Monkeyleg

I've decided to replace the 17" stock painted alloy wheels on my 2007 GT with something fancier.

I've looked at literally hundreds of wheels, but I keep coming back to the American Muscle 18x9 chrome deep dish Bullitt wheels. The design and the deep dish configuration look retro to me. Other wheels just don't do anything.

I've read a few comments here about their quality, though, and have to wonder what kind of wheel you can get for $175 or so. Comments?

Even though my factory Pirelli 235/55/17 tires have just 8500 miles on them, I'll need to go to 18. I've been looking at the BF Goodrich G-Force T/A KDW's, and the G-Force Super Sport A/S. Tire Rack gives them both good ratings, and the price is reasonable.

I'll keep my beater '91 Saturn for bad weather, so is there any downside to the two tires I'm looking at?

Here's a Photo-chopped version of what my car would look like with the American Muscle wheels. The scoops were on the car when I bought it, but I had to create them in Photoshop (the car's in storage and I don't have a photo of it. I had to find a photo of a gray car with the wheels, change the color and add "home-made" scoops).



Comments much appreciated.

2007GT/CS

Those wheels look nice on that car (good 'photo chopping' skillz too).

If have BFG KDW for my summer shoes and kept the stock KDWS for the winter. The KDW are great tires for warm weather and handle really well wet or dry.

Monkeyleg

Thanks for the reply, 2007GT/CS. If you don't mind my asking, how aggressive are you with your driving? I'm just wondering how the KDW's hold up in the corners.

Poco

You can't beat Redfire and chrome. Since you have a daily/cold weather driver the KDW's rally provide great traction in warm weather. The Nitto 555's aren't bad either.

2007GT/CS

When I was out at Mid Ohio last year, two separate instructors both commented on how well the tires worked for "just street tires". Might not be the best street tire for autocrossing but for open track I think I made the right choice. I'll most likely buy these again when this set dies.

Best advice I could give you if you are interested in turning is don't get greedy with the tire size vs. the rim width. Don't want those things squirming around on the rim when you push them hard.

Sleeper_08

I'm running 285/40/18 KDW2s all round and am impressed with them on the track. There was some outside front scuffing on one corner but this was a long sweeper that loaded up the left front. I'm going to go to - 1.5. negative camber to see if this improves the situation.

After about 15 hours of track use they were good enough to use again this year but I am going to swap them from left you right to even up the wear.

They are also good on the wet which is important for a DD.

Nuke

To the OP, is the STang your DD? I see you're in Indiana and if you have ANY intentions of driving in snow, then I suggest you keep your stock wheels and mount some dedicated winter tires. Our Stangs absolutely suck in snow with the factory A/S's and are worse with high performance summer tires.

Argonaut

Regarding the wheels - I have a set of those AM deep dish, 18x9. Mine are the black instead of chrome. They are a good street rim. They look good, they are cheap and they have held up just fine. The drawback is they are heavy. I'm not certain of the backspacing on my set but the spokes are very, very close to the caliper, we are talking a couple mm here. I was worried about this at first but I have done about 20 autocross runs with them (before I got a dedicated set of track rims) and didn't have any issues with rubbing, so that tells me they are pretty stiff. The gloss black paint on mine has a few minor chips, I have to be real careful not to hit them with a socket when putting on and off the car (don't know how the chrome would hold up in this regard). For the price, I'd buy them again. But, if I was looking for one set of rims for use on the street, AX and track...I'd get something lighter weight.

I have the KDWs on the front of my Vette, they seem fine to me but clearly not the grippiest tire I've been on. All depends on your priority for wear vs grip. For the most part the stickier the tire the worse they wear. For street use and occasional hard cornering they are probably a good choice. For a stickier street/track combo tire I prefer the Falken RT-615 or the Nitto 555RII

Monkeyleg

Thanks for the replies. We'll be moving to Alabama, Arkansas or Tennessee next year. For now the Mustang goes into storage before the snow and will stay there until the weather is warmer. Probably mid to late April. That's what the '91 Saturn is for.

It sounds like the KDW's are a good tire for what I want to be doing (DD plus a bit more aggressive driving for fun).

I still wonder about the American Muscle deep dish chrome wheels. They're a sponsor here, so it seems to be difficult to get opinions. On other Mustang forums opinions run about 50-50, with half reporting problems and the other half really liking them. I just wonder what kind of wheel you can buy for $180 or so apiece.

Poco

Check out this link for wheel prices.You may not find whet your looking for but you might get a better idea about the price range.
http://www.discounttiredirect.com/di...?v=012225|2008