Fuchs Wheels Demystified
 

Hi All,

I'm a BMW guy who is new to the 911 world. Still shopping around. Loving the forum here and I've got countless hours of lurking under my belt.

I'm wondering about the Fuchs wheels. They seem to range in price duratically and I"m wondering if you all could shed some light on this. It would be nice to know when looking at a car if it's got $2000 worth of wheels or not.

What are the main factors that affect the price of these?
Overall condition
Size
Width
Polished versus painted
I"m guessing it's some combination of all of the above with greater weight on width.


Thanks in advance,

Spencer

The car I looked at had these which I think are probably middle of the road.

http://i990.photobucket.com/albums/a...psc8b1017a.jpg

Fuchs wheels
 

They're great wheels, but there is quite the variation in price as you've seen. There are some early wheels and some wide (9" and up) Fuchs that are quite desirable to some, so those prices can be quite high.

Also, there are reproduction wheels using the Fuchs design, so you do have to check the serial numbers on the back to know what you've got. Most folks seem to prefer the original, anodized finish, but that's all a matter of personal preference.

offsets can be different depending on whether fitted to 944 or 911, etc

your sources: Porsche Panorama Articles - by Alan Caldwell - April 1995, Sept 1996, (get yourself a copy of Up-fixin' for that segment)


also great 2 piece articles in VW-Porsche - 1982 by Robert Wood, and June 1983 by Greg Brown

see http://www.wheelenhancement.com/

The original Fuchs wheels are forged aluminum wheels. Forging makes a very tough aluminum structure similar to forged steel. The idea there is to make a light weight rim that also is very strong structurally. If you pick up a Fuchs wheel without a tire you can feel the lightness compared to a steel wheel. Non Fuchs copies are made out of cast aluminum, I understand. That is a cheap process to make look alikes but does not produce the structural strength of forged aluminum.

price varies based on desire & rarity, not just condition

the highest prices will be fetched for a set of the old ones that only work safely with tubed tires and are thus unsafe to drive on

ironic, no?

I've read this about the old ones being unsafe with tubeless. Has anyone here had an accident from this? Just hard cornering or hitting a curb or what? Seems a lot of people are getting away with it.....