Yeat another wheel & tire question

[GH85Carrera]

I hate to start another post about wheels & tires but.....

I have done several searches. There are tons of threads about wheels and tires. It is like searching for suspension or brakes.

I have a 85 Carrera with factory original 7&8 15 inch Fuchs. I just looked for tires again and the very short list is shorter! My current tire is no longer sold.

I give up. I will buy some 16 or 17 replicas. I like the look of the 16s better but the 17s will have more rubber options.

My question is for those of you that have recently purchased a new set of wheels. What did you end up with, and are you happy with your choice? If you had to do it again would you buy the same wheel and tires.

I will be getting a Fuchs look alike.

[911dean]

I like the looks of 16's also but just don't like the limited tire availability. I ended up selling a set of 7/8 x 16 Fuchs and sprang for a set of Zuffenhause Fuchs. I haven't installed them yet as they will be part of a complete suspension upgrade. What I can tell you is they are an extremely nice set of wheels.

[Arne2]

I figure I can get by with 16" for at least one more set of tires, given the current available choices. But I'm more of a weekend tourer person, and drive year-round, even when it gets a bit chilly, so the 16" selection is still OK for my needs. If I was looking for high-end summer grip, I'd probably go with 17" Euromeisters like one of my local PCA buddies did.

[tquaglino]

I can not feel the difference between the 16's that I had and the newer 17's but
I like how the larger rims fill out the wheel wells. These are the Rota Fox wheels.

[911 Rod]

Welcome to my world!
I just bought a pair of 9" x 16" FUCH and now I find out they don't make street tires in this size anymore.
The 16" 205/55 and 225/50's will be around for a long time if you want to go with 6/7" FUCH.
Be careful with aftermarket rims especially if you track them.

[darrin]

fwiw, 8x16 fuchs work just fine with 225/50-16 -- I'm enjoying my 7" fronts with 205/55-16 and 8"rears with 225/50-16 and see no real shortage of performance tires in these sizes.

[Hunt3R]

Recently had my 16" Fuchs centers cut out and bolted into BBS halves. 17x7 front and 17x9.5 rear. 16's had too much sidewall flex in corners IMO. I would never drop back down in size. And these are lighter than the 16" Fuchs were too, my 17x9.5 rears only weigh about 16.5lbs.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by Hunt3R

Recently had my 16" Fuchs centers cut out and bolted into BBS halves. 17x7 front and 17x9.5 rear. 16's had too much sidewall flex in corners IMO. I would never drop back down in size. And these are lighter than the 16" Fuchs were too, my 17x9.5 rears only weigh about 16.5lbs.

What size tire are you running with those wheels?

Do you have any rubbing issues?

[911dean]

Quote de Hunt3R

Recently had my 16" Fuchs centers cut out and bolted into BBS halves. 17x7 front and 17x9.5 rear. 16's had too much sidewall flex in corners IMO. I would never drop back down in size. And these are lighter than the 16" Fuchs were too, my 17x9.5 rears only weigh about 16.5lbs.

What size tire are you running with those wheels?



Do you have any rubbing issues?

Height from wheel well opening to ground would also be helpful. Tire size too! Thanks

[911 Rod]

Originally Posted by Hunt3R

Recently had my 16" Fuchs centers cut out and bolted into BBS halves. 17x7 front and 17x9.5 rear. 16's had too much sidewall flex in corners IMO. I would never drop back down in size. And these are lighter than the 16" Fuchs were too, my 17x9.5 rears only weigh about 16.5lbs.

Not to mention budget!

[mclmk8d]

That's exactly what I used to have; worked great; try the Continental Extreme Contact DW tires; very good wet and dry grip and quiet.

fwiw, 8x16 fuchs work just fine with 225/50-16 -- I'm enjoying my 7" fronts with 205/55-16 and 8"rears with 225/50-16 and see no real shortage of performance tires in these sizes.

[Hunt3R]

215/45/17 in front, 255/40/17 in back. I may do 265/40/17 next time b/c I think it would fit the 9.5" wheel better. But then the 255's are closer to oem diameter and will be lighter too so I dunno. The rears have no rubbing issues but there's not much more room for anything bigger in the standard Carrera fender. On the driver side I only have a couple tenths of an inch clearance before the tire would rub one of the big trailing arm bolts, however I'm told that bolt can be filed down.

The front has no rubbing issues, that's why I stuck with 7.0" width in front, go 7.5 or larger and you may need to roll the fenders. It depends on the car and ride height too b/c the Porsche fenders weren't ever built exactly the same size, even on the same car, until the 993. Once I got these big rear wheels on it was obvious my rear passenger wheel well was slightly bigger than the driver side, confirmed by measuring. I put a 1/4" spacer on the passenger rear just to make it look more symmetrical. It's not noticeable on the fronts with only 7" width wheels but I'm sure the front fenders are slightly different too.

Both front and rear center of fender lip to ground is 25.0"

These wheels were built by Stratton Motorsports in Winter Park, FL, however everyone who builds 3-pc Fuchs like these will prolly charge you around +$1k per wheel depending on finish. I cut down the cost by supplying the 16" cores.

[GH85Carrera]

Thanks! That is the info I am looking for. Now I just need to decide on 16s or 17s.

[Driven97]

I'm happy with my 17" Euromeisters. 225/255 Dunlop Z2.

[scotricker]

7 and 9 x 16 Euromeisters worked out fine for me

[GH85Carrera]

Scott, what size tires are you running on the 16s?