Show me your WHEELS!

[TheBabyBadger]

Okay guys! Now that I have my donor, I need wheels before the chassis shows up so it's mobile when it arrives! (Yes, my wife bought that, too!). Show me your Roadster and tell me what you're running! The more info the better! SIZE MATTERS! Tires, backspacing, etc!

Here's what I WANT to run...so you have THESE WHEELS... I definitely wanna see yours since I showed you mine! (Man I'm on fire today!)

wtk-1007ubgn_6c04b93f.jpg

[michael everson]

Not sure what you mean by mobile. If its a new kit your aways from having it mobile when it arrives. I f you have a donor with wheels and tires, use those during the build. No sense in buying tire now. What if it takes you 5 years to finish? Now your starting out with 5 year old tires.
Mike

[Driver_WT]

I used a set of wheels and tires off the Mustang for my garage wheels during the build (which was years) and then bought new tires and wheels when I was ready to put the car on the road.

[Jeff Kleiner]

I'm another one in the "Don't buy tires until you really need them" camp. With that said though my buddy Tak has the FR500s on his car:



The usual 9" fronts and 10.5" rears with either 245/45-17 or 255/40-17 in front and 315/35-17 on the rear.

Cheers,
Jeff


tak.jpg

[TheBabyBadger]

My mobility quip was a joke about getting the wife to let me order wheels, but if it's better to wait, that's fine, too! More than anything I wanted to see different styles and sizes on Cobras built here. Mine shouldn't take too long to get on the road. I helped my neighbor with his and the registration process almost took longer than the build. Good ol' California. Figured I was offering up an opportunity to show off your cars!

[Duke]

20" Fuel, wrapped in Toyo R/T 33x12.5r20. Tucks right under the body, zero rubbing at full lock

[Jazzman]

20" Fuel, wrapped in Toyo R/T 33x12.5r20. Tucks right under the body, zero rubbing at full lock

Now THAT gives me some very creative ideas . . .

[TheBabyBadger]

4wd Cobra....?

[JoeAIII]

20" Fuel, wrapped in Toyo R/T 33x12.5r20. Tucks right under the body, zero rubbing at full lock

LOL, if they weren't so darn heavy, I'd mock up the tires off my truck next to our build - that picture is too darn funny!


I am planning the F5 halibrand replicas at this time, but have plenty of time to look for alternates. I prefer a more "period" correct look to the modern styles on these cars.

[SingleMaltWSKY]

Just had these made up by Augment Wheel Company in Toronto Ontario. Working on the center caps now,

[cgundermann]

Just had these made up by Augment Wheel Company in Toronto Ontario. Working on the center caps now,

Very, very cool!

Chris

[Richard Oben]

Go the Harbor Freight or Northern and buy 2 furniture dollies. They fit the frame perfectly and are dirt cheap. Carpeted, easy on frame and mobile in all directions. In my opinion, there is no reason to buy wheels or tires early in the build, all they are is in the way, and only go two directions. We go as far as putting the motor and transmission in and wire the car before the wheels and tires go on. The only reason to put wheels and tires on is to get it outside to do the first start and/or go cart. JMHO, Richard.

[Joee]

You may want to look at tire choices before committing to wheels. 17" tires for our cars are becoming limited.

[Fabb]

You may want to look at tire choices before committing to wheels. 17" tires for our cars are becoming limited.

What is the recommended sizes for 18" wheels? for 17 i am assuming the 255/40 and 315/35.

[Avalanche325]

I agree with several others here.
1. HF furniture dollies are all you need for the chassis to be mobile.
2. Tires have a shelf life of around 6 years, even if they just sit in the warehouse.

[TheBabyBadger]

Go the Harbor Freight or Northern and buy 2 furniture dollies. They fit the frame perfectly and are dirt cheap. Carpeted, easy on frame and mobile in all directions. In my opinion, there is no reason to buy wheels or tires early in the build, all they are is in the way, and only go two directions. We go as far as putting the motor and transmission in and wire the car before the wheels and tires go on. The only reason to put wheels and tires on is to get it outside to do the first start and/or go cart. JMHO, Richard.

Sounds like a plan, thanks! Just anxious but will hold off. Thanks for the tips. Love harbor freight, especially for unimportant things! Will get those coming!

[TheBabyBadger]

You may want to look at tire choices before committing to wheels. 17" tires for our cars are becoming limited.

No sure about that. Hoosiers makes drag radials and damn near every other company makes 17" tires in both those sizes. They're still extremely common. Plus the sidewall has slightly more flex and can be run taller in a 17 giving a cornering edge over a stiff side walled 18" tire... I actually prefer 17 over an 18.

[Ray]

Here are the ones on my car: IMG_0002.JPG

Ray

[Avalanche325]

No sure about that. Hoosiers makes drag radials and damn near every other company makes 17" tires in both those sizes. They're still extremely common. Plus the sidewall has slightly more flex and can be run taller in a 17 giving a cornering edge over a stiff side walled 18" tire... I actually prefer 17 over an 18.

Hoosier Drag Radials are race tires for classes where you have to have a DOT rating. Drag radials are meant for straight line, cornering is pretty bad. They are race-only. This is from Hoosier.com:

"WARNING: DOT labeled Hoosier Racing Tires meet Department of Transportation requirements for marking and performance only and are NOT INTENDED FOR HIGHWAY USE. It is unsafe to operate any Hoosier Racing Tire, including DOT tires, on public roads. The prohibited use of Hoosier Racing Tires on public roadways may result in loss of traction, unexpected loss of vehicle control, or sudden loss of tire pressure, resulting in a vehicle crash and possible injury or death."

There are plenty of 245 and 255s, but not many 315s. Fewer that you would actually want on a Cobra. I am always concerned about tire choice. I drive mine quite a bit (5000+ miles / yr) and autocross regularly. There is pretty much ONE tire that fits that bill these days in a 17". Nitto NT05. Khumo no longer makes a 315/35 17.

I did some poking around since I haven't looked for 5-6 months:

100 treadwear - These are really track tires that you can drive to the event. <200 is considered a race tire by the SCCA. You will get around 5000 miles out of these on the street. So sort-of streeable. It would be nice to have a 2nd set of wheels and keep these for track days. If you don't mind ponying up for a set a year, or don't drive that much:
Nitto NT01, Toyo Proxies R888, Mickey Thompson ET Street - I can't find a real treadwear rating. I saw 0 on one site.

Streetable - I consider 180 to 300ish treadwear streetable for a Cobra.
Nitto NT05 is a good choice for street / autocross (200 treadwear- sweet spot for Street / Autocross high HP Cobra). They also have the 555G2 (320 treadwear -a bit hard for serious autocross, might be the sweet spot for a street-only <400HP Cobra). There is a Motivo that has 560 treadwear. (Too hard for a performance car, much less a Cobra).
Goodyear Eagle F1 - (380 treadwear) a little hard, expensive and generally poor reviews.
Sumitomo - Cheap but terrible grip. Just about dangerous on a Cobra.
Mickey Thompson Street Comp (300 treadwear) Maybe a good choice? Don't know that much about them. Never seen an M/T tire at an autocross event. So, not for me.

That pretty much leaves Nitto and a maybe on M/T.

There are some REALLY good tires out there like the Rival S and the RE-71R, but they don't come in our size. I would like to hear if there is something else good out there.

[Paparazzi]

Team III courtesy of Richard Oben at North Racecars. Love the deep dish that I could get with narrow (pin-drive) width. It's exactly the old school look I was going for with the 15" rims.

[BN]

image.jpegfrom Billets Californie

[BN]

image.jpegfrom Billets Californie

I have the steering to match the wheels

[BN]

image.jpegthe front 245/40/17 rear 275/40/17

[TheBabyBadger]

Hoosier Drag Radials are race tires for classes where you have to have a DOT rating. Drag radials are meant for straight line, cornering is pretty bad. They are race-only. This is from Hoosier.com:

"WARNING: DOT labeled Hoosier Racing Tires meet Department of Transportation requirements for marking and performance only and are NOT INTENDED FOR HIGHWAY USE. It is unsafe to operate any Hoosier Racing Tire, including DOT tires, on public roads. The prohibited use of Hoosier Racing Tires on public roadways may result in loss of traction, unexpected loss of vehicle control, or sudden loss of tire pressure, resulting in a vehicle crash and possible injury or death."

There are plenty of 245 and 255s, but not many 315s. Fewer that you would actually want on a Cobra. I am always concerned about tire choice. I drive mine quite a bit (5000+ miles / yr) and autocross regularly. There is pretty much ONE tire that fits that bill these days in a 17". Nitto NT05. Khumo no longer makes a 315/35 17.

I did some poking around since I haven't looked for 5-6 months:

100 treadwear - These are really track tires that you can drive to the event. <200 is considered a race tire by the SCCA. You will get around 5000 miles out of these on the street. So sort-of streeable. It would be nice to have a 2nd set of wheels and keep these for track days. If you don't mind ponying up for a set a year, or don't drive that much:
Nitto NT01, Toyo Proxies R888, Mickey Thompson ET Street - I can't find a real treadwear rating. I saw 0 on one site.

Streetable - I consider 180 to 300ish treadwear streetable for a Cobra.
Nitto NT05 is a good choice for street / autocross (200 treadwear- sweet spot for Street / Autocross high HP Cobra). They also have the 555G2 (320 treadwear -a bit hard for serious autocross, might be the sweet spot for a street-only <400HP Cobra). There is a Motivo that has 560 treadwear. (Too hard for a performance car, much less a Cobra).
Goodyear Eagle F1 - (380 treadwear) a little hard, expensive and generally poor reviews.
Sumitomo - Cheap but terrible grip. Just about dangerous on a Cobra.
Mickey Thompson Street Comp (300 treadwear) Maybe a good choice? Don't know that much about them. Never seen an M/T tire at an autocross event. So, not for me.

That pretty much leaves Nitto and a maybe on M/T.

There are some REALLY good tires out there like the Rival S and the RE-71R, but they don't come in our size. I would like to hear if there is something else good out there.

AVALANCHE - All good points. You're talking to a former AMA/AFMer so I know you don't get your cake and eat it, too. I wouldn't expect my street tires to make it to the track. The Nitto is agreat street tire, and the NT05 is an excellent track tire. I plan to run some OE cobra wheels for track (17s) and run my sexy FR500s with some G2s for cruisin and shaking my *** at people from a dig!

Thank you for the thorough and kind response. I really do appreciate all the support, insight and information I'm getting here. It's awesome!