Festiva Wheel & Strut Upgrade

[difrangia]

I'm wanting to change to 13" or 14" early Mustang wheels on my 89 Festy and have been digging through related threads for a while. Just a couple of quick questions to clarify my options. Seems that rear struts are getting much more difficult to source here approaching mid 2026. I'd like to change to Aspire rear struts but Rock Auto and all my local parts houses show no Aspire availability and it appears the available Festiva struts are in the $75-$85 range. My understanding is that the Aspire struts provide a little more clearance for the larger diameter tires (when changing from original 12" to 13" or 14"). Can someone tell me if the Festiva springs can be used with Aspire struts if I can locate some or do I need to acquire Aspire springs to use the Aspire Struts? Thanks in advance for any advice.

[theastronaut]

If you use 165/65-13 or 165/55-14 tires (either are available on ebay) then you don't need to worry about clearance issues- they're the same width and diameter as the original tire size.