Wheel size questions

[xjoegtix]

Hey guys!

So I've been going back and forth on what wheels to run on my car. I've got the stock fuchs and those are cool and all but I wanted to spice it up. I'm a big fan of bbs wheels and usually put those on all of my cars so I bought a set of bbs rs centers. The centers are for a 16" wheel. Although a couple company's are now making what they call step up lips and barrels. So you can make a 16" center into a 17" or 18" wheel. So I was thinking of doing a 17" wheel on my 1980 911sc.

If I was to run a 17" wheels how low could I go? I don't want it looking like this

Who else is running 17s?

Do you have any pictures?

Pic of my unfinished car for fun


Thanks for your help.



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[kach22i]

The general feeling in the forum from what I can tell is that 17-inches works only on wide body cars.

It is subjective of course.

I 've seen pictures of 18-ich wheels once, they were a little cartoonish for my taste but not horrible.

EDIT:
I meant to say that narrow body early year and narrow body mid-year cars are don't pull off the 17-inch look well according to most of the forum.

I had just read a thread about a 1975 car, and thought that is what the original poster had. He doesn't list his SC, so that is an easy enough mistake to make.

I'm not a fan of all that sprung weight and low profile harsh ride, but it does look cool in the cars shown later in this thread.

[tirwin]

I go back and forth on the idea of 17's. I don't think they all look bad. I think Bill Verberg runs 17's on his car and I like the way they look (or maybe once did - might have been an old post I was looking at).

The advantage of 17s is greater tire selection and, if I understand it correctly, you get a little extra room should you want to upgrade your brakes.

Another reason I'm looking at 17's is I'm considering a 3.6 transplant in the future and I was thinking it would be a good idea to increase the rear wheel contact patch.

I am currently running 16x6/7 Fuchs with spacers on the rear and none in the front (just not sure what size to do). Whatever I do next I'd like to get the right offsets and get rid of the spacers.

I've been reading a bunch of threads debating 16 vs 17 and one thing that gets brought up is tire sidewall stiffness and the possibility of a harsher ride. So something to consider in conjunction with tire size is your suspension setup and ride height.

[fred cook]

Originally Posted by tirwin

I go back and forth on the idea of 17's. I don't think they all look bad. I think Bill Verberg runs 17's on his car and I like the way they look (or maybe once did - might have been an old post I was looking at).

The advantage of 17s is greater tire selection and, if I understand it correctly, you get a little extra room should you want to upgrade your brakes.

Another reason I'm looking at 17's is I'm considering a 3.6 transplant in the future and I was thinking it would be a good idea to increase the rear wheel contact patch.

I am currently running 16x6/7 Fuchs with spacers on the rear and none in the front (just not sure what size to do). Whatever I do next I'd like to get the right offsets and get rid of the spacers.

I've been reading a bunch of threads debating 16 vs 17 and one thing that gets brought up is tire sidewall stiffness and the possibility of a harsher ride. So something to consider in conjunction with tire size is your suspension setup and ride height.

I'm considering the same thing for my SC. At the moment, it is running 7x16 fronts and 8x16 rears. Unfortunately, the tire selection for 16s is not very good. Going to 17s will resolve the selection problem. If I do buy wheels, they will most likely be 7.5x17 front and 9x17 rear. My car is currently at about the European height so fender rub should not be an issue. My biggest concern is wheel type or design. I really like the Fuchs style wheel so I am leaning towards one of the 17" aftermarket sets in the Fuchs style.

[surflvr911sc]

Originally Posted by kach22i

The general feeling in the forum from what I can tell is that 17-inches works only on wide body cars.

Odd conclusion.

[tirwin]

I like the RSR finish on those!

Fuchs are a classic look. Other rims can be hit or miss -- very much depends on the car I think.

A couple of favorites of mine are the Kinesis that Bill Verberg has on his car and the rims that jackb911 had on his old car. They used Fuch centers. I can't remember what the story was on those exactly but I don't think whoever made them is still around.

[Ayles]

Are you talking about the Lindsey racing fuchs? You can give them a set of wheels to build from.

[tirwin]

No they're not Lindsey's. I can't remember the name but I think they're out of business. Someone said the owner of the wheel place that did them may have passed away or something like that. Here is a picture of them on the car.

[tirwin]

And here is a picture of Bill's targa. I hope these guys don't mind me posting pics of their cars.

[Ayles]

They look amazing, whatever they are!

Is there a pic of your car with the 6s/7s spacer combo? I want 8s for the rear but the cost of a pair has become a little hard on the budget.

I have 6, 16x7... Two are from a 944 and one has a bad chrome job.... So call it 5. I will probably run 16x7 all the way around. Just haven't seen a pic of that combo.

[tirwin]

This is last picture I took before I dropped the motor. Maybe not the best picture to see the wheel fitment. I'll see if I have a better one.

The rear spacers are 23mm. Personally I like the wheel to be close to flush with the fender lip. I read that once the spacer gets larger than about an inch you start putting increased force on the wheel bearing. Ideally I would've gone to a larger spacer. How much does that decrease the lifespan of the wheel bearing? No idea...

I personally like the way a 17" rim fills the wheel arch. Is that ricey? I do love sushi...

[Ayles]

Your car looks pretty good to me! Flush to the fender is good in my book.
I don't think 17's are ricey at all. I would run them in a heartbeat.

I have heard similar in regards to running larger spacers.

[xjoegtix]

This car looks great
Id like to be a little lower maybe I'll run a smaller tire but I wouldn't be mad about this as an outcome at all. Looks really good.


this is a set of 16" bbs centers with the step up 17" lip and barrel on it. I really like the look. I'm not sure if I'd run all black but I just like the style wheel a lot.


T


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[Derek911]

Originally Posted by kach22i

The general feeling in the forum from what I can tell is that 17-inches works only on wide body cars.

I think people get to 27,000 posts by just saying whatever comes out...

There are plenty of people running 17 inch wheels on non wide body cars with no fitment or esthetic issues.

[IROC]

I, too, have struggled with the 16"/17" issue. For what it's worth, here's my car with 16s on the front and 17s on the rear. I ran this combo years ago when 17" tire sizes were limited and now I am converting the 16s in the front to 17s...due to 16" tire size limitations...



I like the look of the 16s better, but there simply aren't that many good sizes available...

[tirwin]

Wow it doesn't look like there is a lot of sidewall on those tires. Or is the lip covering more of the sidewall and it just looks thinner? I'm not familiar with the step up lip.

If the sidewall is that thin then my first question is have you talked to anyone who has them on their car or ridden in a car with those tires, particularly a 911?

If ride quality is something you care about then I would want to do my homework before making that kind of investment to make sure you would be satisfied. Also, are you planning on doing mostly street driving or some DE/AX?

[WIL84911]

17's just make more sense and handles better. Excuse my cheap Sumi tires... don't buy those.... garbage.





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[Driven97]

Originally Posted by tirwin

Wow it doesn't look like there is a lot of sidewall on those tires. Or is the lip covering more of the sidewall and it just looks thinner? I'm not familiar with the step up lip.

It's what's known as a "stretched" tire. Part of the current stance trend. Generally, running wheels too wide for tires, spacing wheels too far out, running too much camber, and running way too low.



I'm normally not one to pick on someone for enjoying cars in their own way, but this particular trend tends to make the cars unsafe and therefore I hope it goes away soon.

I'm thinking this is what the OP is after:

[McLaren-TAG]

Originally Posted by WIL84911

17's just make more sense and handles better.

Handles better? Depends on what you're looking for. Some people would prefer a set of 15" 7 & 8s for AX. I think we need to define what the people say by limited tire choice. They mean you can't pick between 15 different makes for all types of conditions. For me, I only want the best summer tire I can find and for the most part, 205/55 and 225/50 in 16 inch size are available. What isn't nearly available is a larger contact patch tire than that.

[WIL84911]

Originally Posted by McLaren-TAG

Handles better? Depends on what you're looking for. Some people would prefer a set of 15" 7 & 8s for AX. I think we need to define what the people say by limited tire choice. They mean you can't pick between 15 different makes for all types of conditions. For me, I only want the best summer tire I can find and for the most part, 205/55 and 225/50 in 16 inch size are available. What isn't nearly available is a larger contact patch tire than that.

Hey handles better for me. I'm no autocrosser, DE'r... just a guy who drives the sh..t out of this fun car. But I guess the PO may be looking simply for stance/look.