Wheel and tire question

[Ray_G]

I finally got my 76 targa on the road, it still needs some paint work, but I have been driving it. It is pretty much a stock car no flares or anything, just a ducktail. anyway surprise surprise the car is arse heavy. It needs to be lowered, (set at its stock very high US ride height) working on getting adjustable spring plates to lower it. I would like to get larger tires on the rear at some point. It has the stock 15x6 (I think they are 6's) Fuchs on all four corners with 205/60-15's on them. I have done some searches and I think I can go to 15x7's without a problem on the rear with 225/60-15's. I think. I don't have the car lowered at this point, so there is not much measuring I can do. But the real question is this, if I can go to 7's on the rear without a problem I need to know what wheels I can run. From the looking around that I did it seems that the 944's used the 7's on the front as an optional wheel from 82-85. I found some of them for sale locally, but I don't know if the offset would be the same or if they would work on my car. I was wondering if anyone could tell me if I am heading in the right direction and if not what wheels should I be looking for. Oh, the car is just a street car, would like to keep the street ride, and don't want to get too carrried away with mods for handling after all the roads in Oklahoma are pretty straight!

[Bill Verburg]

Originally Posted by Ray_G

I finally got my 76 targa on the road, it still needs some paint work, but I have been driving it. It is pretty much a stock car no flares or anything, just a ducktail. anyway surprise surprise the car is arse heavy. It needs to be lowered, (set at its stock very high US ride height) working on getting adjustable spring plates to lower it. I would like to get larger tires on the rear at some point. It has the stock 15x6 (I think they are 6's) Fuchs on all four corners with 205/60-15's on them. I have done some searches and I think I can go to 15x7's without a problem on the rear with 225/60-15's. I think. I don't have the car lowered at this point, so there is not much measuring I can do. But the real question is this, if I can go to 7's on the rear without a problem I need to know what wheels I can run. From the looking around that I did it seems that the 944's used the 7's on the front as an optional wheel from 82-85. I found some of them for sale locally, but I don't know if the offset would be the same or if they would work on my car. I was wondering if anyone could tell me if I am heading in the right direction and if not what wheels should I be looking for. Oh, the car is just a street car, would like to keep the street ride, and don't want to get too carrried away with mods for handling after all the roads in Oklahoma are pretty straight!

all 7" Fuchs are ET23.3(except the extremely rare 7R wheels w/ ET49) you can use any 7" Fuchs on the back of a non flared 911 w/ a few caveats, you will want to clearance the lips, run more neg camber, be careful in your tire choice. heavier t-bars helps too.

In fact all the 7's used on 911 from '72 > 89 and all the 7s used on 928/944/968 thru '85 have ET23.3

when Porsche raced those narrow cars they used the ET49 7r wheels in back w/ ~22mm spacer(net o/s is ET27)

[myfast911]

ray, i run 16x6&7s on my 76 coupe. they work great. i have been told that the 16 x 7&8 from a 86 944 turboo will also work because of the offset needed for the 944. maybe bill would know more about that?

[Bill Verburg]

Originally Posted by myfast911

ray, i run 16x6&7s on my 76 coupe. they work great. i have been told that the 16 x 7&8 from a 86 944 turboo will also work because of the offset needed for the 944. maybe bill would know more about that?

The 944s through '85 used an ET23.3 8, these have been fitted on non flared 911 rear but it's a much harder job than the ET23.3 7's

[Ray_G]

It is hard for me to tell what I need for sure, my car has it high water pants on so to speak. The ride height is very high, which make it look like there is all kinds of room in there, but I know once I get the sc bars and spring plates on and lowered there will not be anywhere near as much room. Thanks for the info mfast911, what tires do you run on your coupe?

[myfast911]

front=205-55 r16 rear=225-50 r16 falken rubber

[Ray_G]

Looks great, thanks for the info.