Hey fellas,

Sorry for the long and complicated question. Tried a search but didn't find anything quite right.

My '05 GT currently has stock 17" wheels with 235/55-17 BFG G-Force T/A tires. Suspension is Eibach pro system plus so it's lowered about 1 1/2". I'm old school. I like the look of more sidewall. So I like the existing look of the 17" tires, but was playing with the idea of new wheels anyway. The oem wheels are grey bullets (?) but, I've always preferred chrome, so have been looking at options. Advice I've received is to go no larger then 18" to keep the sidewall look. Besides, I'm not a fan of the harsher ride of 19 and larger wheels & tires. I really like the deep dish wheels like American Muscle bullets. If I'm going to go there, I might as well get the widest that will reasonably fit without re engineering things or adding spacers and such. One thing I DO NOT want is the stretched look. Sidewalls should be wider than the rims, not vice versa.

I thought I had this figured out, until I went to my first autocross last weekend. What a blast. Now I'm wondering how to improve grip on top of the looks. The BGF tires were screaming like stuck pigs. The whipple can overpower these tires easily and it understeered a lot. Tire pressures started at 42 in all. Eventually going down to 40 in the front and 36 in the back. I know, a lot of that is me. I run out of talent long before I run out of car, so seat time is what I need most. My best times were when the tires were the quietest. Beyond that, all the guys I met said better tires would be a big help. Many were running Bridgestone Potenza RE-71R tires, but they all said tire wear doesn't make them a good street DD tire. I'm not ready to build a dedicated set quite yet either. My source recommended Mickey Thompson Street Comps.

Can I do both? Can I improve the looks, with wider tires on deep dish wheels AND get a reasonable improvement in grip for the few autocrosses I hope to do each summer. I assume there must be some trade offs from either side. How much though? Are the deep dish wheels or staggered tire width an issue for autocross grip? I'm willing to stay equal width all around as a compromise. Is there a less expensive route to creating a dedicated set that could be driven, maybe an hour or so, to get the the event. Maybe then I'd look at the Potenzas. I definitely won't be changing tires at the site.

Advice I've received from a reputable source said max equal tire size would be 255/45-18 on 18x9 wheels. Staggered max would be 275/45-18 out back.

Your advice would be very much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

YooperCup2018 - 14.jpg YooperCup2018 - 15.jpg