should i get 16" or 17" rims?

[Matt82GT]

look in my gallery and look at the gap of my front tires.Not much room,and those are 15". I know 17's would look better and make the car handle better,but im leaning towards 16" since i get a little bit of rubbing with these 15's.Correct me if im wrong but wouldnt 16's give me a little extra "zip" off the line opposed to 17's? Just dont know which to get since i dont have quad's,ide love some 10" wide meats in the back doubt ill get them,too much $$$$$. The rear gap is no problem,i think i actually need to lower it some.Also,my rims stick out about 1/2-3/4" outside of the fender "flare",anyone have any idea why?wrong conversion?wrong backspacing? thanks for opinions,tips,info. ciao

i have 5 lug

[Ricky C]

17s look nice! I think I've seen a picture of some new Mustang GT "thrust" style wheels on a 82 before and it looked very good. I am leaning towards 17s and they look real good.

[white1983GT]

Technically a smaller wheel diameter will make for slightly "zippier" acceleration,......and depending on the wheel possibly also less rolling mass, but that aside if you can afford 17s (and the tires ), they will almost always look better, and handle better.

[PNY XPRS]

Looks to me like the backspacing on your wheels is about an inch off. That would be the cause for the wheels sticking out past the wheelwell and for the rubbing.

A set of 16s or 17s with the correct backspacing would be great!

A smaller wheel diameter and overall tire diameter will net you a better final gear ratio and a "zipper" feel off the line. Old hot rodder trick.

[Mike Croke]

look in my gallery and look at the gap of my front tires.Not much room,and those are 15". I know 17's would look better and make the car handle better,but im leaning towards 16" since i get a little bit of rubbing with these 15's.Correct me if im wrong but wouldnt 16's give me a little extra "zip" off the line opposed to 17's? Just dont know which to get since i dont have quad's,ide love some 10" wide meats in the back doubt ill get them,too much $$$$$. The rear gap is no problem,i think i actually need to lower it some.Also,my rims stick out about 1/2-3/4" outside of the fender "flare",anyone have any idea why?wrong conversion?wrong backspacing? thanks for opinions,tips,info. ciao

i have 5 lug

Can't tell why the wheels stick out without knowing how the conversion was done and what wheels/tires (size & backspace) you have now.

I have 5 lug rear disc on my 79 Capri. The fronts do not rub and are 235/45/17 on a 17" x 8" wheel w/ 5" backspace. The rears are 275/40/17 on 17" x 9.5" w/ 7" backspace and rub some. I am currently playing with axle length and wheel spacers to get the rears to not rub at all.

The change in final drive is affected soley on tire height and has nothing to do with wheel diameter.

I chose to run 17" wheels because the selection of decent tires in 16" was limited.

[Mumfts85gt]

My vote is for 17s. I have 99 to present 17x8GT w/245/45 wheels on my 85 with no more rubbing than I had with 15x7 w/225/60 ten holes. My swap included 99+ PBR Twin Piston calipers on 94-95 spindles and Mark VII rear discs/Ranger axles. What 5-Lug swap was used on your car? It looks to me like it is your wheel offset that is way off.

[jazzcat2001]

my vote is for 16s and use the money saved from not buying 17" tires and get some springs

[rbohm]

a 245/45-17 tire on either 17x8 cobra rims, or 17x8 bullitt rims would look great on the car, and should clear with no problems. there is little if any cost difference between 16 and 17" rims and tires. check out discount tires for a set of kuhmo's. they are inexpensive, and work great.

[Mumfts85gt]

Kumhos are nice, I have some on my truck. I have the stock goodyear take-offs on my car for now. If you ever plan to go to 17" Cobra front brakes, you will need 17s. Otherwise, if you find some 16s that you like better, you'll be fine. There isn't much difference as stated before.

[Matt82GT]

I believe its the motorsport kit...not sure tho,it was done when i bought the car.Someone told me a way to tell what was used,so im gonna take off the wheels in the next couple days and find out. He said i can only use factory rims if sn95 parts were used.

It supposedly already has springs...and it sure feels like it too i can only fit 2 fingers between the front tire and the fender.And i will be looking for a used wheel/tire combo as i am a poor bastard

[Mumfts85gt]

[quote="Matt82GT"] He said i can only use factory rims if sn95 parts were used. [quote]

I believe he is mistaken. They allow the use of the SN95 wheels and any aftermarket wheels made for SN95s. Since you already have 5-Lug brakes, chances are if you tried the SN95 wheels, including Cobra, GT, MachI, Bullits, etc., you wouldn't be able to use the factory hubcaps without using spacers or machining the brake hubs. You can check around for verification. Try http://www.svo73mm.cjb.net./ .

I have looked at your gallery and it looks like the rear is actually higher than stock and it looks like your fronts are lower than the Motorsports are supposed to lower your front. Look at my gallery, I have Maier Racing 2" drop springs. I have a 1/4" spacer on my spring perch on the rear, but no isolators. The motorports aren't supposed to drop a car more than an 1 in or so.

[Matt82GT]

thx for that link. I may have worded it wrong. He did say something about the dust cap stickin out too much,i just couldnt remember on which parts.I have to find this damn "key" to take off my locking lug nuts to see what kind of dust caps i have.I will update on whats what.Thanks for all the advise and tips ciao

[Mumfts85gt]

Cool, then he didn't give you wrong info. Good luck finding the key.

[cjwanner2000]

just wanted to add that it's not the sn95 parts that you will have probs with. if your swap was done with the svo/lincoln spindles and rotors, then the dust cap on the spindle sticks out too far for most wheels, except those made for an svo. if your swap was done with the sn95 stuff, you won't have any problems with wheel fitment to your spindles. pull off the front wheel and look at the rotors. the svo stuff will have the rotor secured with a spindle nut and cotter pin. the bearings that ride on the spindle are inside of the rotor. on the sn95 stuff, there is a seperate hub with sealed bearings inside that attaches to the spindle.
as for the rear, looking at the pics in your album, it looks like you may have the svo/lincoln rear in your car. impossible to say for sure without know your wheels backspacing though. but, i have a lincoln rear in my car now(same as svo) and that is about how my wheels stick out. go to the site posted earlier and do some research, you should find everything you need.
BTW, beautiful car

[Matt82GT]

BTW, beautiful car

thanks lol. Well i finally got the lug nuts off,here is a pic of the front driver side rotor and rear d/s drum,if anyone knows whats what,please let me know,thanks a ton.

[DELETED]

I want your car with my engine and rear end

[Matt82GT]

I want your car with my engine and rear end

I want your engine and rear end

[Matt82GT]

Well i finally got the lug nuts off,here is a pic of the front driver side rotor and rear d/s drum,if anyone knows whats what,please let me know,thanks a ton.

anyone?

[Mumfts85gt]

Matt,
It's hard to tell by looking. You'll probably need to unbolt a calliper so you can measure the piston. SVOs and, I am assuming, Lincoln Mark VIIs had 73mm pistons, some pistons were phenolic and others metal. Have you measured the backspacing on your wheels, since you have them off?
Rob.

[Matt82GT]

unbolting a caliper i have to get greasy? lol...how do i measure backspacing?

[Mumfts85gt]

Wouldn't want to get greasy, would we? HE HE!

I did a quick search this morning and found this site: http://www.rsracing.com/tech-wheel.html#backspace.

Highlights: Rear spacing or back spacing is the distance from the backside of the wheel mounting pad to the outside of the rim flange.

Offset: The distance from the centerline of the wheel to the mounting surface of the wheel.

Have fun. Got Goop?

[cjwanner2000]

i can't say for sure exactly what set up you have, but it looks like it could possibly be the svo/lincoln set up in front. the only thing i can say for sure is that it's not the sn95 front. as for the rear, to hard to say anything specific from looking at the picture. as said before, check your backspacing and go from there

[Matt82GT]

ok i got greasy and took off the caliper and rotor.My backspacing,according to that link is 3 5/8". It is a 10" rotor.

[Mumfts85gt]

I just checked my old 15x7 10 holes and the backspacing is right at 5". I guess your biggest prob is your backspacing.I'd be on the look out for new wheels. If your front rotor is only 10" they are probably from a 4 cylinder Ranger. Your rear brakes are most likely Ranger parts too. You can find info on most of the possible swaps at http://www.svo73mm.cjb.net./ , in case you overlooked it when you looked last time.

[DELETED]

Depends o nthe look you're going for. Using a 4.25" or smaller backspacing will give you that muscle car look, but you may also ge tire rub on the fenders. I want to get shorter 5 lug axles so I can run a wider tire in the rear.