I am interested in getting some 20" wheels for autocross. I went to The Tire Rack, but they only list 18" wheels for the L. Anyone know of a mfgr. who makes 20" wheels with the right bolt pattern that will fit the 14mm studs on an '00 L? My guess is that the 20" wheels on the Harley-Davidson would fit, but they are only 9" wide. I suppose they could be widened, though, like some people on this board have widened their stock wheels?

------------------
I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.

'84 Alan Record Carbonio, Aerospoke wheels, Campy brakes.
'00 SVT Lightning, silver, G-tech Pro, JBA headers, cam bolts, 4.10 gears,
Swanson's chip, Pro-M. (Next - Cal-tracs)
2001 Kevlacat 2400, twin 115 Evinrude FICHT, Raytheon VHF, Radar, and Sounder/DGPS chartplotter

gmvye@pacbell.net

 

Alpha

KMC makes a 20x8.5 rim that looks badass on the L.They are chrome and not really too bad in price. Check out the website at :http://www.kmcwheels.com
If you are interested in them let me know and I can get you a price. Justin

 

Alpha:

20" wheels are going to be unneccesarily heavy... you want to really minimize unsprung weight to maximize handling (esp. at an autocross).

Also, you wont find any race rubber in 20"... atleast Hoosiers come in 18" and everyone makes 17".

Many autocrossers will do a -1 application, not a +1 or +2. IMO you should go with 18" or even 17" and just get nice sticky low-profile tires... Of course there is always the stock wheels, which can be had for < $180...

-Dreamin
araja@kestrelsolutions.com

 

Thanks for the info, guys. Obviously I don't know that much about it, but here is the problem as I see it. I would think that for autocross I would want the lowest profile tires possible- preferably 30, certainly no more than 35. The reason I was thinking of 20" wheels is that if I put 30 profile tires on 18" wheels I would be going -2 or -3, and with my 4.10 gears my effective gear ratio would be ungodly low. Maybe this is good for solo, I haven't a clue. There are plenty of 30 profile Hoosier racing tires in various widths for 18" wheels. If I got an extra set of Lightning wheels do you think they would be light enough, or should I get some special racing wheels? And if the L. wheels are OK, what is the maximum width tire they will support?

Heres another consideration I just thought of. Another reason I was thinking of the 20 inchers was putting some Yokohama AVS Sport 285/30ZR 20s on them and driving them on the street, in search of better street handling. And I certainly wouldn't want to go minus on the street with my gears. Comments/feedback?

P.S. Can anyone tell me what the bolt pattern is on a 2000 L? I need to know to do a wheel search at Discount Tire.

[This message has been edited by alphadoggy (edited 08-27-2000).]

 

Alright... now you got me going!

Racing tire/wheel info:
* Light, forged racing wheels are very expensive... I called Fikse recently and they said they have measured the L and 18x10 F and 18x11.5 R will work... these were $1025 F, $1225 R (each!)

* Some good tire/wheel info here: https://www.f150online.com/f150board...ML/005037.html

* Hoosier's are the stickest DOT legal race rubber out there for autocross. But, they cannot really be driven on the street. They dont have steel-belts, they have fiberglass belts and dont hold up well to potholes... but if you just... keep then away from water, and expect 500-1000 miles of street driving.

* BFG R1 race rubber sucks

* In a racing environment, wider tires are not always better. You must balance rim width and tire width... putting the widest tires you can, on a rim creates "bulgy" sidewalls, increasing tire flex and increasing steering vagueness - net slower times.

* Stock wheels are 9.5" x 18" x 5lug x 135mm x 5.8" backspace

* Taller wheels 19" or 20" are not only heavier, but have more rotational mass (more metal further away from center) - both are bad for racing. Point being, if you get a 20" race wheel have weighs the same as an 18" non-race wheel... the 18" will still outperform it.

* Chrome is very heavy

My opinions on some options:
* [Good] Use stock wheels and use the stickest 'tall' tires you can find. Wheels are cheap, but not light - but certainly a good compromise given the price of good racing wheels. A good tire would be the Pirelli P-Zero in 285/45/18... this is a good sticky street tire, wont chunk, should help with traction off the line - its no S02 nor a racing tire, but you cant get those as tall. The reduction in height is small (4.14
effective gears). The reduction in width will be more than compensated by the increased stickyness.

* [Better] Stock wheels, with low profile tires. S02's are a good choice... or for the ultimate, use Hoosiers... a 275/35/18 would work. Wider wont work on a 9.5" This tire would give you a 4.55 effective gear ratio! Not sure if this would be a problem... for an autocross, you rarely go above 60mph, but traction under power may be a problem.

* [Best] BABolt's 10.5's all the way around with the F1 supercar 315/40/18. You'd have to run them all the way around because you dont want to run 315's on a 9.5" and you certainly dont want to mix tire types (our F1 is not the same compound as the F1 supercar) Or run really wide race rubber! I emailed BABolt about a week ago and asked if his 10.5's would fit in the front... he said he'd check. I hope his wheels can hold-up to autocross abuse.

* [Insane] Race wheels. These will be light, you can get them in whatever size you want. Obviously race wheels in 18" will outperform a 19", and that will outperform a 20" (weight). You could go 18" and wider than 9.5", and run a wider tire... lots of tire choices here.

Ok, I'm tapped out,
-Dreamin

[This message has been edited by DreaminAboutL (edited 08-28-2000).]

[This message has been edited by DreaminAboutL (edited 08-28-2000).]

 

Dreamin, are you going to go on the Pismo run? I would really like to exchange ideas with you in person, although I think you have already given me the answer, which is that if I get dedicated race wheels/tires I have a lot of choices, but it I want dual purpose street/autocross wheels I am pretty much stuck with the stock set up, reason being that I cannot reduce the o.d. of my wheels and still get my truck in my garage. And, I understand what you are saying about rotational mass (that's the main reason I used to race on sew-ups), but if the o.d. of the package remains essentially the same I don't understand what difference it makes whether the weight is in aluminum or rubber. Finally, what brands of racing wheels would you recommend? I went to the Fikse web site and they don't seem to have any wheels that would fit my L.

 

Alpha... I wasn't planning on going to the Bismo beach deal... it's pretty far from No. Calif... But I'll give it some thought... it would be good to meet you and FORDSALES.

To answer your questions:

Because metal is heavier than rubber...

Forgeline, Fikse, and Kinesis are all top-of-the-line companies. Fikse may be _slighty_ higher quality... but in that range, it's just about looks and money.

Personally, I think the Fikse I posted here would look really good on the L: https://www.f150online.com/f150board...ML/005545.html

On the Fikse website, dont go to the applications page, go to the custom fitment/offset page: http://www.fikse.com/offsets.html -- Fikse 18x9.5 @ 5.73" backspace is (close to) stock. From there, move down the list... as backspace increases, rim width is added 'inboard'. So BABolt's wheels are 18x10.5 @ 6.8" backspace (all inboard). And Fikse 18x11.5 @ 6.73 backspace is 1" inboard (in/under truck), 1" outboard (streetside).

And on the Forgeline page see: http://www.forgeline.com/rsrim1.htm -- 18x9.5 & 18x11 or 18x12 !!

Couldn't find any Kinesis wheels that I liked (for the L)

Finally, I take back my "BFG sucks" comment... the BFG's certainly aren't as good as Hoosier's, but they are way stickier than street rubber. And they come in a 295/35/18 (a popular L size).

Any more questions, dont hesitate to ask!

-Dreamin
araja@kestrelsolutions.com


[This message has been edited by DreaminAboutL (edited 08-29-2000).]

 

DreaminAboutL-

That's some great info for someone who doesn't know the first thing about autocrossing, like myself. I thank you very much.

Let us/me know what you find out about using BABolt's 10.5" rims on the fronts, more specifically on the '00 models if you can. I started that conversation with BABolt a while ago, but I never got around to following up.

Thanks again!

~rick

------------------
lightning_svt@hotmail.com
2000 Ford F-150 Lightning