Wrong tyre size set up
- Thread starter swright
- Start date
As it's a Turbo it would have come with the 16" teledials you have seen and like, or optionally with 16" Fuchs. Aside those two you're limited to replica alloys usually in the 17" or 18" Cup 1/2/3 vein, which have the spacer effectively buit into the casting, but they are heavy and I don't know if they are still available new.
Nothing from more modern Porsches fits as I think I'm right in saying that back in '87 when the offsets changed 16" was the biggest wheel Porsche had in the 5x130 PCD. Back in the late 80s the lineup was 911 944 and 928. The 911 of the day used Fuchs or teledials and it didn't get later offset until the 964 came along in 1989, but it didn't have any other wheel options until then either. I'm struggling to remember what wheels the 928 had and all I can think of is some quite flat looking Teledials, the flat face ones the '87-'88 944T got and the ClubSport ones the Silver Rose and '89 Turbo had. That would suggest the 928 might have run unsuitable offsets earlier than the 944, possibly right back to when it was launched in 1977.
Nothing from more modern Porsches fits as I think I'm right in saying that back in '87 when the offsets changed 16" was the biggest wheel Porsche had in the 5x130 PCD. Back in the late 80s the lineup was 911 944 and 928. The 911 of the day used Fuchs or teledials and it didn't get later offset until the 964 came along in 1989, but it didn't have any other wheel options until then either. I'm struggling to remember what wheels the 928 had and all I can think of is some quite flat looking Teledials, the flat face ones the '87-'88 944T got and the ClubSport ones the Silver Rose and '89 Turbo had. That would suggest the 928 might have run unsuitable offsets earlier than the 944, possibly right back to when it was launched in 1977.
944 man
Active member
Fuchs were a PCNA only option. Im not sure that I understand the growing fascination that people have with 951 part number Fuchs wheels. Ive run a cmpetition car on 7" & 8" Fuchs in the past, but series two cars, Turbos in particularly, look terrible on these wheels: they were only comissioned to pander to poor American tatse!. Their fitting was a massive step backwards in styling terms and their mythical status is far from deserved: theres nowt special about them, bar a little extra back space (which is available with other part numbers, if you look).
Discuss.
Discuss.
I don't think they look any less good than on a 911, and I really like them on the 911. I tend to agree they are a little too inset, but a 10mm spacer sorts that out. I have no opinion on their performance compared with other wheels that were available on the car (16" Teles, basically), but I wouldn't expect there to be a difference.
I'm also not quite sure what you mean about PCNA only option as my first Turbo, which was a very early example came via a UK dealer from new, had Fuchs from day 1. The car is Alpine white and the Fuchs centres were platinum so I had assumed they were retro-fitted and probably from a 911 but they were on the options list for it I got via an OPC based on the (ZZZ) chassis number.
It actually looked better than it sounds in white with gold wheel centres - long before Subaru or Renault discovered gold wheels as well.
I'm also not quite sure what you mean about PCNA only option as my first Turbo, which was a very early example came via a UK dealer from new, had Fuchs from day 1. The car is Alpine white and the Fuchs centres were platinum so I had assumed they were retro-fitted and probably from a 911 but they were on the options list for it I got via an OPC based on the (ZZZ) chassis number.
It actually looked better than it sounds in white with gold wheel centres - long before Subaru or Renault discovered gold wheels as well.
Diver944
Active member
There is a useful website here that has pictues, sizes and weights of nearly all the Porsche wheels (as well as some replicas) :
http://www.944racing.de/felgengewichte.html
Click on Felgengewichte on the RH menu if it doesn't come up straightaway. As well as looking really good on a 944, notice that the Fuchs wheels are nearly 2kg lighter than any other wheel in the same 16" size (if the weights are accurate? )
http://www.944racing.de/felgengewichte.html
Click on Felgengewichte on the RH menu if it doesn't come up straightaway. As well as looking really good on a 944, notice that the Fuchs wheels are nearly 2kg lighter than any other wheel in the same 16" size (if the weights are accurate? )
sawood12
New member
I've got the Boxster 5 spoke twists on mine which were also fitted on the 996. The standard size for them was 255 rear, 205 front which is what they came with and subsequently i've replaced the tyres with the same size. Also the standard tyre size on the early turbo's was 245's in the rear and 205's up front. Not sure what tyre size modern Boxsters are running now. I realise you're running different offsets than the ABS cars but even with the ABS cars the Boxster/996 offsets are slightly different and I had the same issue as you in that the wheel looked too far inboard. I calculated the difference between the offsets to be about 3mm but I couldn't get 3mm spacers so installed 7mm. It looks much better now.
I havn't suffered understeer problems much on my car as such. Granted if I push hard in a big bend I do get some understeer but that is how a car should be set up i.e. a bit of understeer to warn you that you are getting close to the limit and the speed at which it happens is quite sporting so I don't think the 205's are greatly limiting the cornering speed. However when I do replace the tyres I'll go with 225's as the 205/255 difference does feel a bit too large and others running 225's up front seem to report no adverse balance problems - though I believe 225's are pushing the limit as to what a 7" rim can take but 215's are hard/impossible to get.
The issue about the car being 50/50 weight distribution therefore tyres should be the same may be logical but is slightly misleading as the rear wheels also provide drive and traction so you will need wider tyres at the rear. There is much more force going through the tyres upon hard accellaration than during cornering so rear tyres are sized for traction rather than cornering forces. You certainly wouldn't want to run 225's all round with a turbo - it'd be like driving on ice - and 255's all round isn't possible.
I havn't suffered understeer problems much on my car as such. Granted if I push hard in a big bend I do get some understeer but that is how a car should be set up i.e. a bit of understeer to warn you that you are getting close to the limit and the speed at which it happens is quite sporting so I don't think the 205's are greatly limiting the cornering speed. However when I do replace the tyres I'll go with 225's as the 205/255 difference does feel a bit too large and others running 225's up front seem to report no adverse balance problems - though I believe 225's are pushing the limit as to what a 7" rim can take but 215's are hard/impossible to get.
The issue about the car being 50/50 weight distribution therefore tyres should be the same may be logical but is slightly misleading as the rear wheels also provide drive and traction so you will need wider tyres at the rear. There is much more force going through the tyres upon hard accellaration than during cornering so rear tyres are sized for traction rather than cornering forces. You certainly wouldn't want to run 225's all round with a turbo - it'd be like driving on ice - and 255's all round isn't possible.
TTM
Well-known member
An objective plus of the Fuchs wheels is that they remain to this day the lightest OEM Porsche wheels made, and by a fair margin. Even the special Teledials made of Magnesium for the late offset Cup cars were not as light. Check wheel weights on the link posted by Diver944.
I had the chance to drive last month a very nice '86 turbo fitted with 7" & 9" Fuchs and I was amazed how light it felt.
Styling apart, the Fuchs are a definitive upgrade in terms of handling, as decreasing non-suspended mass is in my opinion one of the best, if not the best thing one can do to improve the handling of a car.
pauljmcnulty
Active member
This made me laugh - from the 1988 price list:
Std Lux wheels 15" teles with 195/65 low-profile tyres
Turbo "special disc design" 16" with 225/50 and 245/45 ultra-low profile tyres - as seen on most concept cars at motorshows now, not! How times have changed...my postman drops thicker rubber on my drive every day than I see on cars now. [&:]
Talk about profiteering though, My lux would have cost an extra £1030.31 for 16" tele's but a whopping £2121.66 (on a £25K car) for the disc-design. Being as there's still only 4 of them, and the same tyres, that's some difference and I'd guess not many luxes were fitted with D90s as an option!
Std Lux wheels 15" teles with 195/65 low-profile tyres
Turbo "special disc design" 16" with 225/50 and 245/45 ultra-low profile tyres - as seen on most concept cars at motorshows now, not! How times have changed...my postman drops thicker rubber on my drive every day than I see on cars now. [&:]
Talk about profiteering though, My lux would have cost an extra £1030.31 for 16" tele's but a whopping £2121.66 (on a £25K car) for the disc-design. Being as there's still only 4 of them, and the same tyres, that's some difference and I'd guess not many luxes were fitted with D90s as an option!
edh
New member
Scott - I thought early turbos ran 205 / 225 F/R - like the S2? The problem with 911 and Boxter wheels is that you have too big a difference between front & rear rim sizes.
I run equal width F/R on track & I think it works very well. I wouldn't worry at all about driving my car on 225's all round (OK, maybe not P600's all round [
] ) I'm sure you can run 255's all round - with 9" rims F/R (doesn't diver944 run them as track wheels?). It would make the steering a bit heavier though. I still have a set of new 9" replica cup 3's sitting in the garage, I had thought about using them, but don't need the extra rim size as I decided to stick with the standard brakes. They would look great though.
sawood12
New member
I'm pretty sure that stock tyre size for turbo's is 245 rear and 205 front. When I bought my car it had the original 16" teledials on and they were 245r/205f. I think the later turbo's ran wider tyres on the front but i'm not sure. However the manufacturer has to set the car up in a benign way to account for drivers who don't know what to do with oversteer. Understeer is alot easier and intuitive to deal with for the average person than the rear end suddenly snapping into oversteer. So I think that accounts for the larger than logic dictates difference between stock tyre widths.
On various forums I've looked at it does seem that for track use and racing especially when on R spec tyres the tyre widths do seem to become more equal. But then again you can achive far higher cornering forces on R spec tyres than on road spec tyres.
On various forums I've looked at it does seem that for track use and racing especially when on R spec tyres the tyre widths do seem to become more equal. But then again you can achive far higher cornering forces on R spec tyres than on road spec tyres.
944 man
Active member
Not only the lightest but withiout a doubt the best quality wheels available too and far superior to the BBS wheels that they were commonly replaced with.
Im not over-impressed with 951 part number Fuchs wheels, which are what Im talking about. Im highly enthusiastic about the wheels themselves and I wish that I still owned the many, many sets in desirable sizes that have passed through my hands...
944 man
Active member
I think that they only suit early cars. Conversely I think that the only benefit that they can possibly have for later cars is that they weigh a good deal less. The benefit is felt through the steering (unsprung weight is neither here not there) due to the far lesser gyroscopic forces: a lighter wheel is far easier to turn off the centre line.
pauljmcnulty
Active member
That's a good price for 16s, and I agree with Fen that they're really nice in that colour.
Assuming, let's say, £40 per wheel to strip, dispose of the lethal rubber and re-furb in silver I'm sure we could work something out with the guy I know who wants to sell his silver teles...[8|]
Assuming, let's say, £40 per wheel to strip, dispose of the lethal rubber and re-furb in silver I'm sure we could work something out with the guy I know who wants to sell his silver teles...[8|]
Posts made and opinions expressed are those of the individual forum members
Use of the Forum is subject to the Terms and Conditions
