Fuchs

[SpeedracerIndy]

What is the origin of Porsche Fuchs wheels? Why are they called Fuchs? What were the Fuchs forged from, Aluminum or Magnesium? I have been wondering this for a while, sorry if it's a dumb question.

[Platiporsch]

Theres a back issue of excellence that has the whole story ill find it and let you know wich issue it is

[Gunter]

Fuchs means Fox. If you look real close, you'll see a tiny fox face next to the numbers. I believe they are forged mag.

[Jack Olsen]

Paraphrased from Porsche 911: Forever Young, by Tobias Aichele:

Otto Fuchs Metallwerke had made forged wheels for armored military vehicles for Porsche during the war. So it made sense for Porsche to contact the same company when they came up with the idea of creating light alloy wheels for their 911 production car in the mid-60's. Fuchs representative Herr Kretsch offered Porsche something beyond their expectations, though: the possibility of mass-producing a high quality forged alloy wheel.

Nothing on this scale had ever been attempted in Germany.

Heinrich Klie of the Porsche model department (the early version of the styling studio) was given the task of styling the wheel. He became the 'father' of the Fuchs wheel. He is also responsible for a number of 911 design details, including the complete dashboard.

Klie and his team were given no precise instructions for the wheel, so he simply went to work with Plasticine modeling clay and came up with a design. Where styling assignments would typically involve weeks of trial and error, changes, and new revisions, this wasn't the case with the Fuchs wheel. The first model was shown to Ferry Porsche, who approved it "with a wave of a hand," according to Klie.



It then went to the suspension design department, where engineer Rudolf Hoffmann was responsible for the wheel's physical properties. Minor modifications were made.

From there, Fuchs chief engineer Karl-Heinz Ochel had to oversee a whole new process for manufacturing the wheel. 58 steps were required to make a single Fuchs wheel.

From Porsche 911: Forever Young, by Tobias Aichele
"To be precise, the Fuchs wheel was formed by the following steps. A pressed piece of stock was forged to make a forging blank. Next, drop forging the blank produced the ventilation holes and deburred the flange. A further drop forging step resulted in a split flange, before the workpiece was widened by rolling. And here is the secret advantage of this complex manufacturing process: the Fuchs wheel stayed in production for so many years because it could be rolled to any width desired. The forming process resulted in a wheel with a completely finished inner side. The outer, visible side of the wheel was turned on special lathes, which resulted in the smallest possible wheel imbalance. A carefully developed surface finish -- polishing, anodizing, and painting -- permitted different design variations over the years and assured high corrosion resistance."

After being tested directly on numerous cars, some very minor changes were made, and the wheels were offered on the 1967 models. There was some internal controversy in the company over the design itself, but the marketing people prevailed in support of the wheel, and history proved them correct. The wheel became a runaway success and remained a design fixture on the 911 for 20 years.

(Image quality is only so-so because I don't have a scanner. I used a digital camera.)

(Originally posted a good while back.)

[nestorjw]

any idea how much fuchs weigh, 16x7/8's?

[engken]

Regarding the weight of Fuch 16x7/8's, I was at Wheel Enhancement today (going with the 17x8/10 Kinesis Supercup/RS), and I could pretty sure they said my Fuch's were around 15 or 16 pounds each. John pulled up a data sheet on his computer, but I don't remember exactly.

[dvkk]

I'm curious to know how much magnesium is in Fuchs wheels.
The alloy is usually stamped near the part number. I checked several wheels I have and found the following alloys:
AS1062 (16x6)
AS1.08
AS1.62
AS1.61 (these last 3 are earlys)
I know the A stands for Aluminum and the S for Silicon. The numbers indicate the percentage of Al and Si, but what exactly are the percentages of each?
Someone told me AS1062 was 10%Al, and 6.2% Si. Does this leave 83.8%Mg?

[PCA7GGR]

I feel that the Fuchs are one of the most bueatiful wheel ever designed. In addition the are one of the strongest and lightest wheel for its time.

This past week, I took a pair of 9X16s to America's Tire to have tires mounted on them. The pair of rims were packed together in a cardboard box. The guy at the shop could not believe how light they were.