handling car 17's or 15's?

[jimmyray]

One more gratuitous shot, from Talladega! 8)

 

[mtandrews]

that looks good Jimmy! No rubbing in the front?

 

[RustyRatRod]

slam it wit sum quenny coos, yo.

 

[jamesdart]

too keep it simple i went with 17x8 and 245 45 17 on all 4. kyb shocks, 920 t bars but have 1" for when i go form s6 to bb. hellwig sway bar frame connectors 6 leaf espo springs, with nylon front eye bushings and prothane hd rear shackles with poly bushings. im still running the original rubber and joints in the front but it handles nice. ride quality is good. the tires are stock size for mustang so its not like they are super lo profile. handles bumps fine but still try not to smash them. i never bothered to figure it out but they are about 4.5" of rubber, probably pretty close to the stock 13 or 14" tires. there are still some ok tires in 15s but i dont like what is available for front sizes and its hard to find the same tire for front and rear. the 17s with all that backspacing fit nicely over the 11 3/4" rotors and calipers. i dont think you could do that with 15s they would be much closer to the fenders. my front and rear track width are pretty close with this setup. i alway thought they looked wierd with the front track wider than the back. im not sure how that effects handling.

 

[DionR]

Here is a Duster with 17x9's and 275/40R17's all around, just for a visual. Search for "Leadfoot Rally" on here for the build thread.

 

[GMachineDartGT]

I agree with the total approach. Since the stiffness of the sidewall really adds to the spring rate, one has to take this into consideration when choosing parts as a whole. The spring/shock combo has the most to do with the ride. When its proper, the ride can be tolerable even with high spring rates. Good shocks and a stiff chassis make the difference here.

That being said, my 1.04s with old twin tube Tokicos up front work pretty well together. Since this particular shock was made to work with about a 500lb coil spring, its safe to say they are close. I use Kumho MXs becuase they are closer to a track tire, but more street oriented tires will ride even better.

I also chose 18s because of the selections that are 26" tall and up. I use a 275 40 18 in the rear, as its 26.7" and really fills up the Darts rear wells. Fits perfect on a 9" rim too. Up front is a little trickier if you do not like tire rubs of any kind. 245 40 on an 8 works well, and is the perfect height.