Test fitment of newly refinished Fuchs. They fit......kind of?

[89911]

It was in the 50's today and I finally got a chance to take my car off the jackstands it's been on since November. On top of a complete overhaul to turbo brakes, I have refinshed and mounted 8x16 (951) fuchs in front and 9x16's in the rear with 225 and 245 tires. The rears have plenty of room and are no problem. The fronts are very close to the inner fender lip. On the trip to the shop, they rubbed once over a bump on the right side. I had the guys at the shop check out the camber and they said I am about at my limit. I personally think I could go more (I'm at 1 1/2 degree's right know). These guy don't like to jack up the camber on street cars if possible. I have WAY to much time in these to drop back to 7's, so I'm considering a few options. The rubbing is minimal and in fact the left side doesn't touch at all. My lips are not rolled either but sort of pushed in a bit. I would thing my options would be to:

1. Add at much neg camber to the fronts as possible.
2. Completely roll the lips. My brothers car shop actually snipped a major portion of the inner lip away and then gently pinched the metal to create maximum clearance.
3. Machine the inner wheel surface? May sound crazy but these wheels seem to have extra offset compared to 6's and 7's.
4. Find the person who said the 8x16's (951) bolt right onto Carrera's and pistol whip them
5.???

Heres some pics.

[Cornpanzer]

Cant help you with your problem, but it sure does look nice. The polished and paint detailed fuchs give it some pop without looking gaudy!

[JeremyD]

I too have a set of 951 8 x 16 on the way. Are these Porsche Part # 951 362 117 00?? Pre 1986 944 turbo offset?

I think the thread I saw did say that the fronts needed to have the lip rolled... I am prepared to do this. Is yours done?

Same ball game as you - Your just two to three weeks ahead of me. BTW what tires did you mount?

[CarreraCab]

89911, very good looking car, set off nicely with the polished Fuchs. I would not machine anything off the rims, but possibly try a smaller tire size for the fronts. I could not make out the Brand you are running on your car but some manufacturers make a 215/45 or 50 series that might help, check Tire Rack for Brand/availability. I wussed out on my fronts and stayed with the 7" Fuchs, and still could not get a 225 to clear at the ride height I like. Best of luck, Doug

[JeremyD]

This guy got 8 & 9's working on an SC 225's up front... 8 & 9 inch wheels for SC

[beamonk]

You may be a little too low in the front. Mine scraped until I raised it up a tad

[89911]

Thanks so far. My car is very low. I run 225/45/17's with 8" Fikses all day at the track with no problems. I think the fuchs offsets are still a tad more to the outer wheel well also. These are the 944 turbo fuchs also. I did not go into this blindly and in fact, the guy at Ernie's alloys did not promise me they would fit without some possible modifications. We 911 guys always have to make things harder on ourselves to get that 1/10%! As far as a smaller tire, the 205's are way too small for this rim and as far as 215, I don't think they come in too many brands. The tires on the car are brand new S03's 225/50 and 245/45. One more reason not to change anything. As I said before, changing these tires/rim is not an option! My hands have just recently recovered from the work it took to finish these and the thought of doing a set of 7's makes my knuckles ache. Just one more word, (make that two). Al Reed.

[KevinP73]

FWIW, different brands of tires in the same size can make a significant difference, I think that S-03s are about the worst, (for clearance). Sorry.

Signed, speeder(at Kevin's shop)

[Wayne 962]

Agreed, tire sizes are not exact. A different brand may give you additional clearance. I would rather change the tire than muck up the fenders of the car...

-Wayne

[Bill Verburg]

I see 2 possible steps that you can take

• totally shave the lips, but I don't think that will solve the problem
• use 225/45x16 SO-3s. They have a radius of 23.9", .5" shorter than the 225/50. This will drop the front end a bit less than .5" and give you ~.5" more room at the lip

The pictures may be deceiving but it appears that a bit more droop in the front would be a good thing

I have had tires as short as 23.1" on the front of my Carrera. they work great.

[pbs911]

From the way it looks, a little negative camber, both front and back wouldn't hurt.

[89911]

Originally posted by pbs911
From the way it looks, a little negative camber, both front and back wouldn't hurt.

Thats my thoughts also. What is the most you can get out the front end? My car has the monoball strut mounts and can gain additional neg camber.

[KTL]

I'd have to second the recommendation of the lip shaving/rolling.

Too much neg camber is going to eat your tires in a hurry.

Even though you don't want to hear it Michael, the 225/45 idea recommended by Bill V sounds like an excellent idea as well. The ride will be a tad firmer with the 45 and the steering response will probably be a bit better as well.

[89911]

Bill, thanks for the advice. I am puzzled myself why I didn't go the 225/45 route. I guess all the information I could gather kept recommending 225/50. Oh well, any advice if TireRack will take back a set of tires that have been mounted and have about 10 miles on them? If not anyone looking for a set? I'll let you know how it works out.

[Tyson Schmidt]

Michael, I'd recommend that you run 2 degrees negative up front and 2.5 neg. in the rear. I know you track the car a lot, so I think this is an appropriate recommendation for you.

[ChrisBennet]

Originally posted by 89911
The tires on the car are brand new S03's 225/50 and 245/45.

I have these tire in that size and the 245/45's have the same (measured) treadwidth as the 225/50's. Have you noticed this on yours?
-Chris

[89911]

Chris, I did notice that the 245's on the rear look a bit stretched on the 9" rim. A 255 or 265 would fit the rim and wheel well better. Tyson, as far as the camber, I trailer my car but do take it occasionally on some longer rides. While 1-1.5 neg camber doesn't deteriorate the handling too much, will 2-2.5 cause excessive dartiness on straitline runs? If not too bad, I'll go that route.

[DCobra]

If you are planning on tracking the car, you will definitely have to roll the fenders imho. If it rubs on the street it will amplify on the track. I am running 9's (245's) in the rear and 7's (205's) on the front with Yokahama advans. They really turn in well and stick like glue.

DC
83 SC - track car

[Mike Feinstein]

89911,

Just a thought, my car is pretty low and I'm running 225-50's on 7's up front (Bstone RE-730's street, Khumo Victoracers track). Fender lips are rolled flat. My wrench did it with a ball pean hammer. Before he started he said "you may not want to watch this". No paint cracking and no rubbing (fender lip sits at about 24.6"). He's done more than a few of these.

I agree, 245's on my rear 9's look a bit stretched...especially compared to the 225's on 7's up front. Roll the lips and get your front above 24.5" and you should be fine.

[89911]

Thanks so far. I guess I should wait and try the lip rolling, camber and see if that doesn't correct it before buying 225/45's. As far as lip rolling, as I said before, I run 225's on Fikses for 3 years using track tires (R1's and Victoracers) without any rubbing. And track tires are generally square and have a wider treadpath then the street tires. As far as ride height, the picture shows the left side. The height looks good here. When I had the car corner balanced, the R-L heights are not exactly equal and I suspect the right side is a bit lower. I'll have them raise it a few millimeters. What is TireRacks policy on mounted, slighty driven tires? I once returned track tires that they told would fit and the rubbed. They took them back. I generally buy 2-3 sets a year of them.