And to add to that... my 04 GT 5 spd vert did NOT come with ABS either.

Remember... never say never, or vice versa, never say always.

 

FlamingoGT, do you have a traction control button??? If so you have ABS, because the TC wouldnt work without ABS. If you dont, which ive seen a lot of 40th anniversary cars dont, then you might not. But if you have traction control, you will ALWAYS have ABS...yea, i said the "A" word...lol but OP, staggered sizes usually refers to the width. But in your situation, make sure that if you go with say 17's front and 18's rear, that you match up the tire heights as close as possible. Im going with 18x9/10.5 on mine with Toyo R888's for summer/auto-x tires in 275-35-18's for the front and 315-30-18's for the rear. Ive heard good things about the nitto nt555RII's for spirited street/track driving as well and would probably fit your needs well, and so would NT01's. But definitely go for some 18" wheels for your track tires. Smaller sidewalls usually mean less give for better handling...so in your case, 17's in the front and 18's in the rear might not be the best idea. Steeda also has some real light weight wheels you might want to look into.

 

well sh*t, flip me over and F**k me sideways......i thought all stangs came standard with abs (94-**) years anyways. didn't know for sure if the gts models did or not clearly they didn't. as for every other model thought they did. oh well i live to f**k up another day lol

 

lol... The reason you can say 'always' there is that ABS is part of the TC package.
And no, I do not have TC, nor do I have ABS... which has been verified with a Ford service department. I drove at least 1 mechanic and the service manager batty with this issue several years ago, which I detailed in another post awhile back.
I think the OP might have been referring to a drag- or funny- car look where the front wheels are noticeably smaller in both width and height... which is fine for going straight as long as you don't have ABS, but if you are doing any driving requiring turns I wouldn't do it.

 

Well from the OP's posts over the past couple of weeks, he is making a road racing car out of his 98 GT convertible. So staggered wheel sizes arent recommended. 18" diameter wheels are preferred for handling over 17" wheels due to the smaller sidewall with less chances to give. And 18" wheels look better anyways. But i have no idea why the hell mostly all the 40th anniversary cars that i've seen dont have ABS or traction control. lol its retarded!!!

 

First of all, Someone needs to tell me what the hell "OP" means. It's driving me crazy because I can't figure it out.

I asked about a 1" diameter difference for asthetic reasons. I am building a track car, so if the performance handling is hampered, like I said I wont do it. Right now I have 245/40zr18's on all four corners, but I'm in the market for new wheels and tires.
Hence, my question.
Thanks

 

OP=Original Poster

18" wheels will promote better handling due to shorter/stiffer sidewalls on the tires. Lower profile means that the sidewall is going to give less. My friend has the staggered look on his 98 GT and i think it looks stupid. Just my opinion but for handling and aesthetic reasons, go for 18's all around.

 

OP (he he he )

For a track car, it is certainly preferable to run not only a lower profile tire, but even a slightly narrow tire for a wheel. That is to say, a 245~255 on a 9" wheel and maybe a 265 on a 10" wheel. This will stiffen up the sidewalls due to the slight stretch they need to fit the wheel. This is a very common thing on Porsches and higher end performance BMW's and such. This can make the wheels a bit vulnerable to curb rash, so need to be pretty careful around such things. It will also tend to make more NVH due to taught sidewalls.

Jazzer

 

This is why im running properly sized tires for my wheels. I dont wanna look like im driving a VW Golf running that narrow of a tire. I'll keep my 275/315 setup im going for. I have 265's on the front 18x9 wheels and they stretch for those...id hate to see that size on a 10" wide wheel!!!

 

ok.....

I've decided that I'm gonna go with black 18" cobra r's on all four corners. 9's in the front and 10's out back. Still undecided on the tires.

Jazzer, what do you think of the cobra r's as far is weight is concerned for the track?

Also, I had to take my car out today. We had a fresh snow storm last night, so at the end of the driveway I locked up the brakes by accident. I do have ABS. So, that settles that question.