Low buck options for 17 inch wheels
Yup, this would be really helpful...
And just ignore all the big wheel haters. Their opinions, like their choice of tires, are about 40 years out of date and completely irrelevant. It's your car. If they want to run hockey pucks and have lousy traction, that's their problem.
You can find 17" mustang rims that will work pretty easily, the ones that you'd want to be looking for are 17x8" with a 5.72" backspace. Those usually require a small spacer (3-5mm) in the front to clear the outer tie rod end, the backspace needs to end up around 5.6" to clear on most cars with stock suspension and BBP brakes. Also, most of the factory mustang rims will need the center bore opened up a little to clear the hubs on the mopar disks (assuming you have large bolt pattern disks).
Another option are the Legend 5's from Summit
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/vsw-141h7865gm19/overview/
They come in a 17x8" with a 5.25" backspace, which should work on the front and back of most A-bodies. A small spacer may be needed in the back on some cars depending on which rear axle you have and your tire choice, but again you're usually only talking about a 3 to 5mm spacer, which is pretty insignificant. The nice thing about the legend 5's is that the center bore is pretty big, so nothing has to be done to the rims to make them work. And if you have an 8 3/4 rear with BBP axles you probably won't need a spacer in the back.
I run the legend 5's on my Challenger. They have a nice, classic look to them and are pretty inexpensive as far as 17" rims go. The Challenger has the later 11.75" B/R body front disks and 11" rear drums, the rims clear everything just fine. Mine are 17x9's with 275/40/17 tires, which is a 25.7" tall tire. You can go a little taller with the tires (especially in the back) if you want a little more sidewall to minimize "big wheel" look.
Yup, this would be really helpful...
And just ignore all the big wheel haters. Their opinions, like their choice of tires, are about 40 years out of date and completely irrelevant. It's your car. If they want to run hockey pucks and have lousy traction, that's their problem.
You can find 17" mustang rims that will work pretty easily, the ones that you'd want to be looking for are 17x8" with a 5.72" backspace. Those usually require a small spacer (3-5mm) in the front to clear the outer tie rod end, the backspace needs to end up around 5.6" to clear on most cars with stock suspension and BBP brakes. Also, most of the factory mustang rims will need the center bore opened up a little to clear the hubs on the mopar disks (assuming you have large bolt pattern disks).
Another option are the Legend 5's from Summit
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/vsw-141h7865gm19/overview/
They come in a 17x8" with a 5.25" backspace, which should work on the front and back of most A-bodies. A small spacer may be needed in the back on some cars depending on which rear axle you have and your tire choice, but again you're usually only talking about a 3 to 5mm spacer, which is pretty insignificant. The nice thing about the legend 5's is that the center bore is pretty big, so nothing has to be done to the rims to make them work. And if you have an 8 3/4 rear with BBP axles you probably won't need a spacer in the back.
I run the legend 5's on my Challenger. They have a nice, classic look to them and are pretty inexpensive as far as 17" rims go. The Challenger has the later 11.75" B/R body front disks and 11" rear drums, the rims clear everything just fine. Mine are 17x9's with 275/40/17 tires, which is a 25.7" tall tire. You can go a little taller with the tires (especially in the back) if you want a little more sidewall to minimize "big wheel" look.