Pictures of rolled fenders

[DennisMenace]

Hi everyone,

I am in the process to fit 225/50 R15 on my 7J 15 inch Fuchs in the front. I believe I need to roll my fenders to do that. I am wondering to which extend the fenders need to be rolled. Well aware of the paint cracking risk. I would like to minimize the risk of cracking the paint and am thinking a 30-45 degree rolling should be more than enough and provide additional clearance over stock. Are there any pictures of your rolled fenders?

I would also like to use this opportunity to gather images from rolled fenders to help other owners who might run into this issue / question.

Any input is greatly appreciated.

Dennis

[Bill Verburg]

Originally Posted by DennisMenace

Hi everyone,

I am in the process to fit 225/50 R15 on my 7J 15 inch Fuchs in the front. I believe I need to roll my fenders to do that. I am wondering to which extend the fenders need to be rolled. Well aware of the paint cracking risk. I would like to minimize the risk of cracking the paint and am thinking a 30-45 degree rolling should be more than enough and provide additional clearance over stock. Are there any pictures of your rolled fenders?

I would also like to use this opportunity to gather images from rolled fenders to help other owners who might run into this issue / question.

Any input is greatly appreciated.

Dennis

Likely yes but not certainly

assuming that you have 7 x15 ET23.3 Fuchs and R888s

f/s front space the distance from the hub mounting plane to the outer sidewall plane

a 225/50 x15 takes up a f/s volume roughly 95mm x 615mm

a 205/55 x16 on that same wheels is roughly 83 x 633

a 205/50 x15 on that same wheels is roughly 83 x 587

the middle is a common user upgrade which puts the tire and lip close to each other
the last was used o.e. on my Carrera3.0 when new

the important thing here besides f/s is the tire height the 225/50 x15 is ~18mm shorter than the close 205/55 x16, that's a lot of extra breathing room.

It will depend on you ride height

rolling is problematic in that it creates a mud trap that promotes rust

I prefer is trin the inner lip w/ a saw, that's the way the techs in Deutschland set up my C3 when it was new and on 7 & 8 x15

Shaved lip w/ 225/50 x17 on 8ET25

[DennisMenace]

Hi Bill. Thanks a lot for your reply. Totally makes sense. I plan to run a-b at around 160 mm in the front with raised spindles. Isn’t the first number (95mm) the more critical number as it puts the wheel outwards towards the fender?

Thanks a lot,
Dennis

[75 911s]

Posted this on your other thread, but here it is cropped. I started only from the mid point of the fender and moved toward the front of the car. Imperceptible from anywhere more than 12 inches off the ground. This was taken while the car was on a flatbed trailer.

[Bill Verburg]

Originally Posted by DennisMenace

Hi Bill. Thanks a lot for your reply. Totally makes sense. I plan to run a-b at around 160 mm in the front with raised spindles. Isn’t the first number (95mm) the more critical number as it puts the wheel outwards towards the fender?

Thanks a lot,
Dennis

You certainly want the f/s spec to be not much larger than ~90mm but there is a grey area where shorter tire though it stocks further out still clears the fender

The best way to get the f/s down w/ a 225/xx tire is to use a larger ET wheel

for 8s you would want ET27-28 as the best compromise between inner and outer clearance

for 7s though the wheel is narrower and pinches the tire sidewalls toward the wheel center more a bit higher ET is still desirable say ~ 25-26

Unfortunately, if you want 15" Fuchs you are stuck w/ 7 ET23.3 or 6 ET 36

The taller 205/55 x16 on a 7ET23.3 is often a problem at the lip the shorter 205/55 x15 on a 7ET23.3 is not because it is shorter.

a 225/50 x15 is still relatively short and thus does give some breathing room even w/ the f/s above 90mm.

Obviously you ride heigh is going to affect this situation as well.

I used to primarily look at a-b but find that it obscures the issue to a certain extent

b all by itself is the real measure of height, a varies w/ the tires spec
a 205/50 x15 R888 has an a of ~ 285mm
a225/50 x15 R888 has an a of ~295mm

so for the same b(aka ride height), a - b for the 225 will be larger by ~ 10mm

so if you have a -b w/ 225s of 160, that's the equivalent of a - b of 150 w/ 205/50

and you will have 10mm less height clearance at the lip.