What offsets work on a 1985 911 using a 16" wheel?

[deputydog95]

Will a 16x8 et 11 rear and 16x7 et 23 work on a stock 1985 911?

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[Arne2]

Yes.

[milnejk]

Depending on tires you may need to roll front fenders. I am running 225X50X16 Toyo RA1s on front of my SC and had to roll fenders.

[deputydog95]

Are you using the same offsets and wheel sizes?

I was planning on just using the stock 205 and 225 tire sizes. They will work right? And that should prevent rubbing? This is just a street car.

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[impactbumper]

225s on a 7" wheel looks too bulky and not so helpful in handling either. I would stay 205, and if needed more grip with 225s go to a 8" wheel in the front, which might require some work


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[deputydog95]

Are we all in agreement that the 16x7 et 23 with 205's and 16x8 et 11 with 225's will fit fine?

I know I can probably fit a larger tire out back but I already have factory 16" Fuchs with good tires so I thought I would just transfer them over till it was time for new ones.

Sound like a good plan?



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[will hung]

I have the same size front wheels and tires, and I had to roll my front fenders to avoid rubbing.

[deputydog95]

16x7 et 23 with 205's rubbed?

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[impactbumper]

Originally Posted by deputydog95

Are we all in agreement that the 16x7 et 23 with 205's and 16x8 et 11 with 225's will fit fine?

I know I can probably fit a larger tire out back but I already have factory 16" Fuchs with good tires so I thought I would just transfer them over till it was time for new ones.

Sound like a good plan?



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yes , kosher set up.

[deputydog95]

Thank you guys.

[KTL]

Originally Posted by deputydog95

16x7 et 23 with 205's rubbed?

Yes. I previously had 205/55-16 Hankook RS-2 and now have 205/55-16 BF Goodrich G-Force Sport2 on 16x7 ET+23 and they will rub if the fender lips are not slightly rolled or shaved.

[deputydog95]

Is it an issue with those particular tires? Others on here seems to think they will fit ok. Maybe the profile on those tires?

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[KTL]

I don't think it's those tires. They're not especially tall compared to other 205/55 tires.

The issue is the 16x7 ET+23 pushes the wheel out to the fender quite a bit more than you think, compared to the typical 16x6 ET+36. Generally speaking, and ignoring wheel offset (not a good idea), one would think a 16x7 vs. a 16x6 would be a difference of a 1/2 inch at the fender because you cut the wheel width increase in half since, that 1 inch of width increase is shared by both sides of the wheel. But in this case the 16x7 ET+23 vs. the 16x6 ET+36 has the tire moving out toward the fender by a little more than 1 inch.

It's not a lot of rubbing. It's actually very slight. You can just barely see the edge of the fender lip grazing the tire right up near the top of the tread. Imagine if you took a flat blade screwdriver and softly ran it around the edge of the tread a bunch of times You'd see a sliver of rubber peeled away from the side of the tire.

And the point of rubbing is not the peak/apex of the fender. It's further down from the peak. Only needs a slight amount of coaxing to move the fender lip away from the side of the tire. Now if you were wanting to run a 225/50 on a 16x7 ET+23 (and some guys choose to go 225/50 on a 16x8 ET+23) you'd have to massage the lip a lot more. With a 225 you're better off shaving it instead of bending the fender lip back so far that it curls up and collects a bunch of crud inside the curl.

[deputydog95]

What is your ride height? I've talked to a few other people who have run this setup with no rubbing at all.

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[Driven97]

Alternately, dialing in a little more negative camber via the strut tops may give you the lip clearance you need if there is rubbing. As a bonus, you get better handling.

[KTL]

My ride height is not low. Looks a lot like the '87 car pictured below, going by memory. Camber is OK. The rubbage I saw on the current '86 car i'm referring to, may have been from when my long time buddy first installed the Hankook tires many years ago, had rubbage and then he either leaned on the fender lips a bit (wooden baseball bat works good) or tweaked the camber at the strut tops. I acquired the car last fall and he's dead so I can't ask him. Just sayin'........

I replaced the old Hankooks when I got the car last fall (they were over 10 years old with not a lot of miles on them so they needed replacing) and I noticed the rubbage on the side of the tread. Before I put any miles on the new BFGs, I made sure to lean on the fender lips a bit with my baseball bat.

Not trying to be the doomsday wanker or Debbie Downer. It seems to vary from one car to another. If you search the forum on this topic, which is kinda hard because it's been discussed A LOT, you'll find varying responses. All you can do is throw them on and see how they fit, possibly needing to adjust your camber or fender lips accordingly. Not a big deal. Just letting you know so you can know in advance that you may need to tweak something a bit?

I will say the 16x7 with 205/55 looks fantastic compared to the flat-faced 16x6 and looks, performs fine compared to the fat 225/50 on a 16x7. Here's my former car the Unicorn with a Bridgestone RE-11 225/50 on a 16x7 ET+23 BBS wheel. Looks kinda chunky. The fender lips are shaved way back too.

[will hung]

Originally Posted by deputydog95

Is it an issue with those particular tires? Others on here seems to think they will fit ok. Maybe the profile on those tires?

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These cars were hand assembled, so there is a lot of variance from one car to another. So just because a wheel/tire combination works on one car doesn't mean it will work on another.

I have 16x7's on the front of my car. When I first rebuilt the suspension, I had stock sway bars and stock 19mm torsion bars. I lowered it a 1/2". I was running Toyo RA1's in 205/55-16. When I got it aligned, they dialed out some of the negative camber the car had on the drives until that point. It rubbed the fender lip a couple times on the way home and then rubbed the driver's side lip pulling left into the driveway. Rubbing on the lip with the wheel turned was bad, the tire pulled the lip downward. I had to hammer and dolly it back into shape.

After that, I was always chasing rubbing. I started off by cutting the lips, but I was always finding cuts on the tread blocks where instead of rubbing, the cut lips were cutting into the tire. So I rented a fender roller, rolled my lips flat, and used sealant to keep dirt out of the fold. Haven't rubbed since and the car now sits lower (I raised my spindles 30mm).

[deputydog95]

Well, I went ahead and bought these today. Specs are as stated above.I guess we'll see how they fit. I am not averse to raising the ride height a bit and adjust the camber to make it work if it seems to be a problem. Prefer not to roll the fenders if I can avoid it.... Fingers crossed they fit ok.

[IMG]2016-04-21_01-28-01 by Andrew Burke, on Flickr[/IMG]

[Bleedsblue]

Everything mentioned above is totally valid, but I do think you should be okay especially if you aren't super-low. The chances of an ET23 7" wide wheel and 205/55/16 rubbing is fairly low on a stock-ish ride height car, with a typical street tire (the RA1, for instance, runs pretty wide). There are street tires with bulging sidewalls (Continental DW, for example) that can also make the difference.

When it comes down to it, a pro at a shop can roll or shave your fender lips perfectly without leaving any external marks or other imperfections. I will always prefer fender lips to be rolled on any car; I also advocate negative camber (turns in better); and the third and worst solution to fixing a rub IMHO is to raise the car.

[milnejk]

I am running 7X16 Fuchs in the front 23 ET with the 225X50X16 Toyos. Am running 1.9 degrees neg camber and very low ride height. I think the 205s will be a good fit, but depends on your specific car and set-up.

I tried running 8&9X16 Fuchs and they were a little close in front without rolling fenders. I had purchased the tires for those wheels and used them on the 7&8s. There really was not a lot gained by going to the narrower wheels with the same tires. I think the wider wheels would have fit with only minimal additional massaging. Now that I have rolled the fenders, I may go back to the 8&9s

The 9s fit perfectly in the rear with 245X45X16 and no rolling of the fenders.