Help with wheels\tire size

What happened to the stock wheels/tires on your 2006 GT? They should have been 17 (or maybe even 18) inch wheels...

I don't know why you would go from 20-inch to 19-inch -- that isn't much of a change at all...

I'd say, go for the 18's -- and if you can find your stock wheels, then use them!

The other thing is, what is your end goal? Are you trying to put more rubber on the road because of your additional horsepower? If so, that has nothing to do with the rim size.

Freelancer said:

How so? The size of the wheel just dictates how big the sidewall of the tire needs to be to get the same OD on the tire.

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Couple issues...First, you're assuming the OP wants to stay with the OEM OD. At no time did he ever mention OD of the tire. OP only discussed wheel diameters. Unfortunately once you start changing tire sizes it is difficult to do so.

Secondly, wheel width which you apparently forgot about is going to dictate the width of the tire that can be installed on that wheel making the below statement completely incorrect!

Freelancer said:

Are you trying to put more rubber on the road because of your additional horsepower? If so, that has nothing to do with the rim size.

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Freelancer said:

The OD of the wheel has absolutely NOTHING to do with how much rubber is actually on the road.

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Again, incorrect. A taller tire is going to have a "longer" foot print (front to back). A wider tire is going to have a bigger foot print side to side. Put both of those together and what do you got???? More rubber on the road!

Look at the NHRA cars and the size of the tires they run. Matter of fact. Watch them in slow motion and you will get an excellent idea of how a taller tire has a longer contact patch.

[email protected] said:

A taller tire is going to have a "longer" foot print (front to back). A wider tire is going to have a bigger foot print side to side. Put both of those together and what do you got???? More rubber on the road!

Look at the NHRA cars and the size of the tires they run. Matter of fact. Watch them in slow motion and you will get an excellent idea of how a taller tire has a longer contact patch.

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This is such an important aspect that so many people don't understand. Why do you think almost every serious racer at the drag strip is running 15" wheels with tons of tire. Tire flex is an amazing thing.

Right -- I get the contact patch thing.

HOWEVER, if you actually DO THE MATH on the OD of a tire on 17-inch, 18-inch, 19-inch, and 20-inch rims, you will find that the OD of the tire ends up roughly THE SAME.

Now, his original question was about RIM size, not TIRE WIDTH size. Hence, the two things have nothing to do with eachother.

I can get a 12-inch width on a 17-inch rim size, or a 20-inch rim size. The size of the rim does not matter.

i want a smoother ride so im looking for more rubber on the tires, and i cant out BIGGER TIRES on the rims i got now (20") cuz i think i will start hitting the fenders plus the OD too.
i don't have the stock 18" wheels, sold them while ago.
so my main concern is would the 19" wheels give good enough rubber on the tires to run smoother ?

ccmustang_gt said:

i want a smoother ride so im looking for more rubber on the tires, and i cant out BIGGER TIRES on the rims i got now (20") cuz i think i will start hitting the fenders plus the OD too.
i don't have the stock 18" wheels, sold them while ago.
so my main concern is would the 19" wheels give good enough rubber on the tires to run smoother ?

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Okay -- that makes sense -- you want a smoother ride than the tiny little sidewalls on the 20-inch rims will give you. You're asking about SIDEWALLS, and COMFORT -- not CONTACT PATCH and TIRE WIDTH. (Which is what I expected you were trying to say from the beginning.)

Again -- I don't think going from a 20-inch to a 19-inch will be that much of a difference. I would go for the 18-inch wheels. It's really too bad you sold your old ones! I'm not sure if your larger brakes will fit in the smaller wheels -- you will have to ask the wheel salespeople...

Honestly, I've got 17-inch wheels on mine, and I love it. It looks much more "old school muscle car" to me... I honestly don't understand why people put 20-inch rims on Mustangs -- it doesn't look right, and the ride comfort really suffers!

[email protected] said:

Couple issues...First, you're assuming the OP wants to stay with the OEM OD. At no time did he ever mention OD of the tire. OP only discussed wheel diameters. Unfortunately once you start changing tire sizes it is difficult to do so.

Secondly, wheel width which you apparently forgot about is going to dictate the width of the tire that can be installed on that wheel making the below statement completely incorrect!


Again, incorrect. A taller tire is going to have a "longer" foot print (front to back). A wider tire is going to have a bigger foot print side to side. Put both of those together and what do you got???? More rubber on the road!

Look at the NHRA cars and the size of the tires they run. Matter of fact. Watch them in slow motion and you will get an excellent idea of how a taller tire has a longer contact patch.

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I just have to respond to this and say it looks like YOU were the one who was making assumptions, and ultimately incorrect.

At no time did the OP ever say he wanted to increase his contact patch. At no time did the OP ever say he wanted to increase his tire width. At no time did the OP ever say he wanted to INCREASE his tire OD. You made several assumptions, and decided to put me in my place -- and you were completely off-base.

I understand this is an open forum for open discussion, but please keep it friendly and don't try to put people down. There was absolutely no reason to ATTEMPT to do that to me.

Freelancer said:

Right -- I get the contact patch thing.

HOWEVER, if you actually DO THE MATH on the OD of a tire on 17-inch, 18-inch, 19-inch, and 20-inch rims, you will find that the OD of the tire ends up roughly THE SAME.

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In order to do the math you need all the variables which the OP failed to provide. You need the OD of the wheel, the width of the tire and the aspect ratio and you also have failed to mention in your posts. Instead you have strictly relied on the OD of the wheel. Here are a couple quick and easy math problems related to wheels/tires:

You have an 17" wheel with a 205mm wide tire with a 50 aspect ratio. What is the OD? Would this tire be recommended for a 12" wide wheel?

You have an 18" with a 235mm wide tire with a 45 aspect ratio. What is the OD? Would this tire be recommended for a 10" wheel?

You have a 20" wheel with a 275mm wide tire and a 40 aspect ratio. What is the OD and whoud this tire be recommended for an 8.5" wheel?

Still have nothing to do with rim size?

Freelancer said:

Now, his original question was about RIM size, not TIRE WIDTH size. Hence, the two things have nothing to do with eachother.

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I can get a 12-inch width on a 17-inch rim size, or a 20-inch rim size. The size of the rim does not matter.[/quote]

And your statement regarding "It has nothing to do with rim size" is still absolutely incorrect and is now a contradiction to this current post of yours. Now you are defending yourself by saying the OP's original question is about rim size?

I think you are failing to take into consideration the width of the rim and how it impacts the OD. Hopefully my math quiz got you to see that you can not make a blanket statement that rim size does not matter.

So lets take this to the next logical step and talk about product availability in the market. Have you delt with anything other than the factory size wheel (remeber its more than just the OD)? If you have then you should know better. It starts to get pretty difficult to find tires that are 27" OD. You cant just show up to your local tire shop and say I want a 27" OD tire on a 12" wide wheel. Options become extremely limited if even available. In a perfect world every size would be available from every manufacturer in every model tire.

In the end wheel diameter, tire width, sidewall size and products available on the market all have an impact. It is not as simple as saying I want a XX" wheel.

Freelancer said:

I just have to respond to this and say it looks like YOU were the one who was making assumptions, and ultimately incorrect.

At no time did the OP ever say he wanted to increase his contact patch. At no time did the OP ever say he wanted to increase his tire width. At no time did the OP ever say he wanted to INCREASE his tire OD. You made several assumptions, and decided to put me in my place -- and you were completely off-base.

I understand this is an open forum for open discussion, but please keep it friendly and don't try to put people down. There was absolutely no reason to ATTEMPT to do that to me.

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I have made no assumptions or even posted any advise as to what the OP should do. I simply debated your answers. Furthermore, I have yet made an attempt to put you down but apparently I now have an opportunity to debate your reading comprehension skills:bigthumbsup

Freelancer said:

WOW -- you REALLY made a lot of ASSUMPITONS there, pal...

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Point to one of them. Or should I define "assume" for you?

Let me google that for you

Freelancer said:

You are so far out in left field, it isn't even funny!!!

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Thats a really nice idiom but considering it is time for the Winter Classic Ill use it as a comparison to some of the great left fielders of the day like Lou Brock, Rickey Henderson, Ted Williams and so on. In a way, thanks for the back handed compliment:bigthumbsup

Freelancer said:

Get off your high horse, and go do something else... Leave the rest of us to actually answer the OP's question... (WOW!)

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Personally, based off your prior posts in this thread, I wouldn't take your advice on what psi to run in my tires at this point but if thats the best response you could come up with sobeit...it must have been the math quiz:kooky:

Freelancer said:

WOW -- you REALLY made a lot of ASSUMPITONS there, pal...

You are so far out in left field, it isn't even funny!!!

Get off your high horse, and go do something else... Leave the rest of us to actually answer the OP's question... (WOW!)

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Calm down. The OP didn't specify that he cared about contact patch, but the fact that he's adding a procharger down the road indicates that it may be something he wished he would have thought of. That's what forums are for. Collective knowledge and problem solving. It's not some "who's right, who's wrong" deal, so get off YOUR high horse, take some breaths, and participate in the forum like a responsible adult.

Sheesh..

ccmustang_gt said:

hello guys,
i got an 06 gt with 20" chrome wheels which i hate it right now as far as the driving. i got a procharger about to be installed sometime next week so i wanna go with smaller rim more rubber tires. so far i liked the black AMR wheels from AM the most but not sure what size to get 18" or 19" ?
i still want to have the nice look of the rims so i been thinking to go 19" but would that 1" difference improve from what i have now which is 20"? or i need to go with 18" ?
i also got big brake kit 14" rotors, coil-overs all around and cervini's body kit.
what u all think ?

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With regards to your question, you need to remeber the Mustang has and old stick axle and is not ever going to ride like a Cadillac. By only dropping 1-2" in overall diameter of the wheel, depending on which tire you select, you are only potentially increasing the sidewall by half of that. More importantly is the potential to reduce weight which can reduce the amount of work on your suspension components.

Remember everything is related in one way or another and everything is a trade off. In my case, I stuck with a set of 18" wheels and have tried to stay in the 27"-28" OD range. This has limited my options and sizes available from various manufacturers expecially considering I had sent my rear wheels out to have them widened. Not every 27" tire will fit a 10.75" wheel. The tire I have found that works for traction, decent street performance, mileage, comfort, etc. is the 555R. I also have a second set of wheels with a good summer performance tire mounted to them. Maybe and idea to consider.

An easy way to shop for wheels that clear your brakes is to use Tire Rack or any other similar search engine and shop for GT500 wheels. Same bolt pattern as your GT and they will clear the big brakes.

The coil overs out back may also impact the width of the tire you can run. I do not run a set but would recommend you check to see if the "coil" protrudes into the travel path of the tire/wheel.

Now for the advanced class, since you are F/I, you may also want to consider gearing and the effect of tire's OD on RPMs and speed. There are several speed calculators on the internet that will allow you to plug in your transmission gear ratio, rear gear ratio, tire diameter and rpm and calculate speed in MPH.

Since you didn't mention traction (but did make sure to tell us you are F/I) we can dismiss tire compound, tire width, weight, affect of sidewall on traction, etc.

You see, the Devils is in the details (thats another idiom for ya!)!

[email protected] said:

Point to one of them. Or should I define "assume" for you?

Let me google that for you



Thats a really nice idiom but considering it is time for the Winter Classic Ill use it as a comparison to some of the great left fielders of the day like Lou Brock, Rickey Henderson, Ted Williams and so on. In a way, thanks for the back handed compliment:bigthumbsup



Personally, based off your prior posts in this thread, I wouldn't take your advice on what psi to run in my tires at this point but if thats the best response you could come up with sobeit...it must have been the math quiz:kooky:

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Seriously -- just stop digging the hole. You're only digging yourself deeper... (What a frikin JERK!)

Yes -- I know what an ASSumption is. I already pointed them out to you. But you seem to be too DENSE, SELF CENTERED, and HIGH AND MIGHTY to comprehend what you did wrong.

You continue to take my statements out of context, and bend them to make your attacks appear logical. You made a bunch of ASSumptions about my statements and the OP's statement, and are 100% sure you are right. THAT is what you are doing wrong. Just stop.

Just back off and let's answer the OP's question. There was NO NEED to attack me in the first place, and there is NO NEED to continue attacking me. Just stop. (FRIKIN' BULLY!)

s197inthe208 said:

Calm down. The OP didn't specify that he cared about contact patch, but the fact that he's adding a procharger down the road indicates that it may be something he wished he would have thought of. That's what forums are for. Collective knowledge and problem solving.

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Right -- if you go back and read the thread, I AM THE ONE WHO THOUGHT OF ASKING HIM THAT QUESTION.

Then "Mr. High Horse" (BACK AT IT AGAIN -- GREAT NAME FOR HIM) decides to start the personal attacks. Now you seem to be joining in. WTF?

s197inthe208 said:

It's not some "who's right, who's wrong" deal, so get off YOUR high horse, take some breaths, and participate in the forum like a responsible adult.

Sheesh..

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Stop attacking me, and I'll calm down. It's that easy.

As for being a responsible adult -- I am. "MR. High Horse" (Back At It Again) is the one slinging the mud with name calling and acting childish. Back At It Again is the one who has a strange need to prove ME wrong -- so yes, this seems to be about "who's right, and who's wrong". Please go back and read the thread again, and aim your patronization at Back At It Again.

And now YOU enter the fray -- attacking me. What did I do? Honestly? How is this flame war MY fault? Read the thread again, from the beginning, and take emotion out of it. Who attacked first? Who continued the attacks? Who has tried to be genuinly helpful, and who is just picking a fight?

Freelancer said:

Read the thread again, from the beginning, and take emotion out of it. Who attacked first? Who continued the attacks? Who has tried to be genuinly helpful, and who is just picking a fight?

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Please perform a search on this very thread -- search for the word PLEASE. See who used that word, and who didn't.

Who is the ADULT in this group, and who is not?