17" Wheels on a '77 ?

[The Watson]

Anyone have pics or stories of the good or bad? I have a new project - a '77S regular bodied - i.e. no SC or RS flares. Can't seem to find any references to these cars with 17" wheels. I'm probably leaning towards 16", but just wanted to get the full picture before buying anything.

[kach22i]

I recall a situation where a poster had 18 inch wheels on his narrow body.

Looked a bit wagon wheel-ish and I have no idea about the scraping and ride with that much sprung weight.

I'll post it if I can find it.

I'm interested in this thread, but every other thread warns of adding too much wheel/tire weight without also tinkering with the suspension quite a bit.

[The Watson]

I'm not going for a ghetto cruiser - but the 16" looks great and I see the 17" on Singers, etc and they look good. Just not sure how it all translates to a narrower body.

[kach22i]

That's cool.

Here are my observations on the topic.

1. 15 inch is what the car came with, light weight, can be hard to source and only looks good with the car lowered (50 series) or near original spec tall tires (60 series).

Thread with images:
Show me your narrow bodied early hot rod!

Originally Posted by Slow911

...humm, an excuse to post a picture......

OK,Here's mine
Olive 1970 t
205 50-15 front
225/50-15 rear

2. 16 inch, looks good, almost as hard to source as 15 inch, adds a little more sprung weight.

3. 17 inch looks great to some, inappropriate to others, adds a lot of unsprung weight and the car will sit roughly one inch higher else scraping occurs. This combination of factors may be tolerable as a street car, but not on a track car from what I understand (see recent AutoCross thread).

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With all that said................. I still lust for these 17" monsters.

Style RSR 17 TRE Motorsports
Style RSR 17

Most common is a 9 and 11 x 17" combination for the turbo / turbo look/ iroc rsr cars. Pricing is approximately $2400 a set depending on finish , lug nuts , and center caps desired, and we recommend running 245/45 and 315/35 front and rear tires respectively.

Wheels

Coming soon ! 15" center lock RSR rims in a variety of widths and finishes (requires correct center lock adaptors and nuts available elsewhere)

17" two piece (cast center with spun aluminum outer rim) wheels that bolt on to your car ! NO adaptors , expensive wrenches, or center lock parts needed. Finally a bolt on rim with the aggressive factory race look to fill out the fenders on your 911. Available to order now !

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EDIT
The above wheel shown in 17 inch was inspired by a 15 inch 917 wheel 5-spoke, and can be sourced from Penta Motorsports in 15 inch as I understand it. There also a couple of UK sources, but only in mono-hub as I recall.

[nameisbauer]

IMHO, 17 is too big for a narrow car. Singers have all the proportions expanded (fenders and such) so they get away with it. With that said, they may look even better with 16's! With THAT said, I have 17s on my SC, but it works cause they are all black, which shrinks the wheel to your eye, as opposed to 2 tone BK/silver.

[kach22i]

Found an old post of mine, hopefully it will save someone from putting 50 series on 15 inch wheels without lowering it.

In my own defense, the car came with that size tire and those non-original wheels when I bought it.


Why does my ride height look so high even though it's lower than spec

Originally Posted by kach22i

It looks high for being lowered to lower than Euro. I have no idea why - sorry.

My height (I think) is stock USA.

My old 50 series looked like golf cart tires.


My new 60 series are about 1-3/4" taller in diameter and make parking lot maneuvering much easier.


There is a surprising variance in the actual heights/diameters of 205/60 and 215/60 tires between different manufacturers. Tire rack is one of the few sites which list them. You should be almost 25" diameter, but could be less than 24" from what I've seen in the charts.

From memory, Hankook tires run small on some models. What brand tires are you running?

Originally Posted by nameisbauer

IMHO, 17 is too big for a narrow car. Singers have all the proportions expanded (fenders and such) so they get away with it.

I agree, just look at Jack Olsen's car.............it's about the balance of the look.

[Arne2]

Originally Posted by kach22i

Here are my observations on the topic.

1. 15 inch is what the car came with, light weight, can be hard to source and only looks good with the car lowered (50 series) or near original spec tall tires (60 series).

Yup, I agree.

2. 16 inch, looks good, almost as hard to source as 15 inch, adds a little more sprung weight.

Two comments here.

IMO, the selection of 16" tires isn't as bad as lots of people claim, unless you are looking for something to fit 16x9, which obviously isn't going to be the case for a narrow body car. Sticking with 205-width tires on either 16x6 or 16x7 for a narrow car will still leave you with a decent selection of tires.

The larger wheels will generally add a bit of UN-sprung weight, not sprung as noted above. Probably a typo.

3. 17 inch looks great to some, inappropriate to others, adds a lot of sprung weight and the car will sit roughly one inch higher else scraping occurs. This combination of factors may be tolerable as a street car, but not on a track car from what I understand.

Car will not sit higher with 17" if the proper tire size is selected. Stock 15" tires were about 25" tall, as were the stock 16" sizes. And there are plenty of 17" tires available with 25" diameters. I myself would stick with 17x7 and 205/50-17 for a narrow car.

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by Arne2

Car will not sit higher with 17" if the proper tire size is selected. Stock 15" tires were about 25" tall, as were the stock 16" sizes. And there are plenty of 17" tires available with 25" diameters. I myself would stick with 17x7 and 205/50-17 for a narrow car.

Would you ever run 40 series tires on the street with 17 inch wheels?

Thanks for catching my typo - will fix.

[Arne2]

Originally Posted by kach22i

Would you ever run 40 series tires on the street with 17 inch wheels?

On the rear of a flared car, sure. A local friend has 17x7 and 17x9 on his lowered Carrera, 205/50-17 front and 255/40-17 rear. Fit is great.

But on a narrow body? No.

[Tilikum Turbo]

Even with 16" Fuchs on my 83' SC...at a side profile, the wheels LOOK big.

17" wheels on your car may make your 911 look more of a caricature and disproportionate in terms of body size to wheel size.