“Upsell.” This might be a new word for you or your staff. Or, perhaps your staff has been trained on upselling techniques, and this term is nothing new.

In any case, if you want to increase your average sales ticket, there are opportunities that you should look into that will allow you to sell a wider-than-average tire and wheel package. But, not so fast; you have to consider constraints like offset and clearance to suspension components, inner fenderwell and frame rails, just to name a few.

In today’s world of performance tires and wheels, you can upsell on an average package to push the limits of what the vehicle can handle. How? By knowing a few details about the original offset of the wheel and how it relates to what is available or can be built. In most cases, you can improve look and handling at the same time – with a nice profit at the end.

Here is an example:

When Ford began producing the 1994 Mustang, the car showed up with 15×7, 16×8 and 17×8 wheels. The OE offset was roughly +23mm to +25mm, which is considered a medium offset for this width. The interesting thing about this car and the models built through 2004 is that the rear of the car is substantially wider than the front.

Look at the red Cobra with factory 17×8 wheels. Notice that the rear fender overhangs the tire by a couple of inches. It gives the illusion that the rear wheels aren’t correct for the vehicle.

Avoid the Quick Sell

Another interesting fact about these models is that the car has a 5×4.5 bolt pattern and can actually accept a high positive offset (+38mm) or standard offset (0mm), as well. On occasion, you may see the high positive offfset wheels installed, which tucks the wheel even further under the car than the OE.

Typically, the owner bought his or her wheels from someone who wanted to make a quick sale, perhaps pushing a set of wheels that were in stock in lieu of taking a few minutes to sell the wider package. The stock tire is a 245/45R17, which sits well on the 8-inch wheel. You can make a decent profit on that tire.

But wait: What if you could sell a 17×9 or, even better, a 17×10.5? Work a little more, and you can have your customer wanting 18×10.5 instead! To do this, play on your customers’ emotions and pride. Let customers know that they can get a larger contact patch in a 275/40R17 and a 17×9 wheel with a medium offset that will align the tire with the body.

Once you have them this far, go ahead and show them the 315/35R17s and 10.5-inch-wide wheels that will put the power to the pavement. The 9-inch-wide wheels will fit on all four corners, but the 10.5-inch-wide wheels are for the rear only.

Now, compare the Cobra to the silver GT, which has Bullit Mustang aftermarket replica wheels. Notice how well the tire and wheel now fit in relation to the body. Several Mustang aftermarket wheels are built with this configuration, including the 1998 Cobra wheel that is so popular. This simple application could net a couple of hundred extra bucks for you.

This is a street application designed to improve launches and lateral handling, but, as we mentioned earlier, you can install standard offset wheels, designed for drag racing use, on these cars. The Mustang is a great platform for drag racing and will accept 15×8 standard offset wheels with DOT or race-only tires.

In a Mustang with the race setup installed, notice the rear tire and standard offset wheel are in line with the body on the rear. The front wheels are front runners and only 3.5 inches wide. This is great for a straight line, but it does little for lateral handling.

Avoiding Frustration

Also, something that you may not know is that to install a standard offset wheel on the front of these cars you usually have to place a thin spacer between the hub of the vehicle and mounting pad of the wheel. That’s because the front calipers have a bracket that protrudes slightly above the mounting surface. The standard offset wheel has a large-diameter mounting pad, which causes the wheel to hit the bracket.

As an aside, don’t use open-end socket lugs on these cars. The rear studs are longer than the front, and the key to install a socket lug will not have enough engagement to torque the lugs properly. When installing wheels that require narrower lugs, use a spline-drive lug instead, preferably a duplex length. More installation tips like this can be found in the Performance Training Guide, the supplement that came with this issue of Tire Review.

Another high-performance upsell is possible for the 1993-2002 Camaro/Firebird. These cars came equipped with 16×8 wheels and P235/55R16 or P245/50R16 tire or with 17×9 wheels and P275/40R17 tires in most cases. The OE offset is high positive (+45mm), which sets the wheels about 2 inches under the top of the fenderwell. What I like to push for is a 9- to 10-inch-wide wheel and drop the offset down to +20mm to +25mm. On a 9-inch wheel, the lower offset gains almost 3/4-inch more to the outside.

Using a one- or two-piece wheel with a lip gives a nice look and provides you with extra room toward the inside to go even wider, say 11 inches.

One particular build that we did a number of years ago pushed the absolute limits of this car. We managed to massage a set of 18×10.5 wheels on all four corners, wrapped in a set of 295/35R18s. Today, I wouldn’t be afraid to try a 335/30R18 on the rear mounted on a 12-inch wheel.

The point to all of this technical jargon is to show you the possibilities that are walking in your door each day with every customer. A complete understanding of how aftermarket wheels will fit these and other vehicles will give your staff an edge in increasing their average sales ticket amounts.

To further help you get through your day, look at our new Performance Training Guide that accompanies this month’s regular issue. It’s packed with real-world problems and how we were able to solve them. We hope that you can use the information in the guide to prevent or diagnose a problem in your shop.