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Widest 19" front wheels and tires?

Old 07-07-2013, 07:43 AM
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M3hunter
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Question Widest 19" front wheels and tires?

Which is the widest 19" wheels and tires that we can fit in front without any rubbing?
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Old 07-10-2013, 07:53 PM
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F1Fan
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Originally Posted by M3hunter
Which is the widest 19" wheels and tires that we can fit in front without any rubbing?
On my 2005 GT the widest tires that fit were 275s on a 10" wide wheel but only on a wheel with perfect offset.

HTH!
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Old 07-10-2013, 08:13 PM
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tigercrazy718
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from me researching the past 2 days i think 275 with the right offset is correct. what is your offset?
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Old 07-10-2013, 11:41 PM
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Originally Posted by tigercrazy718
from me researching the past 2 days i think 275 with the right offset is correct. what is your offset?
45mm offset but that is the outer limits of what fits on a car with stock style struts. For coilovers you can pull the wheels in a few more millimeters and get better fender clearance.

HTH!
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Old 07-11-2013, 08:35 AM
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tigercrazy718
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Originally Posted by F1Fan
45mm offset but that is the outer limits of what fits on a car with stock style struts. For coilovers you can pull the wheels in a few more millimeters and get better fender clearance.

HTH!
sorry meant to ask the OP
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Old 07-11-2013, 10:33 AM
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Norm Peterson
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Originally Posted by F1Fan
On my 2005 GT the widest tires that fit were 275s on a 10" wide wheel but only on a wheel with perfect offset.

HTH!
Hi, Chip. Long time, no read

Terry Fair at Vorshlag has some notes on the 18 x 10 wheels that he sells. Don't quote me on it, but I think the offsets are about +43.

We have tested with 265/40/18, 275/40/18, and 295/35/18 tires (nearly matching the stock tire height for proper speedometer calibraiton) on a 2.5" lowered car with no issues.
While it isn't 19's, it seems like an OK guideline as long as you hold the outer diameter of your 19" tires to about the same diameters as above. (Roughly, take 5 points off the tire profile number when you go up an inch on wheel diameter, so 265/35-19, 275/35-19, and 295/30-19).


The rest of it goes
We have had customers run 295/40/18 Hoosiers as well. "Some fender rolling may be required, depending on tire sizes used." - just to be safe.
Same correction as above for 19's.


Norm
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Old 07-11-2013, 11:21 AM
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Norm!

I've been driving and playing with my project M3 for the last couple years. My son was hit by a trash truck so I gave him the M3 to drive until we found a new POS for him to drive to school. In the mean time I needed to drive the Mustang and remembered how amazing it is. Brutal, quick, fast, loud, big, oddly soft riding, everything my E36 M3 is not! Not all forward motion has been lost on the Mustang though as I recently had replaced the Saleen PJ Watt's link which I liked a lot with (no surprise) Steeda's adjustable Watt's link. No big changes in handling but I wanted to actually center the rear axle with the front axle centerline, be able to optimize the linkage geometry and most importantly set rear roll center height to minimize the rear bar size and still have the chassis rotate properly. I'm also going to go back to 18" wheels and tires when the tires on the Saleen PJ wheels are worn. I think the S197 chassis is better with the 18"s in terms of ride and handling balance.

As part of my project M3 I totally rebuilt the suspension (there are more bushings and ball joints in the M3 suspension than there are moving parts in a 4.6l 3-valve engine!) brakes etc. I rebuilt and installed a set of T.C. Kline Racing double adjustable coilovers. Unfortunately the Koni Race D/A based TCKR coilovers reminded me just how good a Koni Race damper can be. So I'm feeling like I have to fabricate a set of struts to accept a set of Koni Race dampers so I can get more spring rate than my current Steeda coilovers (Steeda's coilover dampers are marginal with 350# springs) can handle and get Goldilocks level damping for the Mustang. I suppose I could order a set from Ground Control possibly saving some money and head scratching but where is the fun in that? Anywho...

OP sorry for thread high-jacking.


Cheers/Chip


Originally Posted by Norm Peterson
Hi, Chip. Long time, no read

Terry Fair at Vorshlag has some notes on the 18 x 10 wheels that he sells. Don't quote me on it, but I think the offsets are about +43.


While it isn't 19's, it seems like an OK guideline as long as you hold the outer diameter of your 19" tires to about the same diameters as above. (Roughly, take 5 points off the tire profile number when you go up an inch on wheel diameter, so 265/35-19, 275/35-19, and 295/30-19).


The rest of it goes

Same correction as above for 19's.


Norm
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Old 07-11-2013, 11:50 AM
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ffk_pennywise
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I run 275/19's on a 9" Saleen Heritage wheel. Never rubbed.
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Old 07-11-2013, 12:20 PM
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Originally Posted by ffk_pennywise
I run 275/19's on a 9" Saleen Heritage wheel. Never rubbed.
On a 9" wide wheel a 275 is much too wide to get good steering response. For a 9" wheel in front a 255 is the max I would recommend and a 235 or 245 is a better choice if steering feel and response is important. You may get slightly more grip with a 275 but in my experience I would not give up any amount of steering feel and precision if possible. Of course braking is better with the wider front tires but if performance is important to you a 10" wide wheel in front should be your goal to start with.

The stock S197 chassis steering feel and precision is not very good to start with and even on well suspended cars with upgraded bushings the steering is not very communicative. The only way to improve S197 chassis steering feel is to replace the control arm bushings with poly on both ends and install a non-isolated racing style camber plate from Ground Control or Vorshlag. Of course you will also get a lot more noise and road hash which is the trade off you have to make. For a DD this may not be the best thing to do though for the hard core it is a huge improvement.

Cheers/Chip
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Old 07-11-2013, 12:57 PM
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Its my daily driver. 275's for looks. Handles just fine.

Thanks.
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