Which Wheels Fit 86 944 ?

[uncwSoccer]

Looking at 16" boxster hollow groove 5 spokes preferably, 993 cup wheels, technology 996's, 968 5 spoke.
I have a 1986 car.
I'm guessing I have an early offset, can all these wheels be used with or w/out spacers?

I have turbo brakes ready to install, hence the need to go bigger than the factory 15" phonedial. I'd like to get 16" 5 spoke boxsters, similar to the new boxster S 17....

[Z-man]

IIRC, '86 has the late offset wheels. Do you have ABS, or was ABS an option available for your car? If so, you have the late offset wheels (55mm front, 52.3mm rear)

If you do have the early offset setup, you can still use the modern wheels, provided you use spacers.

I have the 968 5-spoke wheels on my '89 S2, and they do update the look of the car. To compare 5 spoke vs. 7 spoke, here's a shot of my car with the 968 5-spokes up front, and the Design 90 7-spokes in the rear (painted black, so it's kinda hard to see the detail):


Here's a side shot with just the 968 5-spokes:


You may have some difficulty with the 16" Boxster wheels: I've heard that our wheel bearing dust cap can hit the wheel, so they cannot fit. Also: IIRC, the Boxster wheels are 6" wide (front) and 7" wide (rear), so your width of tire is limited with them.

I do not recoommend going with 17" or 18" rims, especially if you've lowered the car: lowering the car, and using larger diameter wheels puts a lot of stress on our front a-arms, which is already a stressed piece of the suspension.

As always, YMMV,
-Z-man.

[Taz's Master]

I've got an '86 na with '86 turbo brakes and I needed the early offset wheels, trying to find reasonably priced wheels (especially the rears 16x8) can be difficult. The spacers aren't cheap, and the '86 turbo phonedials aren't particularly common.

[andrew4266]

I got the five spoke hollow grove boxster 16's on my 87 944S. I only paid 350 and that included tires. It was a rare great deal on ebay. The guy didn't have good keywords in his listing, so it wasn't viewed much.

[uncwSoccer]

I found some old material that says the early offset is a negative of 23.3mm, the later offset, being 87's and up, have a negative offset of 52.3. As an 86 my car would be an early offset, I don't have abs, i don't think it was offered. That being said, should I try to mount boxster 5 spokes on the car with spacers? the car is not currently lowered.