[darcyb62]

So the Bullitt's my daily driver and I will be driving it through the winter.

I've been pricing out some winter rubber and wheels and have narrowed my choice down to the Dunlop Winter Sport M3.

The local tire place will sell me 18" M3s at the 400 + mark. 17s for about 325. Wheels will top out the 200 mark. (note: canadian $)

I'm looking at www.tirerack.com and they will sell M3 for $223 each but they are selling a 17" package (wheels and tires) for a total price of $1140. Adding TPMS adds another $400. Shipping is about $230 but i"m not sure what if any duties would apply.

So if I buy 18s in Canada I'm looking at about 2400 + taxes. 17s will be 2100.

If I go to tire rack and get the 17 package I'm looking at 1370 plus taxes (no TPMS). That's a big difference. (currency conversion is not significant)

I have a few questions....

1. What's the word on tire rack? Are they reputable?

2. Will the 17s fit on the Bullitt? Is Tirerack's word good enough?

3. Do I need to install the TPMS?

Any help greatly appreciated and no I'm not going to park it over the winter.

Darcy

 

[Bullitt 736]

I have a few questions....

1. What's the word on tire rack? Are they reputable?

Very reputable. I've bought a few sets from them

2. Will the 17s fit on the Bullitt? Is Tirerack's word good enough?

I believe so. The V6 Stangs have 17"

3. Do I need to install the TPMS?

I don't know

Any help greatly appreciated and no I'm not going to park it over the winter.

Darcy

See above

 

[Silverback]

3. Do I need to install the TPMS?

If you do not want the low tire pressure light to be on 24/7 you must buy the TPMS bands for the new wheels. Tire Rack sells them.

 

[Cisco]

You should have all season tires on it now. Get a wax oil treatment for your bottom or P.O.R. paint for your "rear-end" if you are keeping long term.. I used POR on my "rear-end" and I dont drive in bad weather. My 2 cents.
Charlie

 

[darcyb62]

You should have all season tires on it now.

All seasons are barely good enough with the winters we have up here. While I won't drive in the thick stuff we get lot's of ice and hard packed snow. I drove my GT with the Pirelli all seasons through the winter and didn't really like it. I had planned on getting winters for that car but just never got around it. I've had winters on cars previous to that and its unbelievable the difference they make in winter driving.

darcy

 

[jymontoya]

Just another reason to live in the South...

SUMMER TIRES YEAR ROUND WORK GREAT!

WAHOO!!!

 

[Cisco]

All seasons are barely good enough with the winters we have up here. While I won't drive in the thick stuff we get lot's of ice and hard packed snow. I drove my GT with the Pirelli all seasons through the winter and didn't really like it. I had planned on getting winters for that car but just never got around it. I've had winters on cars previous to that and its unbelievable the difference they make in winter driving.

darcy

I guess in conn. we dont get winter as you know it. I guess most of dont get a real winter. You could write an article for us on winter driving, what its really like, Look forward to seeing that. Charlie

 

[wsd080546]

If you are going to put 17" wheels for the winter, then make sure you go with the 235/55/17 tires to maintain the proper Rolling Diameter (27.1" RD). That way you do not have to adjust your speedometer calibration. You can go with a 245/50/17 (26.8 RD) or a 255/45/17 (26" RD), but will have to adjust your speedometer (Diablo Sport Predator or SCT Excal II). The Mustang GT's come stock with the 17" wheels and 235/55/17 tires OEM.

When/if you upgrade your Bullitt's tires, you can go to a 255/45/18 tire that will keep your same Rolling Diameter (27.0" - 27.2" RD) so as not to have to adjust the Speedo. They look great on the car and sidewall/tread will be almost inline with your rim. I did this on my 05' GT and it looks great.

You can find OEM Mustang Takeoff Bullet Wheels for $450 (US) with the OEM Pirelli tires (235/35/17) online a lot of places. Low to no miles on the wheels/tires. Keep the wheels and sell the tires.

My 2 cents.......

 

[CVA]

I'd go with the 17" wheel package. Save you stock wheels and anyway skinny tires work better in deep snow as the don't float as much as wide tires.

 

[MustangLynda]

I have 17" rims and 235/55/17 snow tires (Michelin x-ice) for my bullitt. The tires came from tire rack, no problems with them. The rims came from the For Sale section of a mustang site (TMS), they were original factory rims being sold by someone who modified their mustang, paid $300 + shipping for all four. I would recommend this route, cost is waaaaay less and they are going to get beat to death in the winter anyway.

I chose not to put the TPMS bands in the snow tires. The alert will beep in a totally inconsistent manner, sometimes right when I start the car, sometimes never even after driving miles and miles and miles, sometimes it will come on several miles after starting the car, other times I have gone days and it never came on. When it does come on I just shut it off and it will not come back again until I start the car again (if at all).

Also, when my all season tires were put back on in the spring, the sensors did not have to be reactivated.

 

[bullitt4428]

Psst. Hey Darcy, you might want to look into Nokian Hakkapeliitta line of winter snow tires...

http://www.nokiantires.com/en/winter_passenger.aspx

They have one that will fit our stock size rims. I used to live in Colorado and had a set of four mounted on extra rims that I swapped every six months. They were the BEST snow tires I've EVER had.

 

[darcyb62]

Psst. Hey Darcy, you might want to look into Nokian Hakkapeliitta line of winter snow tires...

http://www.nokiantires.com/en/winter_passenger.aspx

They have one that will fit our stock size rims. I used to live in Colorado and had a set of four mounted on extra rims that I swapped every six months. They were the BEST snow tires I've EVER had.

I've been looking at the Nokian's locally here. I might just go that way.

 

[bullitt4428]

We had a complete set of Hakkapeliittas for my old 1990 Mustang LX 5.0 and a complete set for my wife's Subaru. If we ever move north again, we won't buy any snow tires except the Nokian Hakkapeliitta line.

The Subaru was sold via Ebay and ended up in Alaska where the Hakkapeliittas were put to good use on even more snow and ice. The 90 Mustang stayed in Colorado with its new owner and two sets of tires (summer and winter).

 

[SWM]

used the Nokian Hakkapeliitta's on my RX7's in the winter and they were great! gonna store the bullitt this year and use the jeep... but might be a daily driver by next year and will be going the nokian route again.

 

[Golde]

Interested in the 17 inch question.

So the Bullitt's my daily driver and I will be driving it through the winter.

I've been pricing out some winter rubber and wheels and have narrowed my choice down to the Dunlop Winter Sport M3.

The local tire place will sell me 18" M3s at the 400 + mark. 17s for about 325. Wheels will top out the 200 mark. (note: canadian $)

I'm looking at www.tirerack.com and they will sell M3 for $223 each but they are selling a 17" package (wheels and tires) for a total price of $1140. Adding TPMS adds another $400. Shipping is about $230 but i"m not sure what if any duties would apply.

So if I buy 18s in Canada I'm looking at about 2400 + taxes. 17s will be 2100.

If I go to tire rack and get the 17 package I'm looking at 1370 plus taxes (no TPMS). That's a big difference. (currency conversion is not significant)

I have a few questions....

1. What's the word on tire rack? Are they reputable?

2. Will the 17s fit on the Bullitt? Is Tirerack's word good enough?

3. Do I need to install the TPMS?

Any help greatly appreciated and no I'm not going to park it over the winter.

Darcy

We are interested in the running 17 inch wheels. We kept a stock set of 17 inch mustang wheels from the GT that we traded. We ran them last winter on the GT. We are planning to run winters on these wheels, but are unsure whether you can run 17s on the Bullitt (given different suspension). Any ideas?

 

[Arkady001]

As long as the outer diameter of the tyre/wheel package is the same, then there'll be no problem. You could even run 16's but it'd look REALLY stupid...lol

 

[Black GT500]

I really can't see it making much difference...

Some guys are running 15 inch wheels with slicks, they fit. Some people are running 20 inch wheels on Bullitts. More important than the actual wheel size would be the overall diameter and the weight difference. The brake parts are the same size as the standard GT, so there won't be any problem there.

We are interested in the running 17 inch wheels. We kept a stock set of 17 inch mustang wheels from the GT that we traded. We ran them last winter on the GT. We are planning to run winters on these wheels, but are unsure whether you can run 17s on the Bullitt (given different suspension). Any ideas?

 

[wsd080546]

As mentioned above...maintain an approximately 27" rolling diameter. 235/55/17 tire has ~27.1" RD and our 235/50/18's have 27.2" RD Virtually no difference. The tire manufacturers I have researched the rolling diameters range from 26.9" RD to a 27.2" RD. For the tires sizes mentioned above & below. If you change tire size other than these, you will have to recalibrate your speedometer using a aftermarket tuner such as a Diablo Sport Predator or an SCT Excaibrator II.

235/55/17 - 27.1" RD
Any tire with a wider profile than a 235 will have a greatly reduced RD - 255/45/17 = 26.1 RD

235/50/18 - 27.0"-27.2" RD
255/45/18 - 27.0"-27.1" RD

The reason that the drag racers run smaller wheels is so they can have a taller tire profile - i.e taller sidewall. They are also a lot wider too. If you have ever watched a slow motion video of what happens when they spin up the tire, the tire will twist/deform and they also run a lower tire pressure. These tires give more traction set up this way. PHYSICS.....

For example....If you take our Bullitt (or any other car) with say 235/50/18's or even 255/45/18's and race it against the exact same car with 295/30/20's, the car with the 18's will beat the car with the 20's by several tenths of a second. Even though the Rolling Diameter is the same at approximately 27". the car with the bigger 20" tire and wheel combo (more weight for the wheel & tire) is slightly slower than the car with the 18's. I have beaten several Mustang GTs similar to mine with 20's and I have 18's. It just takes more power to spin up the bigger wheels/tires. Again...PHYSICS my friend.