Our Pony R front wheels (PN 5055-086; $160 each) measure 17x6.5 inches and feature a 4.2-inch backspace (8.9mm offset). The wheels offer plenty of room for big-brake clearance. With their intermediate width versus a 3.5- or 9-inch wheel up front, they're great-looking, safe alternatives that help the combination look balanced when 285s or 315s are mounted in the rear.
The news of five-lug Ponys certainly is exciting for Fox purists like us, but these wheels have one specific quality that actually rates higher than their diameter and extra lugs. You see, the baddest version of this new wheel is 10 inches wide, and it features a 24mm offset. This makes installing Nitto's massive 315/35ZR-17 Extreme Drag Radial rear tires on Fox-body Mustangs possible-and it doesn't require mini-tubs, shorter axles, or anything beyond removing the useless quad shocks and opening up the inner fenderwells. More conventional 17x9-inch versions also are available for those who want a uniform look at all four points.
So now we're updating our coupe's appearance with Mavromont's version of a big 'n' littles combination for the street. Naturally, the 17x10s highlight this setup, but they're certainly not outdone in any way by the new 17x6.5 Pony R wheels that are going up front on our ride. While the new fronts aren't the slimline 3.5-inch-wide wheels that are more akin to this look, we feel they will offer a clean, balanced smaller-wheel appearance up front. With the addition of Fuzion's ZRI 215/50R-17 radials, they offer greater safety and stability when cruising down the freeway at a brisk pace. Associate Editor Johnson prefers traditional 3.5-inch-wide wheels up front, but he'll be hard-pressed to find a 17x3.5-inch Pony-style wheel anywhere.
Read on as we take you through our installation experience. Mavromont Industries' Pony Rs are definitely must-have wheels for any Fox owner and lover who wants their LX or GT to have the style of a super-stout drag 'Stang-with more rubber out back than it can stand without sacrificing any of the stocker-clean profile that forever endeared us to Pony wheels back in 1991.
A Brief Look Back
This is where it all began. The original silver four-lug, 16x7-inch, star-patterned Pony wheel was first offered on V-8-powered Mustangs in 1991. It was love at first sight for hard-core Fox fans as this style is arguably the best-looking OEM wheel Fox Mustangs ever had. | 
Stock tire size for factory Pony wheels is 225/55R-16. It looks more like a go-cart's tire compared to the 11 inches of tire width Foxes can be outfitted with today thanks to 17x10-inch Mavromont Pony Rs. | 
Because the large, soft, oval-shaped bushing in Fox 'Stangs' stock lower control arms allow rearends to move backward and forward, Ford installed two additional shock absorbers, known as "quad shocks," to the rear suspension system. The shocks dampen wheelhop during tire-blazing launches, although installing aftermarket lower control arms is a better bet for eliminating wheelhop. However, there's no way a 17x10-inch 315/35ZR-17 rear wheel-and-tire upgrade will be possible with quad shocks still in place. |
"Our main objective is to offer wheel packages for just about every possible suspension or brake setup available for Fox-body Mustang owners," says Demetrios Mavrofrides of Mavromont Industries. "We were the first company to offer a five-lug 17x10-inch wheel (four-lug versions of the wheel also are available) specifically designed for Foxes [PN 5055-154/argent (silver); $133 each, 5055-156/chrome; $170 each]. Everybody else was selling 17x10.5-inch wheels designed for SN-95 Mustangs, which really don't leave enough clearance to fit 315/35ZR-17 rear tires on a Fox." Pony Rs have a 6.4-inch backspace for use with a standard-length Fox-body 8.8 rearend. The same wheel is available with a 7.3-inch backspace [PN 5055-174/argent (silver); $133 each, 5055-176/chrome; $170 each] for those who have SN-95 rears under their Foxes. Although backspace is the popular measurement enthusiasts reference when trying to determine correct wheel-and-tire sizes for their 'Stangs, Demetrios says wheel offset is actually the more important measurement, so much more important that it's accepted throughout the industry as the standard value used for determining fitment possibilities. Offset for our wheels is 23.8 mm. The figure is doubled (46 mm) for 'Stangs with post-'93 axles in the back.