WTF are you doing here? I promise you, there is nothing you can teach Mitch about these cars. Your opinion has also been overrided by the 99% of us that LOVE what he and his wife have done to that car.

 

Thank you BleedinBlue!!! I'm not too worried about vistablue dude. I've been in this game too long to try and explain reasoning with idiots.

For everyone else....the reason for the different sidewall height is this.

Plug72 (Tammy, my wife) has taken after "me" in a few respects when it comes to hot rods. SHE LOVES drag racing! She's not interested in road racing or auto x. She might do it once, just to do it....but her heart is at the drag strip.

However, her driving style is more cohesive with a "road race style" suspension setup, wheel sizes, tires and tire size. She DEFINITELY wanted the BFG G-Force T/A KDW2's because of the AWESOME tread pattern.

Sooooooooo, to give her the tire width that she was determined to have and still be somewhat within budget. I decided on the 18" wheels, 18x9 front and 18x10 rear.
The tires are 255/35/18 front and 295/35/18 rear. It kept the same overall tire diameter as her car had stock.

Now to the sidewall difference. Tammy wouldn't be running slicks for awhile so with the taller sidewall on the rears, I get a little more sidewall for her to shock as she becomes more comfortable with launches and rpm control.

I know it's not much of a "race" tire but in the big picture, it was my best option and it works well as she learns. Plus.....once her car is lowered, it won't be as obvious. "I, personally", think her car looks AMAZING and it is extremely rewarding to see someone as excited as she is about her car.

I did TONS of research before final decision and i feel very comfortable and happy with my decision. Just know this.....I've usually got a reason for the things I do. I've built quite a few cars and there will always be a purpose. Haha

Thanks for me letting me ramble! LOL

Mitch

 

Here's the thing.... I doesn't even come close to keeping the same overall tire diameter.

I hope you tuned it, because as is the speedo would be off by a pretty good bit, and I'd hate to see someone get a ticket because of incorrect tire choice.

In regards to the sidewall difference, she'd have more sidewall if you just had a tire that was the proper diameter that this car is created around having.

I'm running a 255/35R20 and a 295/30R20. My front and rear have the equivalent amount of sidewall as your fronts but on a much larger 20" wheel, and they still maintain the proper overall tire diameter of at least 27.0" My speedo is still dead on, as the tires maintain the stock wheel diameter.

I'm not talking crap about your car nor hers. I respect what's done. However, the tires are too small for the wheel size.

The car should have a 255/45R18 up front and a 295/40R18 out back for them to have the same rolling diameter as stock. Thus it does not have the same diameter.

When the speedo reads 60, the car will actually be going at least 65. It's about 8% off.

Plus with the incorrect tires, as you lower it, it'll be even closer to the ground making things like speedbumps and road imperfections just that much harder to deal with.

Again I state, this post has ZERO malice, I'm just trying to help someone that chose tires that would be closer to being the proper size on a New Edge/SN95 Mustang, and would still be too short.

 

First of all just wanted to say I seriously hope when I get older (I'm only 20) that I find a girl that likes cars as much as your wife. I think that's awesome that she's into cars this much! Most girls just go for the stock car and leave it at that. Just awesome. Also, I love what has been done to the car! The color combos is on point, and the wheels match perfect!

Now, I've held back saying this since I saw this thread because I didn't know if it was just me or what. But those tires! I've read your reasonings for this and I think everyone is missing each other's point. Danielle's post with the bolded text explains it pretty well but I'm gonna dig deeper and explain why the tires aren't fat enough. I'm gonna take the safety approach less than the "looks" approach because the car does still look great.

Here is a picture from a previous post I saw a while back with the stock 18 inch wheels on. The amount of rubber you see is exactly the same amount of rubber you should have on the new 18's. Look at the wheel gap from the top of the rubber to where the fender starts....



... Not the case in this photo (below). Basically the same shot, just zoomed out a little bit. You've got about a good 1-1/2 inches more wheel gap than you should that would be filled with the correct tire size on the new 18's. (This gap I'm talking about goes both ways, vertical and horizontal.) I know it's not the correct at least in the front because the gap is bigger in the front than it is in the back. Yes you have a fatter tire back there, but the gap in the front of that monster with a big V8 should be a lot smaller.

Now let's look at this side profile shot. Look at the rubber thickness. My friend has 20" wheels on his mustang and has more rubber than shown here. 18" wheels have a pretty decent amount of rubber. 19" wheels have less than 18", and 20" wheels have a little less than 19's and much less than 18's. If you looked at just the rubber here, it's less than the thickness on a normal set of 20's. One thing's for sure, she won't scrub when the wheel is cocked all the way left or right!



I'm glad you included this photoshop of what it would look like lowered. Sick btw! I'm not sure of the springs you have for this car, (I asked in a previous thread and never got an answer), but we are going to use Eibach Sportlines as an example. Just because I have them and I know them all too well. First, let's speak in terms of gap. With sportlines you're going to lose anywhere from 1.5-2 inches of actual gap. Sportlines are considered a more aggressive drop compared to the pro-kit and other springs on the market. Again, gap im talking about = the space between the top of the rubber to where the fender starts. On my car with 19" wheels, there's hardly a gap. I can fit 1 finger snug in between the gap up front and back. Because of the tire size you have on the 18's, she's still going to have a BIG gap than she normally would with the 'correct' 18" rubber size. To achieve the look you have in the photo above, she will need springs with at least a 3-3.5 inch drop. No spring set on the market has that sort of drop. She needs bags to achieve this (below)....and if she had the thicker rubber on, they would be tucked under the fender. Again this is hypothetically speaking.



(The white lines in this photo simulate where the rubber should extend to on an 18" wheel. Give or take a 1/8 of an inch.)


This is what it would look like if you hypothetically put on sportlines. You're back to a little less than stock gap. And this is because of the rubber size. If you had more rubber, that gap would then look like it does pictured in your photoshop.



Alright. Now time for the safety aspect of the ride height (not gap). By ride height I'm describing the "lowwwwwwww" of the car. The distance from the side skirts and front end to the ground. If the rubber you got on these 18's was proper, you would have a safe ride height with a 1.5-2" drop. The ride height in the photoshop you have is what us youngin's like to call, SLAMMED. Sure it looks good, but she's gonna have a hell of a time driving around town regardless of where you live. That's some serious low. I'm drooling over here at that picture. But because of your choice in rubber (I'm trying to refrain from telling you it's wrong. It's not wrong, it's just not proper? Idk?), that's an unsafe ride height just to get that look. And unfortunately you won't achieve that look without bags. Where as if you had the proper rubber size, you can lose the gap and still have the safer ride height.

I hope I didn't completely lose you anywhere in that. I tried to use the right words for less confusion. All in all, we aren't trying to bash the car by any means. It's a beautiful car! It just looks odd with the rubber you got on there. We aren't trying to say "if she wants to race she needs this blah blah blah" This car is clearly a show car, so looks is what it's all about and not necessarily the performance of what the rubber will provide you. Therefore the look is a little off. And none of us are telling you to go out and buy the proper rubber. We are just voicing our opinions (not cluttering the thread) on the idea that it looks odd. That's what these forums are for aren't they? And chances are if majority of the responses are pointing at the rubber........ there must be something off about it.

 

bigD. Thank you for the response and your candor. I know the car won't look like the PS pic but in "Tammy's" eyes, it will be lower. The sizing is all on me, I did the research and tried to satisfy the "looks" factor, Tammy was looking for. I'm really kinda happy that even when the new springs are installed (1.5" drop), I won't have to worry as much about her ripping the front end off the car.

Again, I really appreciate your response and I understand logic, respect and courtesy rather than BS (trying to be witty) ramblings or how the looks are just ruined because of these tires. I think I'll stick to bigs/littles and drag suspension....that's more up my alley! LOL

 

I hear ya! You got some BEEEEFFFYYYYYYY tires! You guys enjoy the rides. That's one cool car relationship you guys got!

 

Even though 255/45/18's up front and 285/40/18's (or 295/40/18's) out back would have kept the overall diameter closer to the stock, you're not hurting anything (as I'm sure you already know). Do your thing and enjoy!

Car is looking great, and lowering is going to set it off.

 

that looks really good man.

 

Thanks guys!!!

 

I agree with everyone else. A taller tire would have made it work out much better. 05mustang stated the proper heights to have the same overall diameter as stock wheels