I currently have 18's on my ride but don't want to take my car up the snow, because if I fit chains to these wheels, they will scratch the hell out of them. However, I do have some 16's off my old AU sitting in the garage and was wondering:

Is there any legal problem with having 18's on the front and 16's on the back?

Will this throw out my speedo? If so, by how much?

I can't imagine a dramatic change in handling characteristics but maybe I'm wrong??

Don't suppose anyone knows of some chains that are 18" friendly??

Cheers,

Chris

Yes it would make a difference to the speedo.

With regard to traveling you'd more than likely have a hard time starting the car rolling without burning out all the time. Only other thing I can think of is making sure the offsets are the same, you'd hate to do some damage I'm sure

I may be wrong here, but isn't the Outside Diameter of either wheel including rubber about the same? Check with a tape measure and if they are then the speedo will be accurate. Also the Standard BA has 16's on them and you can "option" the XR with them so there should be no problems. A quick call to your local Ford service centre will confirm that the standard steel wheel is exactly the same on the BA and AU. If swo then there should be no probs with brake/wheel arch clearance.

As for running 18's on the front and 16's on the rear....don't think that will be illegal but will sure look funny :lol: :lol:

Chris, if you do put the 16"s on post a couple of pic's.

There is no problem with fitting the AU 16" rims - your speedo will be within 2% accurate and, as you will only have the wheels on for the week or so, there is no need to worry - can't help you with any wheel friendly chains - there is NO SUCH THING I'm afraid.

If you have a manual just start in second gear and you'll reduce the tendency for wheelspin. Sadly with the auto you can't choose to do this - not like I can with my FMX - now there's a tough auto and with TRUE manual control albeit with only three speeds.

Ok. Thanks for the help guys. I will go whack the 16's on now. If I can get hold of my mate with a digital camera tonight I will show you the pics. Its costing me $90 for some 2nd hand tyres to put on them because the current ones are bald. I hope the 2nd hand jobs are ok...

I assume that the 16" wheels you are talking about have 225/50x16 tyres in which case the difference is not 2% but 4% to 18" (2% to 17") but in any case you will be travelling slower that you are reading on your speedo hence further inside the law. As for wheelspin, lets not get carried away here - there is a small pedal on the right called an accelarator - try pressing it less, that might work !! Good luck at the snow.

18's on the front and 16's on the back....

Fully Siiiiiccccck Maaaaateeee!

Wid duh 16in on duh rears u kan let loose sum fully sick burn-outs mate wit out wasting your 18in rubber :D

(I'll just go out and shoot myself now...)

Regards,

isher

I "think" its illegal to run different diameter wheels unless your car left that way from the factory.

I think that's the case in the a.c.t anyway......

a mate had a cortina and he had 15's on the front and 14's on the back and im sure he got a defect notice issued to him. that was a while ago though.....

sport> can't do maths eh?

If you do the maths purely from the designated tyre size then the difference is 3.2%.

However, if you take into account the variables such as sidewall bag, speed ballooning, (both of which are obviously different between a 40 series and a 50), and then there's also the difference in manufacturing tolerances between different makes, the difference in practice comes back to about 1.5 to 2%.

Yokohama produce an "equivalents guide" for people who want to check the overall diameters of various size/profile tyres. It is available at most tyre outlets for your perusal and it will state basically the same as I have regarding the variables that you will encounter.