Nine inch wide wheels (widebody)... overkill?

[CaysE]

Has anyone ran 9" wide wheels on all four corners? I'm curious what the driving characteristics are like and if handling is improved, or at least maintained. This is going under wider fender flares with a low offset.

[Spatakula]

In theory, a wider wheel will give you more of a contact patch, thus better grip. Curious on how low of an offset you are looking at with the new arches. Take into consideration the strut clearance as well. On an 8.5" et 35, there is a very very very small gap between the strut and wheel. So, the lower offset you go the better but since you are trying on the 9" for size you are going to have to go with an even lower et.

With a lower offset, I can say that my car feels.... twitchy. And that isn't even on a 9" and a focus friendly narrow body offset. The twitchyness can be from a number of reasons though. One bieng the camber. I haven't touched the camber plates since I put the new wheels on. So from an in spec camber setting on the 17x7 will change with a wider wheel. That camber will keep getting lower an lower that wider you go if you are already running some negative camber. You may need to get some plates to bring it back into spec if you wanted too.

-spatakula

[Davor]

Casey, 9 inch on RS widebody is not an overkill at all. I would also like to suggest finding 10 inch wheel with friendly offset [ie. +25-30] for the rear and at least 9 in the front. I've test-fitted 9x16 et35 in the front with no problems but now they reside in the back. I followed "experienced" advice to get 7.5 up front. Upon delivery I relized 9's would be just fine on all 4 corners.

Consider that I am imagining your SVTF with wheels flush on front and 1/2 inch poke in the rear and car is NOT daily driven. What coilovers are you using, what wheel diameter? 17 ? 18 ?

pic for reference

[CaysE]

The big picture is 18" wheels on Koni coilovers. I'm not aiming for the Euro poke/stretch look though... I want this car to handle like a Focus should: .9G or better and no rubbing. This is what makes me wonder if 9" wide would be too big... I don't want to end up rubbing on the wheel wells, struts, fenders, etc.

I prefer going 18x8 but the wheels I've been looking at look so much better in their 9" fitments (TDR PR1.2, Compomotive MO6, etc).

[Spatakula]

Well you can always get an 18x8 with a lower offset and fill the rest of wheel gap arches with some tire.

-spatakula

[Davor]

Originally Posted by CaysE

The big picture is 18" wheels on Koni coilovers. I'm not aiming for the Euro poke/stretch look though... I want this car to handle like a Focus should: .9G or better and no rubbing. This is what makes me wonder if 9" wide would be too big... I don't want to end up rubbing on the wheel wells, struts, fenders, etc.

I prefer going 18x8 but the wheels I've been looking at look so much better in their 9" fitments (TDR PR1.2, Compomotive MO6, etc).

With this new info I'd suggest you max out at 8 on the front and 8.5 in the back. Let coilovers dictate ride height so rubbing issue don't present itself. 18's are perfect for Focus and there are many in 8 inch wide. 9 will look better IF stretched, but since you are not going for stretch, tire size will determine whether you will rub or not.

This is 8.5x17 et.35 with strecthed tire...very little room before TIRE rubs on the strut.

[Spatakula]

Wow...

-spatakula

[CaysE]

18x8 all around would be ideal... but look at the difference just between the 8" and 9" widths:

Compomotive MO6 18x8... meh:



...and 18x9... win!



It's the same story with the Pro-Race 1.2... 18x8... shrug:



18x9... drool:

[ClintB1321]

i currently run 17x8 40et Team dynamics pro race 1.2's right now up front, will be moving on to 17x9 27et(which is same inner clearence to damper body as the 17x8 40et) and fender flares later in the year, but my car is primarily for track use and makes 300whp. I think a 8 inch rim with a solid 235mm tire and good coilovers will give you the handling characteristics your looking for

[REVSWIN]

Are you running a full RS body? If so let me chime in on this one. I am/will be running the RS rear conversion, that is why I bought the Keskin KT1's 17x8.5 30mm (F), and 17x10 20mm (R) wheels. Shipping ruined one on my 17x10's, and Keskin let me return them as a replacement had no ETA.

One good thing that I got to do was test fit the 17x10's. They had "about" 5mm of room left before they hit anything in the rear. I would not go with a 10" wheel in the back with anything higher than a 22mm et just to be safe.

I have tossed and turned about this subject for months, OEM front with RS rear... Or Full RS. I can't decide what I want to do. One thing I do know is with the Full RS body with OEM axles/spindles/hubs, that the perfect flush stance would be 9.5" wheels up front, and 10" in the rear. Running 10" wheels up front would cause too many problems with turning, rubbing, etc. 9" wheels up front might actually be the best size.

For sure go with a 10" or 10.5"(stretch?) in the rear.

17x8.5" 30mm et


17x10" 20mm et

[REVSWIN]

Another thing to think about is picking up the RS brake/hubs/axles (2.5" wider track) and only using the front and using 8 or 8.5" wide wheels up front.

i.e. 18x8/8.5" (F) & 18x10" (R)

Not sure if it would drive funny, or if it will be balanced out be because the outside track would be matched (or close) front and back. ???

Right now for me I am looking at going with 18x8 40mm et (or 8.5 34mm et) up front, and 18x10 20mm et . I cant decide, I will be thinking about it for months to come. This is for the REAR only conversion of course.

[age]

if you're after good handling why would you want such wide wheels at the back? the back end just doesnt need the extra grip and you'll likely end up with a super understeery setup. yes it will grip hard will 10 inch rims but the balance will be ruined and ultimately it will tend to understeer (unless you run a fat ass rear sway bar and specifically tune the springs and shocks for oversteer). i think equal width front and rear would be fine. some people even put wider ones at the front on FWD cars because thats where all the action is at.

[Focusfre4k]

^
he is pretty much trying to build a skid pad whore

I dont think he cares about balance anymore

[CaysE]

I'm not going 10" nor staggered, that's for sure. I know there's lots of room in the back, but my main concern is the front. With a low enough offset, I'm sure I could run 9" but then is it going to smash into the wheel wells when turning? I just don't know.

[Spatakula]

Just a FYI, on KW V1 coilovers dropped completely, regular fender widths, on an 8.5 et30, 205/40/17 no "smashing" or rubbing what so ever at full lock.

If anything, the tire you choose will rub. What size of tires were you looking at?

-spatakula

[REVSWIN]

Originally Posted by CaysE

I'm not going 10" nor staggered, that's for sure. I know there's lots of room in the back, but my main concern is the front. With a low enough offset, I'm sure I could run 9" but then is it going to smash into the wheel wells when turning? I just don't know.

Well if you look ar the real RS and its 18x8 42mm et, to get 9" wheels to exact same outer position then the size you would want is 18x9 23mm et. That size would have the same outer wheel to wheel track as an RS with 18x8 42mm et. The 18x9 23mm et would give you 6mm MORE inner clearance then the 18x8 42mm et on a RS.

If you went with 18x9.5" 23mm et wheels, the inner clearance would be the same as 18x8 42 mm, but stick out 6mm farther. Thus a "Flush stance" perhaps? But would it rub up front? I don't know.

And remember I added 1.25" (32mm) for each side to the 18x8 42mm wheels to accommodate for the RS wider track.

[CaysE]

The RS uses different hubs though, which means if I wanted standard 18x8 wheels, I'd have to run et16 to look like a real RS.

[WRCwannabe]

honestly i think the PR 1.2's look better in 8" wide over the 9"

im most likely going to get 17x8 or 18x8 and pull/roll fenders.
with a 37 or 40mm offset.

if you are doing a rs widebody then i dont see why 9's wouldnt fit.

[WRCwannabe]

arent standard rs wheel 42offset or something?

[CaysE]

Yes.

[REVSWIN]

Originally Posted by CaysE

The RS uses different hubs though, which means if I wanted standard 18x8 wheels, I'd have to run et17 to look like a real RS.

Correct, that is what I was talking about.

I say 9" are fail safe, 9.5" are flush.

[CaysE]

What is the actual wheel track of the RS and ST170/SVT? The only spec I can find is the RS "is 65mm wider track" but it doesn't say if that's vs. a stadard Focus or an ST170.

[ClintB1321]

or get the 17x8 40et team dynamics pro race 1.2's i mentioned earlier and run a 235/40/17 tire, all it takes for that setup to fit is mild rolling and performance orieted camber angles. my car see's alot of track time with this setup with no rubbing.

[CaysE]

My point is that I like the look of the 9" wide versions of these two wheels far better than the 8" counterparts.

[ClintB1321]

do you have a pic of both?