School me on drag tire/wheel setups

46addict

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My aging Nitto 555Rs are leaving some to be desired, and I started looking around for "real" drag radials. I have an idea of which tire to go with but I need to figure out what wheels to buy. I see many guys running 15" race stars in the rears and I've wondered how they got the wheels to clear the brakes. The 16" S197 V6 wheels I'm using barely clear the calipers so there must be a sweet spot to the backspacing. Will any 15" wheel in a 6.5-7" backspace fit? I do have swaybar relo brackets waiting to be installed if those need to go on for clearance. And will I need extended studs/new lugs to accommodate this backspace?

I'm trying to stay on a budget so I'm eyeing Diamond Racing wheels (NASCAR style) that are half the price of Race Stars. They're probably nowhere near as light but I really just want to improve my launches for now. Weight reduction can get expensive pretty quick.
 

stkjock

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search maybe?

sticky maybe............ top of the section
 

46addict

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I didn't see any tire related stickys in drag tech. I tried searching for "backspacing+stock brakes" and saw 1 thread that was remotely related. "Backspace+stock brakes" gave me nothing.
 

tjm73

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Don't waste money on cheap wheels. Light trumps cheap. Back in the day I had a '90 GT with Draglites. I swapped over to American Racing 5 lugs wheels and under similar conditions lost over a half second in the quarter. Huge mistake.
 

46addict

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Thanks. I guess I'll save up and do it right the first time.

Has anyone else used these in lieu of extended studs? I wouldn't mind swapping studs out but when I switch to street tires for off-track driving I'm guessing the stock lugs won't work with extended studs. Can these be used as dual purpose lugnuts?

$T2eC16FHJI!E9qSO8Hl+BQfw9BC4H!~~60_12.JPG
 

redfirepearlgt

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Go with McGard. I made the mistake of wasting money on Race Star el-cheepo lugnuts last year. I am planning on purchasing the open ends McGards (PN 63004) for the 2017 season. Also going with the extended 2.5" ARP hardened lug studs next sesason.

On 15x10 wheels you will need a 7.25" BS wheel which will clear your standard rear brakes. They will fit all 2005-2014 rear standard brake setups with maybe the exception of the 13/14 GT500. Racestar makes a respectable wheel and teambeefcakeracing.com is running a 40% off sale on them currently.

You will need to perform a sway bar relocation kit application though. That is the only clearance issue with a 15x10 wheel. The 15x8 does not require this modification. The brackets are available from BMR, UPR, and others for about $40. You will see in the directions that after installing you will have to grind a portion of the factory sway bar mount off and you are good to go.

Hope that helps. I am planning on transitioning from 17x9.5 darkstars with MT ET street R series 305/45/17's to a 15x8's or 15x10's for 2017 as well. I have plans to upgrade the tranny with a Circle D 3C which will likely need a little more traction off the line. You can't lose IMHO with MT. I've tried Nitto 555 DR's and found them to be no better than standard 555 on an FI application. Hoosier, MT, M&H, all get good reviews on this and other sites.
 
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46addict

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I did read through the thread Dave posted (not all 36 pages of it, but some of it) and people mentioned grinding down the calipers and adding a 1/4-3/8" spacer to get a 15" wheel to fit..even with a 7.25-7.5" backspace. Does that sound familiar? I may just go with 17s and not worry about caliper clearance..Let me know if you would be willing to sell/ship your 17" setup. :D
I've heard good things about the Nitto NT05Rs but I haven't seen one bad review on MTs in the Mustang community.
 
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stkjock

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the caliper issue depended on what wheel was purchased, if you read more, you'll see there are many wheels the fit without issue. it was the non-s197 specific wheels that were an issue in general
 

redfirepearlgt

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I did read through the thread Dave posted (not all 36 pages of it, but some of it) and people mentioned grinding down the calipers and adding a 1/4-3/8" spacer to get a 15" wheel to fit..even with a 7.25-7.5" backspace. Does that sound familiar? I may just go with 17s and not worry about caliper clearance..Let me know if you would be willing to sell/ship your 17" setup. :D
I've heard good things about the Nitto NT05Rs but I haven't seen one bad review on MTs in the Mustang community.

Will do. Got to get some cabbage stashed over the winter and then I will be in a better position to look into posting the 17 setup for availability. I may be able to arrange to do some shipping through my local speed shop as well to help lower the cost a bit and make a purchase of this nature more justifiable over just buying new for someone when the time comes. Will let you know. Thanks and good luck.

Ill verify if my coworker who is running 15x10's had to do anything other than the relocation bracket on his 2006 setup. Pretty certain he is running the 15x10 racestars on 7.25" backspacing with no other mods than the sway bar relo kit.
 

GTAmuscle

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I have a set sitting in my garage if you're looking for a used set with tires.
15x10's Dark Star, 275/50R15 ET Drag radials
17x7's stock Pirellis
6a41fb8557e6ecc3c0a8f3e69da2bb54.jpg
 

46addict

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I would jump on that if you were local. Are you willing to deal with shipping? And I would only want the rears. Shoot me a PM.
 

83-88T-Bird Guy

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I use 15 x 8 Jeg's brand wheels with 5.5 inch backspacing on my '05 GT.
Just had to grind the caliper a little, but it would have been nice to afford a set that cleared without grinding.

I tried my Center Line Telstars but the lip on them prevented that

10ck9b6.jpg
 
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tjm73

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Go with McGard.

I second this. I have used McGard on three cars. They don't rust and the are made in the USA (near Buffalo, NY). I used the Racestar lug nuts on the Racestars I ran on my '05 GT and they were rusty after the first rainy day. Switched to McGard. Also I had to swap out the little screws that hold the center caps on the Racestars. They got rusty after the first rain too. I found stainless screws the right size to correct that.
 

skaarlaj

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I used the dark star 15" rears on my 11 with Hoosier quick time pros, they are extremely light, and extremely sticky. I just bought the sway relocation brackets to move the sway bar more towards the wheel's centerline
here's my wheels https://lmr.com/item/SVE-10071652H/Mustang-SVE-Drag-Wheel-15X10-Gloss-Black-05-14.
here's the relocation brackets https://lmr.com/item/SVE-5772BRKT/SVE-Rear-Swaybar-Relocation-Bracket-Mustang-05-14
here's the tires http://www.jegs.com/i/Hoosier/522/17601QTP/10002/-1
Cannot say enough about how lightweight, and how much grip these tires provide for me. I've seen MT radial pros do well at the track lately too
 
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redfirepearlgt

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Just got off the phone with a guy running Race Star 15x10's 7.25BS on his 2006 GT. NO REAR CALIPER GRINDING. DIRECT FIT...SWAY BAR RELOCATION KIT IS REQUIRED.
 

skaarlaj

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