New wheels!

Moses · 04-02-2002, 12:16 PM

I need new wheels and I need your advise. I have the opportunity to change out the 15" Fuchs on my 1983 SC targa. (The car is in near-perfect condition except the wheels).

Heres the question: If the price were the same, would you go with 16"x7" and 16"x 9" Fuchs, or would you go with the newer twist turbo (17") wheels? The car is freshly painted Zinc Metallic. (A deep silver).

The car is essentially stock, except I have removed the fogs from the front valance. What do you think?

nhromyak · nhromyak's Garage

FUCHS!

Of course, I am little biased.

Keep the 15" for track days. That's what I am doing.

Of course I love the look of the turbo twists... If was to go all out, I think I would get the turbo twists, and some C2 looking front and rear bumpers. That would be cool.

pbs911 · pbs911's Garage

You really can't lose with either. Wanting to change out from Fuchs is sort of like eating chocolate icecream all the time. Every once in a while you want some strawberry, but you always go back to the chocolate. IMHO Fuchs say Porsche.
With this in mind I changed to 17" Fikse FM10s.

Glasgow 911SC · Glasgow 911SC's Garage

The only thing with the Fuchs is that the difference to your cars apperance won't be as dramatic as with the 17"ers.

Jack Olsen · 01:34 PM

The 9's are kind of an extravagance. They look identical to the 8's -- same rim size, but the lug nuts sit in deeper. And you're only going to notice a handling difference in pretty extreme autocross or track driving. You generally run the same tire sizes on both sizes (245x45), so the difference is only in sidewall behavior. In my opinion, it's not worth the premium pricing for the 9's, unless it's a dedicated track car.

Now, I don't know much about the Turbo twists (aside from them looking a little funny on the impact-bumper cars), but wouldn't you need spacers all around with them? That can get expensive.

So my advice would be 7x8x16 Fuchs. At least it's the way I ended up deciding to go. And you can generally get a whole set for between $500 and $800.

BrianH · 02:01 PM

wheelenhancement.com and tirerack.com sell replica 17in. turbo twists that I believe are made for the early cars and do not need spacers (I could be wrong though). I think the 18" and genuine Porsche wheels need spacers.

http://www.wheelenhancement.com/Technology.htm

I know the Fuchs are lighter/stronger, but I honestly hate the way they look. When I first saw the turbo twists on a 993 I thought they were the best looking wheels I'd ever seen. I think they look great on the older cars too. Just a matter of opinion.

I think twists will be my next upgrade. Please excuse my quick and dirty Photoshop mockup...

Moses · 04-02-2002, 02:23 PM

What a difference!

Your "quick and dirty" photoshop makes my "careful" photoshop efforts look bad. But seriously, what a great tool for envisioning what changes will look like on your car BEFORE you lay out the cash. THANKS!!!

Bill Verburg · Bill Verburg's Garage

I have had 7&8x15, 7&8x16, 7&9x16, 8&9x16(all Fuchs), and currently 8&9.5x17(Kinesis). The sweet spot with out any doubt was the 7&9x16 Fuchs. The 9s are noticibly better handlers than rear 8s(the do look like 8s but who cares?). The difference in front 7&8 isn't worth the hassle. The only reason to go with 17s is big brake clearance and bigger tires to utilize the bigger brake power.

Jack Olsen · 03:06 PM

I'll defer to Bill, then. I've driven on both kinds, but not on the same car.

(Still, those 9's are pricey.)

Of course, they're peanuts compared to my next plan:

8.5x10x17 3-piece Fuchs with 235's in front and 275's in the back.

So I don't re-route this thread too much, I'm going to start a new one on whether these tires will fit.

Glasgow 911SC · Glasgow 911SC's Garage

I guess your choice comes down to cosmetics if your car is a dailly driver. I think both would look good. I have to say I prefer the look of Cup1 wheels to Turbo twists though, on impact bumper cars. But anything is better than my Cookie Cutters!