I was wondering if I can get some opinions here....What size rims hold the advantage, 17's or 18's?

I know there are a lot of things that need to be considered...

Ride quality
Looks
Grip

Ne opinions on this matter? I was checkin into 17 x 9.5 and 18 x 9.5 rims
Thanx

Joe

 

Ride quality
Looks
Grip

I would say that:
17's would RIDE better, be a little softer.
18's would LOOK better.
and the GRIP would depend on which rubber u picked.

Just my thoughts...

KZAD

 

Well as far as looks, I think the 18's fill up the fenderwells better than 17's. The ride quality and grip will depend on what tires you choose. The 18's will prolly need 40 or maybe even 35 series tires compared to the 17's witch will prolly use 45 series. Lower series tires cause a harsher ride but they flex less under hard cornering. The 45 series should ride good and won't flex too bad. I'd say if you just want to upgrade go with the 17's but if you wanna go extreme (like I always want to do) then go with the 18's. I plan to run a set of 18x9 all around with 265/40/zr18 tires. The look will also depend on the stance (dropped or not). Good luck!!

 

I remember hearing that the thirdgen fbodies do not react well to 18" tires for some reason. Maybe that was on the stock suspension or something; I really don't know. I think 18" in back and 17" in front look pretty sharp myself.

 

There was a few rims i was looking at, most all are from performance wheel outlet.....I like the ss vette rims, but dont like the idea of spacers....i like those milan rims, but i think those require spacer also. The vortec z's sound kinda nice, but id want the 18 x 9.5. Then, there are always the iroc rims. If they came wider then 8, then maybe. Plus i wanted to differentiate my car some, meaning no iroc rims, stickers, etc...

Ne opinions on these possible combinations?
Ne pics of an iroc with vortec z's or milan rims? (mustang rims )

Joe

 

I dont have any suggestions for ya, Haze .. but I do have a question. Where in Central Jersey are you? I am now in Delaware, but I live just outside wonderfull Trenton.

Z

 

umm i hope ya know those "Vortec Z" rims are actually the newer Cobra rims......so if ya wanna put rustang rims on your Fbody, be my guest..........traitor

jk

 

i havent seen anyone talk about tires really but u have to figure in the price for the tires. i know with my friend had the 16in iroc rims he paid 500 for new tires, so i would figure that for 17's or 18's it would cost alot more.

 

The biggest disadvantage of 18 inch wheels over 17 inch wheels, is that you can't maintain the 26 inch overall diameter without going to rubber-band or painted on tires. The only main concern about that is that you have to do some speedo gear work to keep your speedo accurate (most people like accurate odometers, not as concerned about accurate speed reading). 18s do fill in the wheel wells better with nice 4 inch sidewalls (40 or 45 series).

The other thing, is that factory brakes (that most of us got) look really dinky inside an 18" wheel. I know mine do inside a 17". Otherwise, sometimes, I wish I'd gone with 18s.

Oh, and as 1982chevycamaroz28 said, the price of tires is another disadvantage.

 

LOL i know the vortec-z are mustang rims...thats why i had the rolly eye face...basically im looking for a clean 5 star design, but something a lil different then the always seen zr rims. Money is no object to me. This is my third z and im gonna spend how ever much it costs to get it the way i want it. So the price of 18 inch tires as opposed to 16's wouldnt really bother me. I also want to drop the car at least an inch, but i wanna keep some meaty tires on there. If all else fails, im going to end up going for some 17 x 9.5 rims with the 275s that everyone else runs. Does ne one have any suggestions about a rim? The car is red, and i want chrome rims.

Also, in response to Kzad's question, Im right near Six flags great adventure. Also, only 10 minutes from Englishtown.

 

If you're mainly going for looks and money is no object, I would get the 18's and also get the 13" Baer disk brake upgrade. That would look awesome! My second choice would be 17"s with the 12" or 13" Baer disk brake upgrade.

 

The biggest advantage to having 18's is that if you set them up correctly, they will simply just make your car stand out! The big disadvantage is that you need to do some work to the car to make them look good....i.e lower it correctly...etc..etc.

Yeah, the brakes do look really small with such a larg rim, so my next upgrade is to get some 13' bears up front.

Not sure if you have seen my car, but u can check out the advantages of 18's on an IROC at

www.iroczdesigns.com
Tommy

 

Mr. Iroc Z....Your car has changed my mind...lol how bout some 18 inch chrome irocs on a red n black 87 iroc?....opinions ne one?...mr iroc z do u have ne shots of the wheels from behind? it be so much better if they came wider than 8 inches...


Joe

 

anyone know how to get ahold of tommy?