those wheels will have a front wheel drive offset to them. that means they will sit too far in on the maverick. the would require at least 1" wheel spacers to correct for that.
Considering the size of the wheel arches on Mavericks/Comets, 18s are simply too big. 17s are a far better choice. And I agree with Craig about those "rubber band" tires. Some people just have no class. And why are so many people caught up in the big wheel thing? Where does it end? When we're putting 30-inch wheels on our cars? How about 35-inch? 15s & 17s are a nice improvement over the stock 14s that these cars came with.
I don't think class had anything to do with it. I'm a different generation than some of you guys. I like larger, but not crazy rims. No chrome. Not ghetto, just a little more modernized.
I like the same thing. And class has nothing to do with what generation you're from. People either have it, or they don't.
this is about as PERFECT as a set up as you can get! i was looking at getting 18s on mine as well, if you dont mind letting me know your wheel and tire size? and have you done any mods at all? still have rear leaf springs
heres my Mav with the authentic S197 Bullitt wheels off my Bullitt. they're 18x8.5 and have 6.75" backspace. this is installed with a 2 inch spacer (giving it a 4.75 BS) on a 245/40/18 tire. i do agree that without lowering it the 18 does look slightly large... but when lowered i think its going to give the car a good look.
I don't see how that ^^^^ car could be lowered sufficiently to gobble those things up without rubbing sidewalls on a hard leaning turn. Or even turning while crossing driveways or speedbumps. Might have to back off a tad on the spacer thickness me thinks. I want 18's on my car eventually too.. possibly even a 19" on the back. But.. until I really start tearing it apart and chopping everything far beyond the factory look I will likely end up with "little 17's" for a couple of years. And it very true that the ride will suffer the lower the apsect ratios and tires handling aggressiveness get. Always a compromise.. just the nature of the beast. Love it or hate it.. I will eventually have flared wheelwells and the car will be slammed pretty low for that pro-touring G-machine road racer look. And I'll have huge disc brakes all around to keep things looking correctly scaled and avoiding the gaps. I think many guys get carried away with wheel size while running stock sized brakes and they end up looking waaayyyy too small.. sometimes cartoon'ish. Look at the import crowd and that look is rampant. Then even if the wheels are somewhat proprtional to the overall wheelwell and body dimensions.. the too small brakes make those cool wheels look slightly more out of place and disproportional. All the coolest looking cars understand about the overall flow and dimensional matchups.
I agree with the spacer thing lol... I only ordered the pair of 2" cuz I know they'll work in the rear of the car and so I can decide whether I need a 2 or 1.5 in the front. And I agree I think it needs to be a 1.5"...
17s are not "little". These cars have small wheel arches. Of course it's a different story if you modify the wheel arches. I'd never go larger than 17s on a Maverick/Comet. because you end up with virtually no sidewall on the tires.
I hear you but I would point out that the tires aspect ratio is also one of the most important factors when it comes to overall diameters. In other words. if a 28-29" tire fits the wheelwell and still allows you to turn over bumps? .. the wheelwell couldn't give one quick squat how you decide to divy up the wheel vs tire realtionship so long as you can still squeeze it all in there. But.. as you rightly point out.. the larger the wheel gets the smaller the sidewall allowance has to be to still fit within the same openings restrictional size allowance. And ride quality will surely start t0 suffer very quickly below around 50 series aspect ratios. Plus.. corner carver style tires are already heavily sidewall reinforced to maintain response and control heat with less than average ride comfort to begin with. So'k though.. racecars aren't supposed to ride like a caddy anyways and I accept that tradeoff to go well beyond the 1G mark in the corners. What I will.. "attempt to do".. with my flared wheelwells is to push the trim lip outwards and still end up with the same lip size and stock contours so's I can reuse the stock aluminum lip trim. Probably just plasma cut the entire lip off and move it outwards so I can come off the upper flare that's built right into the fender above the recessed body profile that runs the entire length of the car and bends around the wheelwells(you know.. the one that the grabber stripes sit in?). It will be one of the tougher mod's but should allow a significant amount of additional room at hard wheel turn. And if that doesn;t work out from an aesthetic viewpoint.. I may just bulge the fenders a bit as well. Basically a widebody kit look with complete loss of the entire centrally located bodyline(you know.. the one that the grabber stripes sit in?). Think 70's Trans-Am racer look. Splitters, diffusers, and scoops.. oh my! lol
