Turbo Fuch's need spacers on 85 Carrera?

Joeaksa · 10-29-2002, 06:18 AM

I have a set of Turbo Fuch's wheels and want to replace the stock wheels on my 85 Carrera.

Have read in some postings that you need spacers to get them to fit right in the rear fenders, while others say that its not needed.

The car has totally stock bodywork with normal Carrera flares in the rear, running Bridgestone 205 front and 225 rear tires.

TIA,

Joe

ChrisBennet · ChrisBennet's Garage

I used to Turbo 9x16's on the rear of my '86 with 245's without spacers. My fenders are rolled some.
-Chris

Joeaksa · 10-29-2002, 06:26 AM

Chris,

If I keep my 225/16 tires now they should fit without rolling? Could you tell a difference in the 245 tires?

Thx much!

Joe

Jdub · 10-29-2002, 06:31 AM

Joe:

Same deal as you on my end. My understanding is go with the 245s and see how it fills out the flares on your car after proper alignment. Then go with spacer if you seek a wider stance.

With 245s, no need to roll. With spacers, you may have to.

Are you going 225 up front? I have problems with heavy steering from additional weight and wonder about retaining the 205s instead. I'd appreciate opinions from the anyone who can help.

Thanks in advance,
John

Joeaksa · 10-29-2002, 06:59 AM

John,

I have a Targa and have heard that they do not have as much room in the wheelwells up front that the Coupe does. Believe that until I roll the fenders that I am stuck with 205/16's up front.

Thanks for the note on the 245's. I am going to wear out my current "shoes" then upgrade!

Joe

RANDY P · RANDY P's Garage

16x8, 225/50/zr16 AVS, 24.0" height in back. No spacers. It doesn't need it. Maybe 1/8" MAX if you wanted to be anal. Absolutely no rolling on rear.

7's in front. 205/55's needed very slight rolling on Drivers side. 24.5" ride height.

AES · 10-29-2002, 08:15 AM

I have 7 & 9 x16 Fuchs w/ 205/55 & 245/45 tires on my 86 targa. No spacers, no problems, euro ride height.

MIK911 · 10-29-2002, 12:09 PM

Hey Randy P,
got any more pics of your car?
interested in seeing how it looks (side angle) at your current ride height.
You're almost 1" lower than Euro. Must look cool.
Mine is at 25.25F, 24.75R, and i'm considering a little 'adjustment'

thanks
mike
'86 coupe

RANDY P · RANDY P's Garage

MIK911-

Click on my homepage link -

Go for it - even that low it'll still hold an alignment! Other than the drivers side front and a $10.00 set of rack spacers it's not a problem. Only one torsion bar needed to be indexed.

rjp

PS: NICE CAR

I got pics of yours littering my computer..

Al G · 10-30-2002, 02:44 AM

I was running 7&8 x 15s Fuchs on my '76 Carrera 3 at Euro height, but have bought some 7&9 x 16 Turbo Fuchs for the pose and wider range of performance tyres. I will trial fit them this weekend.

I don't expect any problems on the front running 205/55 S02 tyres.

On the back, I am concerned about clearance of the oil pipes, since the offset (I understand) brings the wheel rims in towards the engine, rather than pushing them out towards the wheel arch edge. I have 245/45 SO2's which are quite skinny on 9" Fuchs. If I do have clearance problems on the inside, then spacers it is.

If I get any good photos I will try and post them.

Al G

Jdub · 10-30-2002, 06:33 AM

Al: Have you peeked at The truth about SO-3's yet? Might be worth a look.

EDIT: Ah, my mistake; you are looking at '2s: this thread is about '3s.

John

Joeaksa · 10-30-2002, 01:00 PM

Played with wheels today. Put the 9" wheels on the rears with no spacers and they fill the wheelwell out nicely without any spacers and w/225/16 tires. Really cannot see putting 245's on the wheels as clearance would be really tight without rolling the fender.

Did nothing to the front. Is everyone putting the stock 7" rear rims on the front with 205 tires? I cannot find a offset marked anywhere on the wheels. I have two sets of 911 7" rears and they are both not marked. The 9" rears I have say ET15" so I am assuming that this is a 15 offset but there is no marking like this at all on all four of the 7" wheels I have.

Looks great with the extra width on the back, now to figure out the front!

Thanks,

Joe

10-30-2002, 03:08 PM

Joe,
Just looked at my spare 7's and couldn't find the offset either. You can xref the 911. # of the wheel on Sherwood's page .

I'm running 205/55's on the 7's on front with no troubles. The front has been lowered an inch since this pic.
Mark

Joeaksa · 10-30-2002, 03:12 PM

Mark,

Thanks much and the rear spacing on your picture (which is beautiful BTW) looks about the same as mine now, so assume that you are still running 225's on back?

Will head down tomorrow and get the 7's put on front!

Appreciate it!

Joe

PS Just registered the car this week in AZ and took the TX front plate off for good. Am really happy that AZ does not require front plates!

10-30-2002, 03:47 PM

Yup, 225/50's on the back. I think I remember reading that the 8's and 9's have the same offset measurement toward the outside lip, and the extra inch on the 9's goes to the inside. I don't know that for gospel so maybe someone (Jack O.) can confirm. BTW, I'm running w/o the front plate right now. I'll probably get busted for it, but what the heck.

Got a pic of yours with the 9's yet?
M

Joeaksa · 10-30-2002, 05:27 PM

Mark,

Will work on the pic later, am beginning the install of a Recaro in the car right now and will find a place for a shot tomorrow.

Thanks for the info, not sure how the others fit 245's in the rear and may just be happy as it is with the 225's...

Joe

AES · 10-31-2002, 03:16 AM

Guys, The information about rim edge placement is here there is more info here and here and here

The search function will bring up 100s of hits

Joeaksa · 10-31-2002, 05:20 AM

AES,

Thanks for the post but if you can show me on the four sites you refer to where it gives the offset on the stock 7" wheel, I will buy the first round! Its not marked on the back of the wheel on one of the four wheels I have.

Looked at some of these sites in the beginning and could not find the answer, thus the reason for the question. Not one of the four sites as well said that I could take the rears off of my car and put them on my front. I was not sure if the offset would be correct as there are many different flavours of 7" Fuch's wheels when offset is considered.

The answer for every question in the world may be somewhere in the database but after looking at around 10 old posts and not finding the answer, there are times that instead of possibly wasting more time looking that its easier tojust ask the question on the forum again and confirm.

Also I have been told by several people that I would need spacers on the wheels. I did not want to waste my time and money playing musical wheels only to find out that spacers were needed and I did not have them on hand. One of the posts you refer to say that I would need spacers when this is not the case.

Joe

Jdub · 07:07 AM

Joe:

I have looked all over for information that can guarantee me that I can put a set of 9"ers with 245s on the rear end without a problem. Some posts say you have to roll the edges, others indicate not problem, and one mentions that you must space the wheel out via spacers.

My conclusion is that it will be a crapshoot as each car seems to be individual. That tells me I need a very good wheelman and I must be prepared to swap out tires that don't end up working post-alignment. That's the advice I am giving myself anyway for what it is worth.

I performed a Google search and could not find this URL: http://members.rennlist.com/kirk/pwheel.html. However, Google did cache the information so if you do the same you will also have the nice, formatted page I saved locally that gives all the information you might want to see from Phone Dials out to our beloved FUCHs.

John

EDIT: Well that URL didn't work at all! Send me a PM and I'll forward this page. Someone named Kirk at Rennlist made this nice page but, alas, it cannot be found there.

Joeaksa · 10-31-2002, 07:11 AM

John,

Thanks and I agree. My situation is more difficult as I am finding that the Targas are even more touch and go on the room in the wheelwells, especially on the front wheels. What you say seems to be more correct than we may want to admit, that each body shell can be different and needs to be on a case by case basis.

I might be able to get the 245's on the rear and will play with it in six months or so when I wear my current set out but do not believe that 225's will make it in front but that may also depend on the ride height. A very good reference chart was the one given on another "wheel" thread about Steve Timmons chart about wheels, tires and offsets. Problem there is that I could not find out what my stock 7" rear offset is!

Right now my car is set up stock (high) and want to lower it a bit but not going to do anything until I work a deal on a set of stiffer torsion bars and do it all at once.

Thx,

Joe