My mistake. I see that you lost 2 rims. Your car should handle similar to what it did before (except be a lot better on the corners and a touch slower on the 1/4 mile with the heavier and bigger rims).
Just so it’s clear, two rims were destroyed, but I replaced ALL FOUR tires with the 17" rims and the wide tires.
Also, I know nothing about snow or ice but I won’t have to worry about that here in Tampa.
And yeah 75 or 80… something like that. Steering with doughnuts is pretty interesting.
I like the way these new tires handle, though. The steering wheel actually feels a lot stiffer and as if it takes more effort to turn it. But the response is immediate and it drives like it’s on rails. Very, very bumpy rails…
Frank #2’s already covered the ways it’s done now, but back in the olden days of carburetors and breaker points, the speedomter ran off a gear in the transmission tailshaft, and you could go to the dealer and get the correct gear (they stocked several, with different numbers of teeth for different tire sizes) when you changed tire sizes.
I have the same tires on my 94 GT. 275/40s on 98 Cobra rims (polished, not chrome). I like them, but more for the looks. It’s a pain to drive on the highway because of the ruts worn in the pavement by trucks. A Mustang with 9" wide rims doesn’t match the width of the ruts and will drift back and forth. It’s not too bad, but it is a pain. The 16s are good during the winter as you can get better traction in the snow. The narrower tire means more pressure per square inch of the contact patch, which helps cut through the snow. Other than that, a nice set of 17s always beats out the 16s.
As for a price, it depends on which rims you’re talking about. The GT wheels are cheaper than the Cobra wheels mostly because of the availability. Every Mustang enthusiast ditches the stock rims for an aftermarket model, so there’s tons of stock GT rims available. I’d guess $450-500, but that could stretch up to $600 depending on the tire wear.