Wheel/Tire questions

[DropTop13]

First, Yes I'm new here. Picked up a one-owner 2013 stripe delete black convertible back in May. I think it has all options except Recaros and heated seats. A little over 8K miles on the clock when I drove it off the lot. This is my first V8 muscle car in a loooong time. Her name is Tempest I've been getting my speed thrills from an e46 M3 for the past decade or so. Enjoying being back in an American muscle car and looking forward to making it uniquely mine.

I've added some GT500 stripes in a custom color (Black Rose Metallic), added upper and lower grills from CustomCarGrills.com, and smoked the marker lights. I don't plan on any engine mods. Maybe some exhaust and suspension mods eventually. Definitely swapping the 3:31 gears for 3:73 as God intended for the GT500.

My 7 year old stock GYs are worn and hard. I'm also not a fan of the SVTPP wheels. Thus, I'm looking for a new wheel/tire package. I mostly enjoy spirited driving on the twisty two-lanes out in the Texas Hill Country. No plans for street racing, drag racing, or track.

I'm considering the Variant Argon wheel 20x10 front, 20x11 rear. Max offset offered for the 11" wheel is 50mm. Based on some research 55-58mm would be a more optimal offset for this wheel.

Anyone running this combo and what tires are you running? I'm planning on 285/35 front and 315/30 rear NT555-G2.

Any comments about Variant? I also like the Project 6GR wheels in 20x10/11. Their 11" rear is also a 50mm offset.

Thanks!

 

[SteveWK]

Skip the 3.73s and put 4.10s in. I had 3.73s which were a big improvement, but the 4.10s are perfect IMHO, plus lots of guys have had problems with 3.73s whining excessively while the 4.10s seem to be less of a problem if installed correctly. Another member on here made a spread sheet that you can enter your tire size and gear ratio into and it will calculate mph for each gear every 500 rpm. I've attached the file. It is an excel file but for some reason the xls extension is not allowed for upload. I changed it to pdf and you will need to change it back to xls to open it. Also when you change gears you will need to reflash the ECU so that you speedometer is correct. Ford does not have the ability to reflash the ECU with anything other than the stock gear ratio, but you can do it yourself. I believe the SCT X4 will allow you to do this and still keep the stock tune.

You will want to replace the very soft and sloppy rear upper and lower control arms as well as the panhard bar with adjustable ones. BMR seems to be the most popular company for this mod. I can't comment on rims and tires sizes since I don't have much experience with them, but I do enjoy my Toyo R888s on the rear. I don't know if the convertible came with electronically adjustable shocks or not, but either way and since you want to go canyon driving, springs are another consideration too.

Get the suspension, gears, and tires sorted out and then you can add some power. Be careful with those Goodyears you currently have on the car, I have read stories of guys wrecking their cars because they did unexpected things.

 

[Steve@TF]

50mm will work but with a 315 its going to poke a bit and have a very aggressive look. as long as your not running eibach sportlines you wont rub. you will need an adjustable panhard bar.

 

[DropTop13]

50mm will work but with a 315 its going to poke a bit and have a very aggressive look. as long as your not running eibach sportlines you wont rub. you will need an adjustable panhard bar.

Thanks Steve. I spoke to Variant directly about both their Argon and Krypton wheel. I came to the same conclusion as you about the rears and was going to go with 305s. The problem is with the fronts. I was going to have to go with about a +25-28 offset to clear the stock hub dust cap due to the design of the wheel. With that offset I was afraid anything but a pretty skinny tire was going to stick out too far.

I ended up ordering the Velgen VF5 Kit from LMR. It's a very similar wheel to the Variant Krypton but the 20x11 rear is a +55 and the 20x10 front are +33 - still not as much offset as I wanted on the front but the LMR kit has 275s instead of the 285s I was planning on fitting so it should be fine. I really liked the Krypton Black Chrome finish though. The Velgen are gloss black. I'll post some pics once they are mounted.

Oh and I am sourcing a panhard bar. My axle is pretty well centered now, barely off to one side. The tires should fit fine without it but it would certainly look better with them centered and I'm planning on going lower eventually.

 

[Steve@TF]

Thanks Steve. I spoke to Variant directly about both their Argon and Krypton wheel. I came to the same conclusion as you about the rears and was going to go with 305s. The problem is with the fronts. I was going to have to go with about a +25-28 offset to clear the stock hub dust cap due to the design of the wheel. With that offset I was afraid anything but a pretty skinny tire was going to stick out too far.

I ended up ordering the Velgen VF5 Kit from LMR. It's a very similar wheel to the Variant Krypton but the 20x11 rear is a +55 and the 20x10 front are +33 - still not as much offset as I wanted on the front but the LMR kit has 275s instead of the 285s I was planning on fitting so it should be fine. I really liked the Krypton Black Chrome finish though. The Velgen are gloss black. I'll post some pics once they are mounted.

Oh and I am sourcing a panhard bar. My axle is pretty well centered now, barely off to one side. The tires should fit fine without it but it would certainly look better with them centered and I'm planning on going lower eventually.

the 20x10 with 33 will work up front. a little aggressive. seems they were designed more for the S550s but will still work

 

[DropTop13]

the 20x10 with 33 will work up front. a little aggressive. seems they were designed more for the S550s but will still work

That's what I'm thinking. It does give me some confidence that the whole wheel/tire package was put together by LMR for the s197. They actually have photos of the package on a GT500 and it looks pretty good.