18" Rims on my LEAF! What do you think?

Well, I did it today. I wanted to see if I could get some 18" rims on my car for a little more style and handling. So I put some 18" x 8" rims with 18-235-55 tires. They fit in there great. The only rub I'm getting is while backing up and the wheel cranked all the way to the left. So I'm pretty happy.

What do you think? Do you like the look? The last picture has the new tires on the right and the old on the left. (So you can see the size difference.)

I'm a fan of 18's for sure.
Did you put LRR or high traction/performance tires and did you notice much of a hit in range?
I put some 18's with some high traction performance tires on mine and I seem to have lost some range (~15%) even taking in account the larger diameters effect on the speedometer (4.2%). the friction generated by the larger, wider, softer tires appears to be costing me around 10% but the handling is amazing.

Wheels look nice, but I think you're ruining the look with that Bud Gordon's Quality Nissan license plate frame. :mrgreen: EVPlates.com has some real nice options more suitable for your beautiful car.

vrwl said:

Wheels look nice, but I think you're ruining the look with that Bud Gordon's Quality Nissan license plate frame. :mrgreen: EVPlates.com has some real nice options more suitable for your beautiful car.

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Well, I'll have to check that out.

But in my defense, no one noticed the plates until I swapped the rims.

I think someone should try smaller rims like 12" and 13", perhaps start a new fashion trend.. whitewalls?

The ford wheels dont look bad. Gunmetal or plasti-dip them black and it would give the car a real aggressive look. I understand the drop in efficiency/range by what you claim about 15%. I would not worry about that if I had access to L3's (East coast we do not, so range is everything)

I'm fine with my factory wheels.

I think those are very nice looking wheels for the Leaf.

Love the look! We had thought about 18s but the roads in Ohio are horrid so we figured better safe with 17s. We will install them on the wife's Leaf come spring time. For now the factory wheels + snow tires work for us... Anyhow, the 18" setup looks gorgeous. I'm a fan of bigger, but for the leaf you wanna keep it light weight (and LRR tires if possible!)

Love the look of those Mustang bullitts! You have my vote for the best looking wheels I've seen on the LEAF to date.

I have Mustang fanblades on my Crown Vic and took the stock cop wheels and put them on my LEAF for winter tires. I'll be changing out the pads and rotors on all four corners on the Crown Vic once spring gets here, so maybe while I've got the wheels off the Crown Vic, I'll put them on the LEAF for S&Gs.

It's funny how good Mustang wheels look on other cars.

What tires are you running?

scogre said:

Well, I did it today. I wanted to see if I could get some 18" rims on my car for a little more style and handling. So I put some 18" x 8" rims with 18-235-55 tires. They fit in there great. The only rub I'm getting is while backing up and the wheel cranked all the way to the left. So I'm pretty happy.

What do you think? Do you like the look? The last picture has the new tires on the right and the old on the left. (So you can see the size difference.)

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So mustang wheels bolt on with no mods? The bolt pattern, hub size and hubcentric bevel is correct??

Just checking as oem takeoffs for mustangs, especially in 17" sizes are practically free around here. Every Mustang owner seems to want big REEYUMS!

Thanks!

peakay said:

So mustang wheels bolt on with no mods? The bolt pattern, hub size and hubcentric bevel is correct?

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The Leaf has a 66.1mm hub bore.
From what I've searched on Mustangs, they are 70.5mm or 70.6mm, so not the same. It'll work, but the lug studs will be supporting the whole wheel.

Go onto ebay and search for 66.1 spiggot rings they will cure the problem

kubel said:

Love the look of those Mustang bullitts! You have my vote for the best looking wheels I've seen on the LEAF to date.

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+1 totally agree