New to me Euromeister Fuchs: 8x17 and 9.5x17s

[Steve W]

So after cording my old RE-71Rs on the 7 and 9x17 Euromeister Fuchs, it was time for a new set of tires. Eyeballing the new Bridgestone RE71RS that's taken forever to come here to the States and finally here, I figured what better time to get the rims widened than now, to optimize the tire footprint and reduce sidewall wiggle on steering transients. So after contacting Kevin at Zoom Tires in El Monte, he got me a fantastic deal on a set of the new RE71RS in a 225/45-17 and 255/40-17, and removed the old tires from the rims and off they went to Eric Vaughn Machine in Monrovia, CA. Eric is 74 years old and wheel widening and narrowing is all he has been doing for the past 49 years - thousands of wheels including many Porsche and Fuchs wheels back in the day. He's an old school gear head that works in the back of an elegant old American Craftsman brick building in Monrovia. He's spent a lot of time at Bonneville, including working on many of the wheels on cars that run there, so precision and integrity are important. He says my lucky day as he has one set of 17" donor hoops left to do the conversion and will not be doing anymore as all car manufacturers have now moved on to 19-22" rims as standard, and 17s are now virtually non-existent.

Below are the results. So what Eric did is machine off the 1" portion on the backside of the 9" rim. Then he cut off the 1.5" portion of the backside of the 7" rim, and used that as the donor portion to weld onto the 9, netting the 1/2" increase to 9.5" He machines a small step on the surface of each side of the joining portion so they key into each other prior to welding both sides of the joint. Then machines away any high portions of the weld, and repainted the inside portions of the rims back to the semi-gloss black that they were originally. For the fronts, he used the donor hoops from the last set of 17s he has left, to weld onto the backside of the 7s to net an 8" wide wheel. The result in only one weld, and you can barely tell the rims were worked on or any different than original:


Eric holding one of the finished wheels:






The 9s after adding the 1.5" donor loop from the 7s:







The 7s after adding the donor loop from his inventory to make an 8:






Where it all happens:


And the industrial spec paint he used and raves about, tough as nails, and he feels better than powdercoating (i.e. not really legal in CA except for industrial use and probably will give you cancer if you snort it ...):



With the new RE-71RSs mounted, 225s on the 8s on the left, 255s on the 9.5s right:



Net results, compared to the 245 and 275 NT-01s I have mounted on a set of Fikse FM10s 8x17 and 9x17 I use for competition, the overall mounted tire width of the front 225 RE-71RS on the 8 measures 10 mm narrower than the 245 NT-01 on the same rim width, the thread footprint may be net 15mm narrower. On the back, the overall tire width of the 255 RE-71RS (left) is almost identical to the 275 NT-01s (right) mounted on the 9" Fikses:



If anything the RE-71s are a mm wider overall with almost an equivalent footprint width:

[Porkshop]

Eric is a living legend in the hot rod world for his wheel work...

[Bill Verburg]

Originally Posted by Steve W

So after cording my old RE-71Rs on the 7 and 9x17 Euromeister Fuchs, it was time for a new set of tires. Eyeballing the new Bridgestone RE71RS that's taken forever to come here to the States and finally here, I figured what better time to get the rims widened than now, to optimize the tire footprint and reduce sidewall wiggle on steering transients. So after contacting Kevin at Zoom Tires in El Monte, he got me a fantastic deal on a set of the new RE71RS in a 225/45-17 and 255/40-17, and removed the old tires from the rims and off they went to Eric Vaughn Machine in Monrovia, CA. Eric is 74 years old and wheel widening and narrowing is all he has been doing for the past 49 years - thousands of wheels including many Porsche and Fuchs wheels back in the day. He's an old school gear head that works in the back of an elegant old American Craftsman brick building in Monrovia. He's spent a lot of time at Bonneville, including working on many of the wheels on cars that run there, so precision and integrity are important. He says my lucky day as he has one set of 17" donor hoops left to do the conversion and will not be doing anymore as all car manufacturers have now moved on to 19-22" rims as standard, and 17s are now virtually non-existent.

Below are the results. So what Eric did is machine off the 1" portion on the backside of the 9" rim. Then he cut off the 1.5" portion of the backside of the 7" rim, and used that as the donor portion to weld onto the 9, netting the 1/2" increase to 9.5" He machines a small step on the surface of each side of the joining portion so they key into each other prior to welding both sides of the joint. Then machines away any high portions of the weld, and repainted the inside portions of the rims back to the semi-gloss black that they were originally. For the fronts, he used the donor hoops from the last set of 17s he has left, to weld onto the backside of the 7s to net an 8" wide wheel. The result in only one weld, and you can barely tell the rims were worked on or any different than original:


Eric holding one of the finished wheels:






The 9s after adding the 1.5" donor loop from the 7s:







The 7s after adding the donor loop from his inventory to make an 8:






Where it all happens:


And the industrial spec paint he used and raves about, tough as nails, and he feels better than powdercoating (i.e. not really legal in CA except for industrial use and probably will give you cancer if you snort it ...):



With the new RE-71RSs mounted, 225s on the 8s on the left, 255s on the 9.5s right:



Net results, compared to the 245 and 275 NT-01s I have mounted on a set of Fikse FM10s 8x17 and 9x17 I use for competition, the overall mounted tire width of the front 225 RE-71RS on the 8 measures 10 mm narrower than the 245 NT-01 on the same rim width, the thread footprint may be net 15mm narrower. On the back, the overall tire width of the 255 RE-71RS (left) is almost identical to the 275 NT-01s (right) mounted on the 9" Fikses:



If anything the RE-71s are a mm wider overall with almost an equivalent footprint width:

Interesting, did you measure the front space, back space or ET? Looks like a lot of rear camber

I've run up to 235/45 & 275/40 on 8 & 9.5 but even w/ a slightly breathed on 993 3.6 like the 225/44 & 255/40 tires better

on mine the ET was a tad low to run 245s in front
in back 9.5ET19 is perfect for up to a 275, though the lips oil line and trailing arm bolts needed to be addressed and ride height was limited

[pampadori]

Bill, curious if you have an opinion on this "static" look that is very popular with the young folk.

[Steve W]

Originally Posted by Bill Verburg

Interesting, did you measure the front space, back space or ET? Looks like a lot of rear camber

I've run up to 235/45 & 275/40 on 8 & 9.5 but even w/ a slightly breathed on 993 3.6 like the 225/44 & 255/40 tires better

on mine the ET was a tad low to run 245s in front
in back 9.5ET19 is perfect for up to a 275, though the lips oil line and trailing arm bolts needed to be addressed and ride height was limited

I didn't bother to measure them as the ET on the Euromeisters are already a known value. 7x17s are ET23 and 9x17s are ET15. The camber settings are probably higher than for your average street car, not as much as that Miata, at about -2.8 front and rear, but the car doubles as a monthly autocross car and those are typical camber values for a 911 set up for competition with r-comp tires. Camber values also verified by multiple tire temp readings with a Longacre memory pyrometer and wear is very even. I struggled with oversteer for the longest time, which is why I went with the 275s on the rear. I didn't need to shave the bolts or relocate the oil lines, maybe I would if I ran only 1 degree of camber. With the change in the ET of the Euromeisters, I now run about a 12mm spacer F&R.

[Bill Verburg]

Originally Posted by Steve W

I didn't bother to measure them as the ET on the Euromeisters are already a known value. 7x17s are ET23 and 9x17s are ET15. The camber settings are probably higher than for your average street car, not as much as that Miata, at about -2.8 front and rear, but the car doubles as a monthly autocross car and those are typical camber values for a 911 set up for competition with r-comp tires. Camber values also verified by multiple tire temp readings with a Longacre memory pyrometer and wear is very even. I struggled with oversteer for the longest time, which is why I went with the 275s on the rear. I didn't need to shave the bolts or relocate the oil lines, maybe I would if I ran only 1 degree of camber. With the change in the ET of the Euromeisters, I now run about a 12mm spacer F&R.

yes, but the ET changes unless the same rim width was added on both sides of the wheel

[Steve W]

Correct. But prior to widening the wheels I was using a 5mm spacer in the rear with the 9x17s and 255 RE71s. Because the backside of the rear was widened by 1/2" (12.5mm), the ET increases by 6.25mm, so now I run a 12mm spacer with the widened wheel now.

On the front, the added 1" on the backside increases the ET by +12.7mm (25.4/2), so now I use a 12mm spacer to offset that.

[Bill Verburg]

Originally Posted by Steve W

Correct. But prior to widening the wheels I was using a 5mm spacer in the rear with the 9x17s and 255 RE71s. Because the backside of the rear was widened by 1/2" (12.5mm), the ET increases by 6.25mm, so now I run a 12mm spacer with the widened wheel now.

On the front, the added 1" on the backside increases the ET by +12.7mm (25.4/2), so now I use a 12mm spacer to offset that.

i see

nice job

let us know how the 71RS work, I'm thinking of them for the coming summer

[rothaus]

Those wheels look nice. I wish I could have added one inch to the outside of my Euromeister 9 x 17 for my 71 Restomod project. The rear flares are about 1" wider, per side then the SC/Carrera. At front I already have the 8 x 17.



Cheers
Engelbert