17 or 18" wheels?

i currently have saleen replica 18x9. i want to upgrade to a wider tire preferably a 315 in the back. would 315's fit on an 18x10 inch rim. i saw some nice 17x10.5 fr500's for sale. money is tight so it would be cheaper for me to get 2 new rims for the rear and in my style i only see 18x10 not 10.5. they are black s style. does anybody make a 18x10.5?

You can put nitto 315s on the back of a 9 inch wheel no problem. It will buldge and some people may complain about that, but whatever. Here is 17x9s with nitto 315s.

I'm not a big fan of 18" wheels. I think the sidewalls just get too short with the 18" wheels, and it cuts into your traction. They also look a little weird on a Mustang.

Kurt

Jon, do you know if those rear wheels have spacers?

so i should be ok if i buy a 18x10 inch wheel and put 315's on?

yes they will fit.

17's or 18's look good, but on a 94+ car, 18" wheels look best IMO.... & to answer your question, yes a 315 will fit on a 10" wheel, BUT, when you go to 18" tires, most come in 295, 305, or 335. I don't think I have ever seen a 315/18? 295 is the best fit IMO, & if you go with a BFG or goodyear, it will be wider than a Nitto or Sumitomo 315 anyway....

They sell 315/30 not 315/35
Tire Details - Discount Tire Direct

How can that be? Those numbers, 295 & 315, are the tires cross section width in millimeters. So long as the wheel width is the same, a 315 tire has to be wider than a 295. That 10 mm difference is just under a 1/2".

IDK, but Nitto's & Sumitomo's run narrow. How else would people fit 315/35/17 Nitto DR'S on foxbody's, but can only fit 275/40/17 BFG's on the same car with the same wheels? I might be wrong about a 315 nitto being narrower than a 295 BFG, but its a well known fact that a 295 BFG DR is 1/4" wider than a 305 Nitto DR...

The width measurement is a theoretical width measurement based on the total width of the tire, not the contact patch. It all depends on how much the side of tires balloon out in different applications and different rims and all that noise. That's why the width differs from manufacturer to manufacturer.

Kurt

are those 18's on your car, Epik? love the way it sits, especially on the road:

Yeah, a real small one.

well i had two 295 bfg
s layin around and mounted them to my 9 inch rims. th car looks much nicer now. high speed lane changes feel unstable for some reason now with the wider tires. did anybody notice that or is it just me.

i cant answer ur question on the lane changes, mine are fine when i change. i run 275s up front and 315s bfg d/rs out back and they feel fine. it could be because ur running such a big tire on a 9in rim maybe? IMHO, i wouldnt go any bigger than a 275 on a 9in rim, but thats just me.

+1. If you had a 10" or 11" it would be more stable. It would hook better too.

Kurt

You can get wheels widened too. I think it $100 per 1/2"




18s look best on our cars. If traction is your goal.....a 17 nor 18 will really cut it.

Thanks for the compliment. Yup, they are 18X9 & 18X10, & I have coilovers at all 4 corners....

+1 on both of you guys... i failed to mention i run a 18x10 outback. i would absolutely LOVE to tub the trunk and have my fr500s widened to a 12 and run 345s on it but thats another thread, another story! LOL

i think weldcraftwheels.com is the website to a guy who supposedly is VERY good at what he does..

I had 275mm Kelley Springer tires on my 17X8 tribars, and it was stable. But when I changed over to 275mm Mickey Thompson ET streets, the car sucked at cornering, changing lanes, pretty much anything but straight line driving. It all depends on the tire and stiffness of the sidewall. Having a fat tire on a wheel doesnt necessarily make it unstable IMO. How old are those BFG's that you put on?