Wheel Decision

[Reaper948]

Okay LincMerc, please bear with me, its a deadhorse.

Ive been seeking for a looong time, Im dedicated to finding an appropriate 20=inch diameter wheel for my car.... and finally with a slightly appropriate offset <?> and the right diameter, the Foose website may have my wheels

http://www.foosedesignwheels.com/details.php?wheel_id=208&table_name=Mercury_Marauder_20 03

These are the wheels that I want to buy. I know I know, for many of you this seems flashy, or for some it might not be flashy enough. Although it works so well with me, and Foose is a quality company that I can depend on.

I have one question to ask of the viewers of this thread, Anything wrong with the 45 offset, or the center bore?....

I plan to get the 255/35R-20 Pirelli tires for the car...

Please. A major part of my purchasing anything for my car depends on you guys.
:help: I appreciate it SO MUCH. I'll buy ya'll beers if and when I meet you. Even though im underaged.....

Happy 4th of July!

[RCSignals]

I dunno. If Chip says so

[jgc61sr2002]

Reaper948 - The wheels look good. If you like them go for it. I myself like the stock wheels.

[CRUZTAKER]

Nice looking wheel there Reap.....new lesson though....the pirelli's are junk. Well, not in the sense junk, but they wear quickly. Any Italian racer will tell you, great for the track, not so good for the daily driver. I have experience with them having owned two itallian cars. One of which still has pirelli's....but it IS AN italian car and therefore OEM.
Buy Michelins if you can....the BFG's wear qickly as well. It's all in the compound of the tire...coming from a long line of tire builders and engineers and growing up in the once 'rubber capital' of the world, I am not just biased toward american rubber.....it's just a fact that WE typically know what we are doing.

If it's high quality 500 hp sports car you want...buy italian....if it's a tire to put on it....buy American.

BTW: No offense to lidio or whomever it was that swears by pirelli.....they race their cars though, big difference from the average joe with an average pocket book who needs to get more than 12000 miles out of a very expensive set of tires.

[SergntMac]

Originally posted by CRUZTAKER
Nice looking wheel there Reap.....new lesson though....the pirelli's are junk. Well, not in the sense junk, but they wear quickly. BTW: No offense to lidio or whomever it was that swears by pirelli.....they race their cars though, big difference from the average joe with an average pocket book who needs to get more than 12000 miles out of a very expensive set of tires.


We've had this discussion before, Cruz, and I do not disagree with you. But the reason the Pirellis wear faster, is because they stick more, and if stick is what you want, you have to pay for it. I've got the P-Zeros, and they area great tire, and perhaps the best every rain tire I've ever driven.

I like your pick Reap, but Cruz makes a good point. How are you going to be driving you MM? If you're doing a lot of hard cornering, heavy braking and and so on, you have to choose between sticking to the ground, or, getting long mileage. If you're not doing this stuff, go with the Michelins and be sure to send us some pics.

[Marauder57]

Personally I have found that Michelin makes a great tire....put them on my truck.....put some Pilots on my wifes car....and they are awesome....great made tire....last a long time with a nice ride...

P-Zeros have a great rep for performance....and they do wear a little quicker....but I believe Pirellis are italian made....and they do "Stick" really well....it is really a personal preference thing I think....if you don't mind paying for the tires.

Michelin makes a great tire and when my BF's retire I will put on Michelin's (providing they fit..)....

Either one will do well on the car....but I would follow Mac on the performance end....the man does have the #1 S Car....I think you could call it a performance auto... :D

Oh forgot to add those Foose wheels are some kinda cool...that guy is a genius with a car....I think the learning channel had a show on him spicing up the Tbird for the SEMA show.....man he does great work.....the rims he makes for his custom hot rods (150,000 smakers minimum) are all original....he actually takes designs to a guy and he mills them custom one offs...or 4 offs as the case may be.....just great work....I think Hot wheels is doing some cars of his.....

[Reaper948]

255/35R-20 Michelin or BF.... Sounds good
Still no gripes on the offset or center bore?!

[darebren]

they will stick out, might rub. let us know...

[Reaper948]

Is there anything I can do to fix the rubbing? In the case that it does?

[RCSignals]

a little talcum powder might help relieve chafing :)

[Reaper948]

HA. Ha. Ha.

somebodyll eventually come in with a lol

[LincMercLover]

Cut the wheel wells (again...)? :help:

[Reaper948]

Originally posted by LincMercLover
Cut the wheel wells (again...)? :help:

Well I know the Wheels will fit, if you've seen Big Harg's rims on the photo galleries or Hack Goby's....Hack goby has 22's. Big Harg doesnt look like he has a problem with 20s

I think the suspension's high enough to support such a diameter.

Although turning seems to be a matter that I'm actually worried about. Would it be a problem then?

[LincMercLover]

Well, with your tire and rim together, you have a 27" tall combo. Stock tire/wheel diameter is 27 1/4". So, you shouldn't have to worry about the tire rubbing. You could probably get away with a 265/35/20 if you wanted an even wider tire. Up to you, but with what you want now, there shouldn't be a problem. If it was me, I'd be puttin' it on slicks and skinnies! :rock: :up:

[Reaper948]

Thanks Merc...
You've relieved me by 200%

[LincMercLover]

And you've got two threads running on this, so I'm gunna shut the old one down.

[Jeff]

Originally posted by RCSignals
a little talcum powder might help relieve chafing :)

And Midol for cramps. :lol:

[Reaper948]

Yea sorry I went to the old one by mistake after I put 'wheels' in the search query

[Reaper948]

Originally posted by LincMercLover
Well, with your tire and rim together, you have a 27" tall combo. Stock tire/wheel diameter is 27 1/4". So, you shouldn't have to worry about the tire rubbing. You could probably get away with a 265/35/20 if you wanted an even wider tire. Up to you, but with what you want now, there shouldn't be a problem. If it was me, I'd be puttin' it on slicks and skinnies! :rock: :up:

Wider tires in the back.......
I was thinking about that

[Reaper948]

so Yea...
Would anything be affected with me putting 20's on?
Transmission, speedometer, Tachometer,....etc

[RF Overlord]

If your tire diameter changes, then your speedo will no longer be accurate...BFGoodrich has a nice chart on their website that shows you the actual diameter of various wheel/tire combinations...you may be able to find a combination of low-profile tire and your 20" rim that comes close to stock. Your choices are probably very limited, though, as 20" tires are not common.

Since the tach reads engine RPM, then anything that changes the speedo will also change the tach...but that's a lot less important than knowing how far off the speedo is...

[Reaper948]

Originally posted by RF Overlord
If your tire diameter changes, then your speedo will no longer be accurate...BFGoodrich has a nice chart on their website that shows you the actual diameter of various wheel/tire combinations...you may be able to find a combination of low-profile tire and your 20" rim that comes close to stock. Your choices are probably very limited, though, as 20" tires are not common.

Since the tach reads engine RPM, then anything that changes the speedo will also change the tach...but that's a lot less important than knowing how far off the speedo is...

True, Ill check out that BFgoodrich site...
THanks RF

[SergntMac]

Originally posted by Reaper948
so Yea...
Would anything be affected with me putting 20's on?
Transmission, speedometer, Tachometer,....etc

Ummm...What about the center of gravity going up, and a loss of handling quality? Are these wheel strong enough to handle the twisties?

[martyo]

Originally posted by Reaper948
so Yea...
Would anything be affected with me putting 20's on?

Other than your pride???

[LincMercLover]

:lol:
Alright guys... give the guy a break.

I think you'll be good to go buddy. Other than getting the speedo corrected, you should be fine. There are other ways of correcting it besides a chip, but hey, why not kill two birds with one stone? :D

[Reaper948]

Looking at it rfom the center of the rim, the car's only going 1 inch up, I don't drive like I'm running the Indy, and I'm well aware that it's more of a delicate run now that they're on larger rims.
But it's not like I was nuts in the beginning.

Foose should do a quality job, the quality on his builds are very high, very reputable. I've seen him on the job making his hotrods. Also talked to the owners of the same wheels, no problems.

I'm just asking if anything internal is going to change after I buy the rims. I don't want to damage anything in my car.

[Reaper948]

When they say,
Bolt Holes / P.C.D.
5x127.0

What's PCD mean? And what significance is the number 127?.....:help:

[LincMercLover]

Point Center Displacement? I dunno... Anyway, it's the number of lug holes by the spread.

[RF Overlord]

PCD= Pitch Circle Diameter...the diameter of the studs from the centre of the wheel....

It's the new Euro-trash way of defining the bolt pattern...the diameter (in millimetres) of a circle drawn through the centre of the studs...

[Reaper948]

PCD:
5x114.3

Offset:
45

Center Bore:
72.600

Do all of these look fine to everyone....

[LincMercLover]

OK, so I was close... Same meaning! :rolleyes:

[darebren]

I think the center bore is a tad big, 66.7mm is the stock I believe, so you will have to get a spacer ring, no big deal. The offset will make the rim stick out just a little bit more than stock, and a wider tire would make it stick out even more. On the rear, since your total height is about 1.5" less than stock, you might be fine from a rubbing standpoint. On the front, it would probably be fine but will be close since the stock tire and wheel is about 27" also, the extra width in the front might be close.

what everyone wants someone to do is order new wheels, and report back with pictures and details... go for it!

[Reaper948]

Originally posted by darebren
I think the center bore is a tad big, 66.7mm is the stock I believe, so you will have to get a spacer ring, no big deal. The offset will make the rim stick out just a little bit more than stock, and a wider tire would make it stick out even more. On the rear, since your total height is about 1.5" less than stock, you might be fine from a rubbing standpoint. On the front, it would probably be fine but will be close since the stock tire and wheel is about 27" also, the extra width in the front might be close.

what everyone wants someone to do is order new wheels, and report back with pictures and details... go for it!

Spacer rings? Please enlighten

[LincMercLover]

They are rings that go around the hub to keep the wheel perfectly centered on it when mounted to the car.

[Reaper948]

All right, everythings good cept for that stupid PCD Thing....EVERYTHING EXCEPT THAT THING

[Warpath]

Originally posted by Reaper948
I'm just asking if anything internal is going to change after I buy the rims. I don't want to damage anything in my car.

Absolutely - The lower profile tires and heavier wheels will increase unsprung weight and increase the loads into the suspension. The increased unsprung weight will degrade ride and handling. The wheel and tire will be harder to control basically. Also, there is more rotational mass which will increase stopping distance. But, more importantly, the increased loads into the suspension will wear out bearings, ball joints, bushings, brake pads, and shocks much quicker. It may actually get to the point that you may break something because the vehicle was not designed to handle those loads. It may not happen right away either. Good luck.

[Warpath]

BTW, I don't know for sure, but I don't think the center bore is important unless the OE wheels are hub-centric and as long as the center bore clears the hub. If the OE wheels are not hub-centric, then the wheel is located by the studs.

[Reaper948]

The PCD is perfect! I measured the diameter of the bolts to be about 4.5 inches. 25.4mm in one inch. The PCD thats there on the website is 114.3. You do the math, youll come out with those numbers...HERE WE GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Reaper948]

Ordered the wheels...they should be here in about 2 weeks....Ill post pics ASAP....P-I-M-P!!!!!!!!!!!!