akiba17

Looks very mean sir

candymanjl

I know what you're saying with the roads and the ride quality. I'm in south florida and for the most part the roads are great and my last car was slammed and it wasn't a problem. but whenever I traveled and I was on roads that weren't as good it was pretty annoying, annoying enough that if I lived there I would go as aggressive with the ride height.

if you do drop it just get the rear upper and lower control arms in the adjustable versions instead of the fixed stock replacement versions. that's what I'm planning on getting, BMR make some that look really nice but I'm sure there's others too. that way when you drop the car you can fix the pinion angle and not have any problems.

I'm probably going to get all those rear end parts first, then drop the car. that way I can kill the wheel hop and tighten up the rear and be ready to fix the pinion angle when the car gets lowered.

Riptide

Thanks for the suggestions. I already have non adjustable LCA and would probably keep them - but replace the third link with an adjustable. That way I have a single point for adjusting the pinion angle if necessary. I would also probably get an adjustable panhard bar and replace the brace as well at the same time.

The Roush rears are kind of attractive to me because it's a mild enough drop that I hopefully wouldn't need to do any of the above but it would even out the gap between the front and the rear which would IMO be nice. I know some here would disagree but IMO the gap on the front isn't bad enough to bother me or looks bad. I'm not real crazy about the extra (1/2"?) gap in the rear though.

Back on topic these RPF1 are obviously a higher quality piece than the Bullitts were. To be completely honest I think I slightly prefer the look of the Bullitts. But they were pretty much junk compared to these new ones. I don't regret my decision now that I have them on the car and things seem to have worked out OK.

candymanjl

just getting the rear adjustable UCA should work, I don't see why it wouldn't.

I agree the rear is the super high part. I personally like the raked look so I'll probably end up dropping the front so there's only a 1/4" or 1/2" of gap and have the rear set so it's about 1/4" more gap than the front.

dropping it even looks good too. the only thing when you drop it even is if you have extra people in the car the rear will end up lower than the front which looks goofy to me.

dkegel

Looks good!

I apologize if I missed this, but what are the specs on these wheels (size, offset, and weight)? Do you have a link to where you orderd them from?

Thanks,

Dave

Riptide

18x9.5
45mm offset
5x114 bolt pattern
18.6 lbs

Bought them from goodwin racing. Not exactly sure now but I think it was $260-280 each. Centercaps are $106 shipped.

ccwebb

Riptide,
Thanks for the pics. The wheels look amazing.
Apologies if I missed this info earlier in the thread but if these wheels are not hubcentric, did you have to get sleeves to address this? If so what thickness? Thanks!

Riptide

I never used any hub centering rings. What I did was take my time and tighten down the lugs in the star pattern and in stages. Finger tight first, then the 1/2" ratchet until snug, then the torque wrench to 60 ft. lbs, then drop the car and finish out to 100 ft lbs.

So far so good. No vibes at highway speeds or any other obvious issues.

ccwebb

Great thanks for the info. These wheels look great on the S197 and the weight-to-dollar ratio is unbeatable.

Riptide

Yep 18lb. on an 18x9.5 is gonna be a tough one to beat.

Remember to check the torque on your lugs a couple hundred miles after you first put the wheels on. With aluminum wheels it's a good idea.