". It's refreshing to see that others still understand this.
"My buddy say the damn thing like on RAILS, yo!"
I too need more than that as a recommendation =)
Yep, I did indeed, Rodlites as it turns out. Bear in mind that '98 was the last year for the smaller brakes on GT's so I was able to fit the standard Rodlites on the rear with no prob but still had to use
7/16 spacers for the fronts. Weld also makes "XP" versions of several models that will clear the larger brakes with no spacer required. Backspacing is 5.5 on the rear, 3.5 on the front.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Okie Tom - TS #62
1998 GT Coupe 5-spd. 2001 Ranger XLTMotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.