The mustang is already a rough ride, I don't want to lower the car for the 17", so a little more wheel to compensate.

 

A little more rim and less tire will make it ride rougher.

 

Noticeably? I can't imagine the little less tire being equivalent to a lowered car with even stiffer suspension.

 

Hey guys, I would strongly recommend a 19" setup on a stang with a 40MM tire wall size. I believe that the 19" is the perfect compromise between looking nice, preforming nice, and riding nice. Plus with the 19" you may not need to lower your car since the 19" with xxx/40/r19 tires fill up the wheel well quite well. I run it on my car and I love it.

 

If you choose the right dampers, the ride can be better than stock when lowered. I have Tokico adjustables with FRPP springs (1 1/2" drop) and ride is great. Two cross countries with the car and my wife and I are in our late 60s. My 17s allow me to use a 50 series tire 255/50x17.

 

I can't say if it's equivalent to a lowered car, but it's noticeable. Now if you went from 17's to 20's, then yes, i'd say that's equivalent. I've never ridden in a car with 20's, but I went from a 225/70/15 to a 235/45/17 on a lowered ford ranger and then back to the stock size a few years later and that **** was quite noticeable. I imagine going from 17's to 20's would be the same. People that say the ride isn't bad don't remember what it used to be like.

If I ever buy a new mustang, i'll be selling the 19's and going down to 18's or 17's, assuming the brakes will fit. i'm am not a fan of this push for larger rims.

 

I ended up going with 18" Chrome Bullet wheels. They look great!!!

 

my car came with 17s, changed a couple yrs ago to 18 torq-thrustMs, just changed again to 17 torq-thrustIIs. had intended to go 17x9 tt-Ms again, but AR redesigned the wheels- flat faced now, they adjust the offset by just thickening/thinning the inner/center hub- tried/returned three sets in various offsets, all looked identical to stock...only the II was available with a deep face and (almost) 'close enough' offset


Nitto makes some meaty 255 and 275 50-17 tires, the 275 is like .8 larger diameter than stock. the stock tires and the 18s I ran were all 27.1 diameter, now the fronts are 27.1, rears 27.9

the 17x9 torq-thrustII isnt available in the 5.94 backspace, 5.5 was closest they offered- with 255s on front, clearance is good, but on the rears they will just barely rub sidewall on quarter lip- bottomed out on a bad rr crossing yesterday and heard the rub- no damage, barely left a mark on the tire, but its definitely too tight and I dont want to tear up the paint/car...
I'm gonna pull my bumpstops and put a spacer underneath to prevent bottoming/rubbing, not ideal, but like the look of the full wheelwells concentric to the tires- and cant lower it with the roads around here anyways...

The ride on stock suspension with 17 vs 18 vs 17 with even taller rubber?
my car feels like a cadillac now. stock was nice, just firm, 18s felt like my 85 camaro- relatively a skateboard ride on rough roads, but very crisp steering- now it rides a little softer than stock, still firm but not bad at all- heading cross country in a few weeks the 275s are definitely soft- i you zigzag the steering, you can sure feel the difference of a additional .9" of sidewall over the 18s, but its not a bad thing in my opinion, the thing can be more progressively throttle oversteered with a less sudden reaction compared to the stiff 18s- they tended to step out very abruptly if they broke loose...

if I had to do over, think I'd stay 255 all around, just so no rub worries + rotatability...