+1 On the light weight set of wheels. I save over 15 pounds per wheel with my track set up (Enkei rims and Nitto NT01) over the stock 18" setup. The difference in acceleration is very noticeable after switching over.

 

Red06,

Which wheels do you have and what size?

I'm planning to move from the OE 18x8.5 to 18x9.5 wheels and am struggling with balancing weight and cost. My current favorite is the TR Motorsport MT1 on TireRack. It's listed at 19 lbs. and $300. It's got the same offset as the GT500 wheels, so I'm assuming (uh oh) that it would work on all for corners.

 

I run the Steeda Ultra-Lite 18 x 9.5 x 45 mm offset wheels with 285/40/18 tires on all 4 corners. No rubbing until the car was lowered and then only slightly on full lock when parking. Unfortunately they are a little heavier than 19 lb each

They were purchased partly because they clear the GT500 Brembo front brakes.

 

I've wondered about those TR Motorsport wheels. They seem REALLY light and REALLY cheap. I'd love to see some on the mustang.

and yes...ANYTHING that helps high-rpm pull over these anemic stock camshafts....

 

The Steeda wheels are my fallback plan. They certainly don't save on weight, but they don't really add any either, considering that I'm coming from the OE wheel. They're cheap too.

 

The Steeda wheels are also strong. Last season I dropped a wheel off a curb into a rut and coming back on hit pretty hard. The wheel was bent but it did not break.

 

Sorry for the delay, I was at the track.

I have the Enkei RS+M 18x8.5. They were $260 each when I purchased them in '07 and they are listed as 18 pounds each. I liked the price to weight ratio, the net open area (for cooling) and the 35mm offset widens the cars stance (with no clearance issues).

If I had it to do again I'd go wider. I'm running Nitto NT01s at 245/40-18. I'd like to move to a wider tire but the next jump up is 275 in the Nittos which definitely wouldn't work on these rims.

These are definitely tough rims. I have around 25 track days on them. When I got my current set mounted, my buddy circled a number of bends in the lip of the rims that he noticed when balancing them. I guess from bouncing off of the curbs in the esses at Waterford or maybe from the two wheel off excursions that happen occasionally...

Hope this helps.

 

what's your opinion of the NT 01 s ??

 

I like them. They have excellent grip and don't squeal in the corners. Non-directional, you can rotate them to all four corners to equalize wear. I flipped my last set on the rims to get a bit more wear out of them. They are a big step up from the Yokohama Advan Neovas I was running previously.

However, this set seem to be wearing faster and get a bit greasy at the end of a 20 - 30 minute session. I have upgraded to racing brakes since my last set of Nittos (Cobalt Friction XR02 (F)/XR04 (R)) so the higher braking forces will be adding to the wear and heat build up. Due to only having 8.5" rims, I can't move up to the 275 width and they don't make a 255 in an 18" tire (I'm running the 245's now). I may just be over driving them so I've been trying to work on my "heat management" during the later portions of my track sessions.

 

Regarding Rims - I used a set of 5Zigen Rims: FN01R 17x9 w/35mm offset (they come in 18" also). Tires were - Falken RT-615 255s for the first 6 events and then NT-01s for the next 7 events, all with Hawk HT-10 pads. For me the rims worked great - they are very light and fairly inexpensive. They have plenty of open area for cooling and plenty of caliper clearance. I sold them to "danbevsv6rumbler" - from the feedback he gave me it sounded like he likes them also. Here is a pick of them with 275 NT01s on: