CheesyBeef

Hi, I am wanting to put some new rims on my 94 yellow mustang gt. When I went into Les Schwab today, they turned down many of the rims I wanted because they were labeled "FD" when they suggested "MD" They said this meant the offset would be way off and the wheels would be sunk in.

How much does offset matter? I really like some of the rims I saw, but their catalog has very few rims labeled FD under their picture.

I like the Enkei EM5 bronze, the AMP ONE, the TSW Volcano, and don't mind the TDR Type 29.

Could someone please give me insight on what I should go for or how the offset on those rims would look on my car?

Edit - I would like to purchase them at a local store (ie. Les Schwab or Discount Tire) rather than online.

Thank you

Jazzer The Cat

Off-set really comes into play when you are going wide. What size are your wheels now and what size do you want?

An easier way to deal with this is back-spacing. Go ***HERE*** for some good info on this and how to measure. If you are staying stock width, you can have a wide variance in off-set/back-space and will still fit your car. The difference will be in how close the wheel/tire sits to the side of car or if it is recessed into the well. I saw about 10,000 different wheels on that pdf, so you are going to have to link me directly to the specific wheel.

Keep in mind, you can go alot wider than stock wheels. I am currently running 9's up front and 10.5's out back. Soon to be 10's up front and 11's out back due to unique suspension I run that makes this possible. You have alot of options, so learn the measurments and check the wheels you like. You may also run into some resistance with the stores you mentioned as the size wheel you want maynot be approvedby manufacturer for your car and hence will be seen as a liability by some companies. This is one reason so many have purchased aftermarket wheels over the net. I have......... twice

Jazzer

CheesyBeef

Thank you for your quick response!

I am looking to keep the same wheel size to go with my 225/55r/16 tires. So they are 16" stock rims currently and I am looking for some jazzier 16" aftermarket rims.

Here are some various sites that have pictures of the rims I mentioned above. I am sorry, I should have thought harder before showing you that huge brochure and just giving you names.

In order of preference:

The Enkei EM5 bronze

The Amp ONE (page 4, top left)

The TSW Volcano

Sorry, I can't find pictures on the Amp, but that is the page it is on in the brochure

Thank you

Jazzer The Cat

Hey Cheesy

Your first link to The Enkei is for 17' wheels, so think this is the wrong link and year of car would help as well. With that said, if you are going stock width than anywhere from 35mm~45mm off-set is not going to be a problem. 26mm = 1' and you will have at least 1' room to go either way in well (inward/outward).

Again, best way to understand how it will fit into your wheel well is to check the back-space. Remove one front and one rear wheel from your car. They will most likey be identical, but don't know year or wheels you currently have. Measure the back-space of each and make note if they differ. You may even find an off-set marking on a spoke or hub inside so look there as well. Then contact a seller who has the wheels you want and ask them what the back-space of thier wheel is and do the math.

Example: If you have a 4.75' back-space and the wheel you want has a 4.5' back-space, that wheel will sit 1/4' farther outward on your car moving the wheel toward the outside of your car. That will work easlily with up to 1/2' either direction (and probably alot more). The difference will be how it 'looks' on your car and that is important.

Contact the seller and ask after you know what you have. They will usually have a fitment guide that can help. In your case, do both.

The Jazzer wishes you luck in your search

CheesyBeef

Thank you again, Jazzer.

It is a 1994 yellow mustang gt coupe. I am pretty sure the stock offset is about 25mm, but I never thought about converting the difference into inches! lol. Unfortunately, I did give you a wrong link to those Em5's because they do come in 16" also. Looking elsewhere, I found they have a 38mm offset, so that is only .5" difference. From looking at the stock car with my naked eye, the wheels look sunk in a fair amount, I'm guessing this is because Ford expected people to put big 9-10" width wheels on it. Both my wheels are the stock 16"x7".

I will see what I can do with the backspace, I have not taken the wheels off my self before .

The main thing is, since I'm not an expert, I don't want somebody who is an expert thinking "oh what a noob, his wheel offset is way off" I don't know if they would think that or not.

Just for kicks, I took two pictures of the car to show you both what the front and the back look like in terms of offset. I know you've seen and know a heck of a lot more about rims looking good or bad than me. So any straight up advice on what it would look like.. you're free to say so!

Thank you,
Cheesy

[IMG]local://upfiles/99627/5877D1420F79464394D4527AEA742DC0.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]local://upfiles/99627/B306C10828D14E75AB24AE4DDC62A42D.jpg[/IMG]

Jazzer The Cat

First off......*DOH* on me for asking your year and was above all along [8D]

Don't worry about being a noob, that is what this forum is mostly about. There are several sites that deal more with tech people, and have found arrogance runs-a-plenty in most cases, so I hang out here

You are running the first year of the SN95 Stang '94~'98, the'New Edge' is '99~'04 and S197 is '05+~?. Ok, you have LOTS of room in both front and back so you can be easily 1' inward and 1' outward and not have an issue with hitting anything going with a 16' wheel (Saleen installs 9'x18' up front running 265/35's and 10'x18's out back running 285's).

Don't worry about what anyone thinks about your car. It is yours and only you have to like it. There will always be someone who thinks you should have gone with wider/taller/skinnier/fatter/15's or 20's. 'fugettaboutem' is what I say, if you like it, it is ALL that matters .

You are correct that the 38mm is going to set your new wheels .5' back farther thanyou are now based on your 25mm wheel you currently have (I cannot varify if that is accurate. Does it say that on the wheel itself?). This will put your wheels in farther than they are now and have to decide if you like the look enough to go with them. If you REALLY want these wheels and you REALLY want them to be farther out, you may consider installing all new lug-bolts and going with spacers. I have 1/2' spacers on my rears and have upgraded the lug-bolts to support them. This is ALOT of work and you would need to find a shop willing to do it, and that may not be easy.

Your pics are really too close to the car to get a good feel for how they will look. Safe to say if you are not happy with the depth now, you will be disappointed. Have you considered going 8' rim? With the 38mm off-set and 1' wider rim, you will go .5 deeper but will be 1' wider. That way, you will be .5' out farther than you are now and have a more full wheel well. Depending on your current tires, you can go 1' wider wheel and continue to use them. What size are your current tires and do you want to re-use them? If you want higher performance tires at some point, I will recommend you go 18' rims so you have a good choice in tires for performance.

Let me know if you want to re-use current tires and what size they are.

Jazzer

CheesyBeef

Yes! Fortunately I found out today that I could use 8" rims with the tires I have. 225/55r16's.

The guy at the Discount Tire I went today helped me look at some rims but completely discouraged me from any of the ones I mentioned above. He gave me the following specs to look for in finding a new rim:

16"x7-8" rim
20-25MM offset (give or take a few mm)
5-114.3/4.5 bolt pattern

I have spent about the last 5 hours looking all over the web for rims that would fit. I have only found like 2 rims that would fit and are within my budget (about $150 or less per wheel). I am quite frustrated and don't know what to do and where to go now. The only thing walk-in stores can do for me is show me their 25-wheel catalog or search online sites like I have been. I've tried many major sites like 1010tires, tirerack, wheelsnext, and wheel manufacturer websites.

I finally found a wheel that I believe will fit, but can't find it on the manufacturer's website, so I don't know if I would even be able to order that at the local Les Schwab/Discount Tire.

Do you have any suggestions for some wheels? I feel like there's nothing I can do but go with an ugly wheel. There's just so few wheels that are 16" with that small range of 20-25mm offset that the guy gave me. He says they will hit the brake calipers, suspension, etc. If I go with a wider wheel (8 inches) will this be a big difference?

Late-night Edit: Wow, after about 12 hours of research, I've found some good ones! I will go into Discount Tire tomorrow and see what they can do.

CheesyBeef

I ordered the 16x8 chrome Cobra R replica wheels.

Thank you for your help, Jazzer

~Cheesy

Jazzer The Cat

Your welcome

225'smay look a little stretched on that wheel, but will be fine. Next time around, I recommend 245's to fit the wheel a little better (IMO) as well as offer a little more protection to rim from curbs and such. I like those wheels andlooks likethey will come outwardnearly 1'from where you sit now. Youshould confirm EXACTLY how far they will come out by measuring the back-space of your current wheel and compare it to the 5 1/8' back-space of the wheel you are getting and just do the math. This will indicate how it will look on your ride.

Here is a good way to visualize how it will look. Use a floor jack to raise therear end from under the axle just high enough to remove wheel (less than1/8' off of the ground) and take the back-space measurement. After doing the math and confirming where the face of the wheel will sit relative to the car. Now put the wheel back onto the lug-bots andleave the wheel the distance of your math (approx. 1' bymy calculations)away from sitting all the way onto the hub (this should be near the overall length of the lug-bolts so will just bearly stay in place) This gap will be put the outside faceof the wheel/tire just about where it will sit with new wheels.

DO NOT LOWER THE CAR AT THIS POINT!!!

Step back and see how it looks from a distance. If this looks good to you, you are in bidness, as my Dad always says

Post up some pics when done and congrats [sm=icon_cheers.gif](< that's soda-pop)

Jazzer

Jazzer The Cat

I need to correct something in my previous post.

The face of your new wheel should be 1' farther out than yourcurrent and NOT 1.5' as Iearlier stated. Again, you need to confirm by back-space measurement, but this should be correct.

Jazzer