18x9?

  • Sponsors (?)


i know that the back spacing is not the same as early model mustangs and because of that the wheel hits the ball joint, i thought that maybe where this wheel was a 9" wide wheel that the extra width would still cause interferance with the ball joint even with the spacer, so i guess my question is will that wheel be too wide for the front even with the spacer? will the ball joint be cleared since the wheel is a little taller, hence no requiring as much back spacing pushing the wheel out too far since it is 9" wide?
 
BottleFed70 said:
You won't want to run a 9" wide wheel in the front.

245 series rubber is about the widest you'll be able to fit under the front fenders. 245's on a 9" wide rim look funny... too skinny.

I know 1st hand from trying to put 18x9's on the front of my 70. See this thread: http://forums.stangnet.com/showthread.php?t=644727

Wow, your setup looks great! :nice: I'm seriously thinking about going the same way now.
 
nugget68 said:
but you are saying that i wont have to get the 9" wide wheel narrowed?
True, you won't HAVE to, but thats not what you were asking. You will have to run like a 2" spacer and still have 1" of tread protruding past the fender lip with a "wide-out" look. If the car is too low, when you hit a bump the fender lip will drop onto the tire tread. Definately not going to get it tucked under the fender with a 9" rim up front.
 
nugget68 said:
you are right the 245 looks stretched... what do you think about the back wheel? the 10.5" do you think it would fit and not looked stretched with a 275/35?

I have 275's in rear of the '70 on a 9" rim. I think it looks about perfect on the 9" rim...although 285's might look a little better with some sidewall bulge. Anyways.. I don't think 275's are wide enough for a 10.5" rim. For that rim you'd want to step up to 305's or wider.
 
Don't go wider than 8" on the front or you will shred the tires and have lots of headaches. I have 17x8's on the front and before I lowered it, it barely cleared the UCA and the inner fender lip. After lowering 1.5" it slightly rubs on really big bumps, and that's after doing alot of work on the inner fender lip to fold it up. There's no way a 9" wheel is going to work without some very serious mods unless you are going to jack it up for offroad duty!
 
Thank you

Thanks guys. These were some of the questions I also have been wanting to ask. Its great to here 1st hand knowledge on this matter. Bottlefed70, what amount would you figure I would have to narrow the front 18x9 wheel with 6" BS to prevent me from rolling the front lips?
 
Travis77 said:
Thanks guys. These were some of the questions I also have been wanting to ask. Its great to here 1st hand knowledge on this matter. Bottlefed70, what amount would you figure I would have to narrow the front 18x9 wheel with 6" BS to prevent me from rolling the front lips?

To be honest, it's more about the rubber...it's the rubber that rubs, not the wheel. The wheel choice is mearly what looks best for the rubber....

So what size rubber do you want to run? Also.. do you plan on lowering the car?

Also.. what year is your car? The earlier classics stangs don't have as much room as the later classics. IE) 69/70 cars have more room than 64/65
 
wheel/tire

Please, lets keep this thread going. I will start another thread if I'm offending anyone by jumping in.
My car is a 67. If I go the cheaper route on wheels (late model replicas) I want a little extra rubber outside the front wheels with 235 tire on a narrowed 18x8 rims. If I calculated correctly, with this combination I will have roughly .6" of tire on each side of the wheel. Do you think it will look funny to run 18x10 wheel with 315 tire in the back? If I do this I will have roughly 1.0" of tire on each side of the rim. Basically twice the amount of tire bulge as the front will have.
 
Travis77 said:
Please, lets keep this thread going. I will start another thread if I'm offending anyone by jumping in.
My car is a 67. If I go the cheaper route on wheels (late model replicas) I want a little extra rubber outside the front wheels with 235 tire on a narrowed 18x8 rims. If I calculated correctly, with this combination I will have roughly .6" of tire on each side of the wheel. Do you think it will look funny to run 18x10 wheel with 315 tire in the back? If I do this I will have roughly 1.0" of tire on each side of the rim. Basically twice the amount of tire bulge as the front will have.

Hmm... Letse.

With my 245's on a 8" rim, the rim and the tire are pretty much even. I can't see how you could get 0.6" of bulge with a skinnier tire. Remember the rim width is measured on the inside of the lip... and that the tire is not necessarily the width the manufacturer claims it is...

I think 235's would look OK on a 8" rim, but if you are getting the rim narrowed anyways, I'd suggest you get it narrowed to 7.5" for the best look. If you are narrowing a wheel that originally had 6" of backspacing you would end up with a 4.5" backspacing (if narrowed 1.5") which is perfect for a 67.

I think 315's would look great on a 10" rim, I'm a fan of sidewall buldge...especially in the rear. However, I don't know if you'll be able to fit 315's in the rear of a 67.
 
315s kinda fit, but from what I understand, they rub.

Im planning on 315s on the rear of my fastback - but Im not going to have leaf-springs. I'm also researching if I can fit a 17x9 - 275/40 setup on the front using the griggs suspension and some masaging.
 
wheel options

Thanks bottlefed and stangonline. I can't make my mind up if I want to hassle with getting a wheel narrowed or not and take a chance it wont ballance right or deal with other issues. Since I will be driving this car quite a bit, I want to be able to get a new wheel ASAP if I bend a rim. If I go this route I will have to wait on a rim to be shipped to my house, then mail it off to get narrowed , and wait for it to be returned. My other option is to just get a custom forged set and wait for them to be mailed to me. I guess I need to check if there is a reputable shop in the Houston area that can narrow wheels. I have the Global West coil over kit waiting to be installed in the front, and I need to get my wheels so I can order my new rear end and coil over kit from Martz Chassis. This is why I need to make a decision. I am kind of leaning towards custom wheels and run 18x8 or 7.5 in the front and get 18x12 for the rear. Has anyone looked at the June issue of Super Rodmagazine? There is a super clean 65 mustang coupe that is wearing 18x13's that looks incredible.
Thanks again guys, I'll try to keep is short next time.