Anyone have experience widening wheels?

[FHATTCATT]

2009 gt500 with 13-14 20x9.5" gt500 rear wheels. Am balancing various benefits of buying new rims and tires versus widening my rear rims and going with a 325 or 335 mpss tire. I have done tons of searching for info, but noone difinitively says what widening (Weldcraft) costs, or exactly what the offset should be. Saw one thread, a year old, where someone widened to 11.75" with 335/30s but never said what the offset was. Anyone with any concrete info?

 

[007snake]

Here is a good thread that also says to go to Eric Vaughn, not Weldcraft. I do not see any pricing, but I know @paluka21 just sent some Alcoas to Eric for widening.

http://www.fordgt500.com/forums/59-wheel-tire-section/156618-widening-stock-svt-pp-rims.html

 

[oldstv]

I used Weldcraft on two different sets "not Ford wheels" they turned out great.
You do need to tell them if you would like the welds smoothed out, otherwise they just leave them raised.

 

[paluka21]

2009 gt500 with 13-14 20x9.5" gt500 rear wheels. Am balancing various benefits of buying new rims and tires versus widening my rear rims and going with a 325 or 335 mpss tire. I have done tons of searching for info, but noone difinitively says what widening (Weldcraft) costs, or exactly what the offset should be. Saw one thread, a year old, where someone widened to 11.75" with 335/30s but never said what the offset was. Anyone with any concrete info?

With the stock 20x9.5 2013/14 wheels, you will have inner fender well clearance issues if you go past a certain point due to their offsets. IIRC, some of the guys who did this modification ran a spacer to push the wheels out, which also made them more flush to the fender. I don't remember the exact widths I've seen these wheels being widened to, but here are a few threads you may want to look over.
https://www.svtperformance.com/forums/threads/making-clearance-for-wide-tires.916691/

https://www.svtperformance.com/forums/threads/widening-stock-svt-pp-wheels.976166/

If you're looking for a 335 width tire, you will have some sidewall bulge on an 11.75" rim, which means if you' have to space the wheel outwards (because all of the widening happens towards the inside of the wheel) you may have fender-to-tire contact due to the bulge of the tire. IIRC the widest tire w/o a bulge on an 11.75" wheel is a 325....depending on the manufacturer.

 

[paluka21]

FYI- Here is a 335 on a 12" wide Super Snake Alcoa wheel. As you can see, there is still a little sidewall bulge even with a 12" wheel. Granted it tough to say how your wheels would fit under the fenders as the spacer you would use is unknown at this point. But this is a point of reference for you.

https://www.svtperformance.com/forums/threads/335s-on-12-alcoas-on.973299/

 

[FHATTCATT]

Thanks everyone. Anyone have contact info for Eric Vaughn?

 

[flattrack53]

I used Weldcraft on a set of factory 2000 Cobra R wheels... I had them widened 1". When I sent the wheels out there they balanced at 0.00 and when I got them back they balanced at 0.00. I couldn't be any happier with the finished product. When I had them done I had right around $550 in them with shipping there and back. This was also in 2010.

 

[Saleen-AL]

I used Weldcraft on a set of factory 2000 Cobra R wheels... I had them widened 1". When I sent the wheels out there they balanced at 0.00 and when I got them back they balanced at 0.00. I couldn't be any happier with the finished product. When I had them done I had right around $550 in them with shipping there and back. This was also in 2010.View attachment 84999

Flat,

I'm considering doing the same to my R wheels. Do you have photos of the finished product installed and what tire size are you now running? Any inner or outer clearance concerns?

Al