Is anyone running 18" wheels?

[Foowowee]

I've been toying with the idea of calling PS Engineering to see if they will make me a set of 18" wheels. Actually, I've seen specials on 18" Michelin Pilots where they are cheaper than a set of 17 inchers. I would be interested to know if anyone is running a set of custom 18 inchers (Coddington, etc) and what
ride quality to expect as well as any fitment problems. I'm not concerned with aesthetics of an 18" compared to a 15".
Any reply is appreciated .
Thanks.

[Bryan Wilson]

Saw this car at a show our club held. don't know the owner but the wheels were 20"
Cheers,
Bryan

[viking]

[PatBuckley]

Or do you mean 18" wide?

[JWheaton]

Foooo,

Before you get bigger wheels you will need to replace the small block with a big block.

Priorities on bigness are essential.

[The Dreamer]

I too wanted to look at 18 in wheels, but you will find that your selection of 17 in tires is much better and they have a larger diameter (335/35/17 vs 335/30/18). Those Pilots may be on sale now, but down the road they may have you because of you available choices. This all assumes you wanted 335 width. For smaller widths, the choices increase.

[JWheaton]

Foowee,

Was looking at James Baldwins gallery and he has 2 pictures of his former ERA with 18 inch wheels. 2 different looks.

[Roscoe]

Kinda looks like a little guy with big feet. Way out of proportion.
Looks more like the Cobra Performance Group cartoon car.
Roscoe

[SL]

I was looking for 18's also, as most tire makers have discontinued road racing slicks in the 17 inch size.. I spoke with Phil at PS and he is not set up to produce 18's at this time..

[Jamo]

[Turk]

I don't think you can ever have too much money or too much wheel.
18" is just right on these cars.

TURK

[RPRICE]

I run a set of bolt on 17 Boyd Cottingtons. Decided I did not like them an called a corvette guy in Jacksonville, FL. First saw his wheels on a Gran Sport that runs at Run and Gun every year. Make any backspacing and bolt pattern you want. Was looking for a lighter set of 17s. He was talking me out of the 17s and said I should go with the 18s. He had a long list of performance and tire option reasons to do so. My business hickuped about that time and I dropped the project. Shortly after that, I had my S1 at a track day with a bunch of ZO6s. They all were running this guys wheels and could not say enough about the quality of the wheel and the man. If I decide to go back to the 18 inch project, he will be the first I call. I am traveling now and cannot get his information. Will post Friday or Sat when I get back to Memphis with his website info.
Richard
Memphis

[Aussie Mike]

I was seriously looking at running 18's when I ordered my wheels. There were some good deals going on the Michelin Pilot sports here too and the tyre bill for 18's wasn't much more than 17's. I settled on 17's because there is a better range of drag radial style tyres as I want to have a go at the strip from time to time. The selecton of 17" tyres in wide sizes is a lot better than 18" if I want to run a different brand/compound.

My wheels were built by an Australian company called Ozwheels (no relation to OZ racing). They are a 3 piece design using a cast alloy center bolted into 2 spun alloy rim halves. Ozwheel build a lot of wheels for racing Porsches and Ferraris down here and they make a very nice wheel.

I wanted to run larger diameter rims since it gives you a lot more room for bigger brakes. Also the offsets I'm using would look a bit odd for 15" wheels. It's an aquired taste but I really like the look now. Move over Ben Hurr, there's a new charriot in town

The 18" versions use the same center as mine and they just bolt them into larger diameter rim halves. Changing rim widths or diameters is easy as you just need the new rim halves spun up and then un bolt the centers and bolt the new halves on. Check that they run true and away you go.


Cheers

[James Baldwin]

JWheaton,

So YOU are the instigator?

... So I get to the email today... wow 8 emails from clubcobra people....

Email 1 - "What the hell did you do to your ERA?"
Email 2 - "How the hell did you fit 20" wheels in your car"
Email 3 - "Are you crazy? Why would anyone so that to a Cobra?"
Email 4 - "Who made those wheels for you?"
Email 5 - "That looks really cool. How much?

hahaha - I had no idea what the emails were referring to until I finally read this post.

Just for the record.. , I really did not do that to my ERA. The pictures are left over from a April fools joke I played on someone lastyear. I created it digitally in Photoshop and don't actually have the wheels.

But I am still laughing at the stir it creates each time someone sees the images for the first time (I guess that is why I have not removed them from my gallery).

[Turk]

I liked them.

[750hp]

Here's a local car running 18s. They fit just fine, and complement the supercharged, intercooled small block under the hood.

[750hp]

....and another

[JWheaton]

Originally posted by James Baldwin


JWheaton,

So YOU are the instigator?

I have been known to instigate.

I am glad they were not real.