Help me decide which wheels would look best on my car.

[bcollie67]

I plan on doing 17x8's in the front with 245/45-17 tires, and 18x9's in the rear with a 275/35-18 tire.

However I am stuck between these two wheel colors, so if you guys don't mind helping me pick which of the two would look the best on my car.

Thanks,

Wheel 1:

Wheel 2:

 

[pyroman]

I'm not sure if there will be a huge difference, but then again the devil is in the details. I'm definately partial to the bullits with the dark centers. I think I'm leaning towards the black, maybe there are some photoshops wizards that could photoshop each wheel on your car.

 

[68EFIvert]

I have a word of advice on the tires you selected. The front tires will have a taller sidewall than the rear tires. I am running 225/45/17's up front and 275/23/18's in the back and they are very close in height. If you want to keep with 245's in the front you may want to drop down to 40 series. Another option would find a tire you can get in 285/35/18 for the rear. With that said I think I would go with black wheels.

 

[ron67fb]

Oh no! You should keep the Cragars! Anything bigger is cartoony! Everyone at the retirement home agrees with me!

Now that we have that out of the way, what backspace are you getting? 17x8 and 4.75" backspace with 245/45-17 will get you this much steering angle before it rubs:

I couldn't even fit a sheet of paper in there, and that's with rolled lips.

Oh yeah, black car + black rims = hot.

 

[68EFIvert]

I've always liked cartoons. Stick with your idea about going larger. You can always put the Cragars back on if you want to look old school. LOL!

 

[jb1dsl]

Black on Black, No Doubt!!!

 

[2nd Mustang]

If you decide to ditch the Cragars, let me know. I really dig the old school look.

 

[bcollie67]

Thanks for the replys and the voting guys. I was leaning more towars the black centers and now that I am some reasurring feedback I think that is the route I am going to go.

I have a word of advice on the tires you selected. The front tires will have a taller sidewall than the rear tires. I am running 225/45/17's up front and 275/23/18's in the back and they are very close in height. If you want to keep with 245's in the front you may want to drop down to 40 series. Another option would find a tire you can get in 285/35/18 for the rear. With that said I think I would go with black wheels.

So you are saying that with the tires that I have selected that the sidewall on the front is going to be larger and look out of place? So to fix the problem I should drop down to a 245/40 17 in the front?

Or you say that I could stay with the 245/45 17 in the front and go up to a 285/35 18 in the rear to even it out? I understand what you are saying about the sidewalls not macthing but would going up to a 285 over a 275 in the rear only widen my rear tire and not really change the sidewall height?

Thanks for the help, I really want to make sure that I get the correct tires for this set-up. The right tires makes or breaks the car.

Oh no! You should keep the Cragars! Anything bigger is cartoony! Everyone at the retirement home agrees with me!

Now that we have that out of the way, what backspace are you getting? 17x8 and 4.75" backspace with 245/45-17 will get you this much steering angle before it rubs:

I couldn't even fit a sheet of paper in there, and that's with rolled lips.

Oh yeah, black car + black rims = hot.

Damn thats close.

The backspacing on the front 17x8 wheels is 5.72 and I will be running a 1 inch spacer.

Umm what suspension does the front of the car have in that picture? It looks like it is pretty low.

 

[ron67fb]

Damn thats close.

The backspacing on the front 17x8 wheels is 5.72 and I will be running a 1 inch spacer.

Umm what suspension does the front of the car have in that picture? It looks like it is pretty low.

That's exactly what that is, a 5.72 with 1" so it's ~4.75. Yeah it's low, here's the thread I made:
http://forums.stangnet.com/708026-1967-wheel-swapping-fun-modem-choking-pictures-goodness.html

Bullitt's photoshop in post #26 might help you a bit.

 

[68EFIvert]

So you are saying that with the tires that I have selected that the sidewall on the front is going to be larger and look out of place? So to fix the problem I should drop down to a 245/40 17 in the front?

Or you say that I could stay with the 245/45 17 in the front and go up to a 285/35 18 in the rear to even it out? I understand what you are saying about the sidewalls not macthing but would going up to a 285 over a 275 in the rear only widen my rear tire and not really change the sidewall height?

Thanks for the help, I really want to make sure that I get the correct tires for this set-up. The right tires makes or breaks the car.

If I were to do my tires again I would stick to my 225/45/17 and go with 285/35/18 in the rear. I feel that fitting a 245 in the front can be done but with much less room for error. I screwed up on my rear tires and tried to fit 285/40's and ended up destroying $800 worth of tires and rippling the quarter panel on a newly painted car. Trust me that you won't want to do that. It was enough to ruin my day.

Good luck with whatever way you go.

 

[bcollie67]

If I were to do my tires again I would stick to my 225/45/17 and go with 285/35/18 in the rear. I feel that fitting a 245 in the front can be done but with much less room for error. I screwed up on my rear tires and tried to fit 285/40's and ended up destroying $800 worth of tires and rippling the quarter panel on a newly painted car. Trust me that you won't want to do that. It was enough to ruin my day.

Good luck with whatever way you go.

I was planning on putting Nitto 555's up front and they don't make a tire that is 225/45 17. They do however make a 225/40/ 17. Do you think that this would work with a 285/35/18 in the rear?


Actually I was wrong they only make a 235/45 17. Would this be an option. I am really starting to get confused with all these different tire sizes.

 

[dodgestang]

I sent this in response to your PM:

If you want to run the 275 35 in the rear I would run a 245 40 in the front to keep the sidewall profiles visually much closer in size. Front larger sidewalls can look a little hockey sometimes.

For the 17x8 in the front a 4.75 backspace wheel would be what you want.

For the rear a 18x9 seems like an odd size...I always see 18x9.5 alot more often. Regardless thought backspacing of 5.5 is what I would look for. I would be tempted to buy it in 6 inch BS that way if it was too tight to the leafs I could add a small 1/8=3/8 spacer to adjust it out to where I want it. Depends really on the look you want. But the closer you get the leafs the wider you can get on the car a 285 35 18 can fit if you do the backspacing just right (and you don't mind possibly having to hammer on the inner wheel well a little bit to avoid rubs on bumps). The 275 is a 'safer' fit

In addition looking at some of the issues in this thread:

To run the 245 in the front you need to do the shelby mod AND you need to make sure you have it aligned properly. -0.5 camber to -1 camber is IMO what you want to run to have them fit. I run the 245 40 on the 65 with smaller wheel wells and since I drive fast, I needed an aggressive alignment and -2.5 camber put the wheels on without even needing to roll my fender lips.

As for tires themselves. I will never ever buy Nitto 555s again. Not nearly the tire they claim to be. I had these on my mustang when I put it under the tractor trailer a couple years ago.

 

[SNAKEPILOT]

Fitting wide tires up front is not just about backspace. You need to have the shelby drop or a negative camber system. With the stock suspension the tops of the wheels move out during spring compression. With the shelby drop, the tops of the wheels will move in.

How much negative camber you run obviously makes a difference. You don't want to go crazy here but if you are currently zero or positive then -1 degree will make a noticeable difference in handling and tire clearance.

Also running the Global West upper arms which are 3/8" shorter than stock will suck the tires in a little for you. Just make sure you pull in your lower arms (get an alignment) to keep the camber around -1.

 

[tx65coupe]

My vote still goes to the Cragars that are on it. I think Magnum 500 wheels would look awesome on it. If you insist on the modern wheels then I say the anthecrite wheel number 2. I always liked those wheels espeicailly with the pony center cap. A cobra snake center cap would look good too.

 

[guybored]

Sorry for the long time I took to response to your pm. I think you could fit 17x8 up front and 18x9 in the back. Not to sure about it since mine is a 65 and there is some difference between them. Neither the lest I have 17x8 up front with 225/45 and 18x8.5 with 275/40. I have a 4.5 backspacing all around. I also have the shelby drop in front and in back are my old "original" leafs springs. hopefully I can replace those after I fix my engine. I would of tryed a 4.75 in front sine the tire is soo close to the fender. I had to roll all of the fenders because I had 235/45 in front at like mentioned above after a while seeing the car I did notice that the side wall was taller up font (looks ugly imo) also had trouble withe the 235/45 when turning on a bump. In the back don't know if it is because of the springs but when there is 2 more people in the car besides me it starts to scrape. Right now I don't have any issues with the tires if I am driving by myself. I personally would like a little lower tire (less side wall) but then again I don't want to mess up the rims with the bumps and holes around here. Good luck with what you decide. I would go with the black rims would look great black on black. Have you looked into the tt style M they are similar little different nothing noticeable to me and you could get those with the correct backspacing so you don't have to spend extra money on the spacer. Just a thought. I am running falken tires by the way.

 

[guybored]

My sig has the 235-45 on there don't remember if I had the shelby drop on there then, I don't think I did. If you want I'll try to take a pic of it tomorrow so you can see the difference now. Now that I remember correctly I still hadn't done the shelby drop.

 

[68EFIvert]

Look at it this way. Try to stay about 26" diameter in the rear but not much more than that. Then look for a front tire that is one inch shorter to compensate for the smaller wheel. I have found the mfg websites to be a good guide on wheel diameter. I have a guide from BFG for my KDW2's I have on my car. If I end up going with my ideal set I described earlier I will need to go with a different tire. BFG doesn't carry a rear in the size I would like to have 285/35/18.

 

[bcollie67]

I sent this in response to your PM:

If you want to run the 275 35 in the rear I would run a 245 40 in the front to keep the sidewall profiles visually much closer in size. Front larger sidewalls can look a little hockey sometimes.

For the 17x8 in the front a 4.75 backspace wheel would be what you want.

For the rear a 18x9 seems like an odd size...I always see 18x9.5 alot more often. Regardless thought backspacing of 5.5 is what I would look for. I would be tempted to buy it in 6 inch BS that way if it was too tight to the leafs I could add a small 1/8=3/8 spacer to adjust it out to where I want it. Depends really on the look you want. But the closer you get the leafs the wider you can get on the car a 285 35 18 can fit if you do the backspacing just right (and you don't mind possibly having to hammer on the inner wheel well a little bit to avoid rubs on bumps). The 275 is a 'safer' fit

In addition looking at some of the issues in this thread:

To run the 245 in the front you need to do the shelby mod AND you need to make sure you have it aligned properly. -0.5 camber to -1 camber is IMO what you want to run to have them fit. I run the 245 40 on the 65 with smaller wheel wells and since I drive fast, I needed an aggressive alignment and -2.5 camber put the wheels on without even needing to roll my fender lips.

As for tires themselves. I will never ever buy Nitto 555s again. Not nearly the tire they claim to be. I had these on my mustang when I put it under the tractor trailer a couple years ago.

Yeah I'm looking at the Bullit wheels from american muscle and the 18's come in a 18x9. After thinking about it more I'm not sure I want to run a 245 tire in the front and I am more leaning towards a 225/40 17 and then 275/35 18's. Does this sound like it might be a better set-up with those tires up front and a -1 camber?

Fitting wide tires up front is not just about backspace. You need to have the shelby drop or a negative camber system. With the stock suspension the tops of the wheels move out during spring compression. With the shelby drop, the tops of the wheels will move in.

How much negative camber you run obviously makes a difference. You don't want to go crazy here but if you are currently zero or positive then -1 degree will make a noticeable difference in handling and tire clearance.

Also running the Global West upper arms which are 3/8" shorter than stock will suck the tires in a little for you. Just make sure you pull in your lower arms (get an alignment) to keep the camber around -1.

Thanks man, I'm kinda new to modifying this car and I could not for the life of me understand why everyone kept saying that you need to do the shelby drop in order to fit the 17's up front safely without rubbing until now. My thought process was why in the hell would I want to drop the car more in the front in order to avoid the front tires rubbing, however it makes perfect sense now.

Thanks!

Sorry for the long time I took to response to your pm. I think you could fit 17x8 up front and 18x9 in the back. Not to sure about it since mine is a 65 and there is some difference between them. Neither the lest I have 17x8 up front with 225/45 and 18x8.5 with 275/40. I have a 4.5 backspacing all around. I also have the shelby drop in front and in back are my old "original" leafs springs. hopefully I can replace those after I fix my engine. I would of tryed a 4.75 in front sine the tire is soo close to the fender. I had to roll all of the fenders because I had 235/45 in front at like mentioned above after a while seeing the car I did notice that the side wall was taller up font (looks ugly imo) also had trouble withe the 235/45 when turning on a bump. In the back don't know if it is because of the springs but when there is 2 more people in the car besides me it starts to scrape. Right now I don't have any issues with the tires if I am driving by myself. I personally would like a little lower tire (less side wall) but then again I don't want to mess up the rims with the bumps and holes around here. Good luck with what you decide. I would go with the black rims would look great black on black. Have you looked into the tt style M they are similar little different nothing noticeable to me and you could get those with the correct backspacing so you don't have to spend extra money on the spacer. Just a thought. I am running falken tires by the way.

Yeah I definetly don't want the ugly tall taire effect up front. I am thinking now of running a 225/40 17 on the front. Do you think this would mesh well with a 275/35 18 in the rear?

My sig has the 235-45 on there don't remember if I had the shelby drop on there then, I don't think I did. If you want I'll try to take a pic of it tomorrow so you can see the difference now. Now that I remember correctly I still hadn't done the shelby drop.

I would love to see the updated pic of your car with the 225/45's up front.

Look at it this way. Try to stay about 26" diameter in the rear but not much more than that. Then look for a front tire that is one inch shorter to compensate for the smaller wheel. I have found the mfg websites to be a good guide on wheel diameter. I have a guide from BFG for my KDW2's I have on my car. If I end up going with my ideal set I described earlier I will need to go with a different tire. BFG doesn't carry a rear in the size I would like to have 285/35/18.

If I go 225/40 17 up front the wheel diameter would be 24.06. Then if I run a 275/35 18 tire in the rear the diameter would be 25.6. Does this sound like it could work well?

I'm so sorry to keep badgering you guys but I just really want to make sure I get the right tire setup.

Thanks for everyones help!


Edit: 68EFIVert, I know that Nittos might not be the best tire but they are somewhat cheap. Do you reccomend a better tire that falls within the same price range as the Nittos?

 

[dodgestang]

Not many choices in a 225 40 17....more options in a 225 45 17 and it is closer to the stock size. You also prob would not need -1 camber to run this tire.

 

[68EFIvert]

I to would look for the 45 series front tire in a tread you like. The 40 series may look a little to "tuner" for my preference. The sidewall starts getting pretty small. It would give you a nice raked look to the car though and shouldn't pose any clearance problems. You may want to consider dropping down to a 7" wheel if you go to a 225 tire. I did and it gave me a little more assurance I wasn't going to hit the fender. If you do then go to a 4 1/4" bs on the front wheels. I think I forgot to mention earlier that my 18*9 rear wheels have a 6" bs. There is plenty of room on the inside and outside with the 275/35/18 tires.