Flare Welding - Wheels Needed?

[Ferrino]

In preparation for welding on turbo flares, I was wondering how critical it is to have the intended wheels/tires on the car for the final positioning? I'm going to be ordering custom 17x9/17x11 wheels and I am aiming to get the best possible offset to fill the flares (with no/minimal spacers). There is a wild variation in offsets I have seen used on similar cars (911 chassis with 930 flares) and this appears to support the idea that no 2 weld-on flare jobs are alike.

So my question: is a wheel+tire actually needed to help align the flare and, if so, could I get away with just buying a temporary single wheel for all 4 corners to get them welded on and then take the measurements of inner/outer clearance to get the ideal wheel offset for my chassis?

Or should I just order the wheels/tires I want now and with conservative offsets, so that I can space them out to fill the flares nicely?

I am probably overthinking this, but I really want to avoid buying a set of custom wheels that don't fit well or without large spacers. Thanks for your feedback.

[mreid]

The bumper fit up is more important. In both of my narrow to Widebody conversions, I believe the distance from the rear fender lip to the inner body is 14". Once you get that right, order your wheels to fit.

[Ferrino]

Thanks, will definitely be using the bumpers when hanging the flares, just wasn't sure about wheels. I was wondering if wheels would be useful to double-check that they are centered in the flares when looking from the side.

[962porsche]

you could mount any wheel to eye ball it for center .
the flare it's self will kind of want to sit where it should if your lining up the hole for the torsion bar and to the bumper .

[Ferrino]

Thanks - I think I will do the flares first and then pick wheel offsets to suit. I will probably buy/borrow a wheel just as a final check to make sure the wheels are absolutely centered.

[962porsche]

what do you have a car that has no wheels for it now ?

[Ferrino]

Sorry, I don't understand your question. Are you asking me why I have no wheels? I sold them because I thought I was going to buy new wheels first before installing flares. This is all part of a larger project - the car has been on a dolly for a year or so...

[962porsche]

now it makes sense to me as to why you are asking about wheels and getting them now .
you could take a plumb line from the top of the arc of the wheel opening and if the axels are still in the car check to see if it drops center of the axel line .
you can also use the plumb line to get the distance out from the wheel hub .
just be sure the car is level when you do it .

[Jim Dorociak]

I build wheels. There are differences on the cars - turbo trailing arms vs regular trailing arms impact greatly the fit and the turbos have spacers in the rear that if removed allows a nice deep 4.75" outer rim. Fronts can either have a front turbo hub or a spacers and this is different than a normal 911. I routinely build 8.5 for the fronts and 11 or larger for the rears. The tire height is around 25" give or take a little. Most of my builds are for the 965/993/TT cars, but I have built for 911's and 930's. I have received emails asking for different size rear wheels because the body work was done first and the wheels do not fit as planned. 9" fuchs have 5.25" backspacing so use that in your hoop calculations. jdorociak@gmail.com jim