Wheel and Tire fittings for RS

I have converted my 72' 911T to SC rear flares (real steel ones from an 81'SC; not fiberglass). I am restoring the car as an RS lookalike. I have read conflicting stories regarding the wheel and tire sizes on the original cars. Ideally, I want to run J8x16's on the rear and J7x16's on the front (I am aware that the original cars had 15's, not 16's)...I acquired a set of 16's by luck. If I do run these rim sizes, what tire sizes will give me the least trouble rubbing the fenders on corners? Or, will I have to stick to 7's and 6's?

Any comments will be appreciated.

There were two types of flaring on the original RSs. The more common was the RS Touring set-up, which had stock fenders in front and rear flares that allowed 7-inch wheels. Tire-wise, it orginally came with Pirelli CN36 tires -- 185/70VR15 on 6J fronts, 215/60VR15 on 7J rears.

This is probably the look you are going for.

The other style was RS Sport, which (I believe) had flares for 7-inch wheels in front, with flares for 9-inch wheels in back. The 174 Carrera RS 3.0 also had this set-up.

Now, when I did the same thing to my 73 911T, I got a pair of 16x6-inch and 16x7-inch wheels. I wish I hadn't done that, since now I've gone to 16x8-inch in back (with 245/45ZR16 tires) and 16x7-inch in front (with 205/55ZR16 tires).

Most people with this set-up are able to put 225/50ZR16 tires in front. In my case, that made the tire connect with the front spoiler on one side. Every one of these cars is different, that way, and different brands of tires (even in the same size) will fit differently.

I can safely say that you can go with 16x8 and 16x7 wheels. You'll have to roll the inside lip of the fenders (hopefully before you paint the car, but it's also possible afterwards), but you should be able to fit 245s in the rear and 225s in the front.

Here are two angles of my new wheel set-up.



(Click for a full-size picture.)



(Click for a full-size picture.)


Click here to see what 6s and 7s look like on the same car.

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Jack Olsen
1973 911 T (3.6) sunroof coupe

[This message has been edited by JackOlsen (edited 11-14-2000).]

Something to think about is diameter. Here is some help www.miata.net/garage/tirecalc.html
IMHO I like the wheel well as full as I can get it and the smaller diameter tire dosen't look so hot. Just my thought.

Randy Jones
1971 911