Who makes quality 17" Fuch's these days

[jwakil]

I've been trying to find a couple of good quality 11x17" Fuchs, preferably made with real centers (but not necessary) and am running out of luck.
Lindsey: requires 6x16 cores, which are hard to come by, and I don't want to wait
True Design: don't even know if they are still in business, no website and phone out of service

Who else is out there, that doesn't require me to find cores, or at least can use 7x16 cores?

[Jesse16]

Fuchs themselves are back advertising in the Panorama. 17" sizes and up, made in Germany, forged. Also Braid are race worthy according to them, can do no better than that. At the bottom price wise for new are the misc. Lineas and Euro's our host sells. Most everyone agrees they are great, just not (maybe) extreme performance but that's not likely a problem with old cars. What more could you want ?

[Jesse16]

Do none of those makers do 11" size ?

[FrenchToast]

Why do you want real centers?

Real centers are going to be ~30 years old, with ~30 years of wear and fatigue.

Zuffenhaus/Fikse makes a good option, they supply for the Singer cars.

This might help, thread on RL: Let's catalogue all the Fuchs repros! - Rennlist Discussion Forums

[jwakil]

Originally Posted by FrenchToast

Why do you want real centers?

Real centers are going to be ~30 years old, with ~30 years of wear and fatigue.

Zuffenhaus/Fikse makes a good option, they supply for the Singer cars.

This might help, thread on RL: Let's catalogue all the Fuchs repros! - Rennlist Discussion Forums

Thanks for the great link.
I guess I always assumed the original centers would be better and lighter, but never thought of the age. You have a good point. Will start looking at full repro's.

[redturbo911]

Look up Lindsey wheels

[FrenchToast]

Originally Posted by jwakil

Thanks for the great link.
I guess I always assumed the original centers would be better and lighter, but never thought of the age. You have a good point. Will start looking at full repro's.

Glad it helps.

Lighter perhaps, but 'better' is up for interpretation. Don't forget that wide tire for the 11" wheel is going to add a ton of weight compared to the original setup!

Either Panorama or Excellence (or both?) recently had an article about wheel fatigue. One of them specifically highlighted Fuchs because of how popular they are - hence some sets see a lot of track time. Wheels undergo huge forces in cornering, and flex quite a bit. Fatigue over time.

Cutting up a 16x6 Fuch (or other wheel) also isolates a section of metal that originally was designed to work as a whole (with the rest of the barrel from which it has now been separated), and is now undergoing new forces. Finding whether those new forces are comparatively the same, negligible, better, or worse would require a structural analysis. But I'd think they're different forces regardless.

Just my non-engineering, merely logical, understanding.

The Pelican version* of that thread I made has one person's scary account. See below. Also a reason all wheels should be regularly checked.

*Which is also long outdated - stick to the above RL link for more recent links. Surely some brands I've missed but I like to think it covers most of them.

Originally Posted by mpeastend

I know some have had good luck withe the Lindsay P2's on the track, like Jack Olsen but mine lasted only a short time on the track before failing. I really liked them but you have to know the provenance of the donor centers you send him. What makes them fail? Who knows.

[rshea]

Check out Zuffenhaus Wheels. I have them on my 88. Very high quality, light weight, and superior design and engineering....They are often used on Singer car builds.
I have 17's in 7 and 9.