Interesting. Not sureif there is that much difference.The wheel offsets are considerably different. Like at least 15 mm different.
Norm
Just for my reference, do you know what to offset is on the 05-09 17" painted aluminum wheels? on one site I saw 45mm. The V6 and the GT have the same offset right?
Ford most likely had scrub radius in mind as opposed to a BMW-esque appearance, for both the SN95 and S197, and the different platforms/sheet metal contours just ended up forcing different offsets. For an OEM, getting the steering right is more important.The stock 01-04 17x8 bullitt wheels do not have any fitment issues on an S197. I prefer the look of the wheels sitting more flush. The tucked in look and the stock 4x4 look was to facilitate the use of winter tire chains. If you never plan on using chains, why not have the wheels further outboard- as long as they don't poke out. If you go the other way and put stock s197 17x8 bullitt wheels on a 94-04, it looks absolutely awkward.
I do agree that wider wheels are better but if you are on a budget, why not pick the ones that look better if the function is pretty much identical?
No surprise there. OEMs tend to have such corporate standards. Though the S197 at least has the sheet metal folded back on itself around the rear wheel openings. What we don't know is whether it was the sheetmetal that got there first (and drove the choice of wheel widths and offsets) or if the wheels and tires had any influence on the sheetmetal contouring.I'm trying to find the source. In early 2004, there was an interview with Thai Tang, the chief engineer for the mustang and one of the questions was about the wheel tuck and the ride height. His response was that the engineering team had to make compromises due to a ford corporate requirement that vehicles needed to have clearance for tire chains and they had to sit so that if a chain came loose, it would not cause damage to the body of the car.
I'll post it f I can find it, only excerpt that I have found so far is for a suspension bolt-on project in a magazine.
I am going to take issue with that last bit. Unless they're talking about fully developed, caged, wheel-to-wheel road-race cars, a lowered ride height doesn't mean nearly as much to cornering and handling as the appearance suggests. By itself, 2" of lowering (pretty serious lowering representing 10% of about a 20" CG height and 35% of a 5.7" ground clearance) might buy you another 0.03g on a car that's already cornering at 1.1 lat-g at full stock height.From Muscle Mustangs and Fast Fords January, 2011:
Ford's official word on why Mustangs are given the high stance has been snow-chain clearance (and they're actually serious). Although we begrudgingly understand the concession, the truth is that the factory ride height is stilted. Not only does the stock stance look goofy, it really does hinder a 'Stang's handling potential.
A 45 mm offset on an 8" wheel is much different than on a 10" wheel.
Having a 45mm offset does not make a wheel the correct offset.
Those are SN95 and possibly Fox-body offset numbers, back when a 9" wide wheel was considered wide. But 9" is hardly any wider than the 18x8.5 wheels that came stock on S197 GTs up through 2008 or maybe 2009 (and narrower than the GT500 wheels for the same era), so I can see why 9" with S197 offset might be a rare animal.True, but 45mm on the 17x8 is the oem offset. I can't find either a 17x9 or 18x9 that even comes close to 45mm. Most are 20-30mm.
AM and most other wheel sources tend to be cautious. They don't necessarily know what size tires people are going to try to run, and with most of their customers tending to choose bigger tire sizes rather than smaller size tires and living with a little 'stretch' they're just going to discourage that much wheel.Further, the 45mm 18x10 AM replicas are marketed as "rear only."
Those Apex wheels need spacers and longer wheel studs to work up front. I think Apex sells 25 mm spacers, though 20 mm might be enough in cases where 285/xx tires are being used.Some wider wheels are apparently OK for the front, like the Apex EC7 in 18x11 with 52mm offset. Nice auto-x wheel, but not what I need for cruising/touring. Also costs $379.