Wheels for a 911SC

[ronaldtrotter]

I am looking for a set of 15"x 7" and 8 " track wheels for my 82 SC. Are there good after market wheels I can get and what do I need to look for in offset, bolt pattern measurement etc. Naturally I am also looking for a good deal price wise.

[Pete Millikin]

Most of the aftermarket wheels available in the economy price range are cast, typically very heavy and not that strong. In other words not worth it.

I reccomend looking for some OE Fuchs, which are forged and therefore very strong and relatively light. Some of the less popular Porsche styles like the phone dial wheels can be found pretty cheaply.

Watch out the the right fit particularly the backspacing #. Your car is a narrow body with early 911 backspacing. Here are a couple of sites with good wheel information

http://instant-g.com/Products/Wheels/WheelFit.htm

http://members.rennlist.org/911pcars/WheelWts.html

Last thought - Tom Tweed was looking at some very inexpensive steel wheels but i'm not sure if the supplier ever got off the ground.

[ronaldtrotter]

Thanks for the information. I was also wondering about the lug pattern size 5 x ?. I am talking to a place back east about steel wheels also.

[ttweed]

The lug pattern is 5 x 130mm. The guys at Motomotions have the steel wheels from Circle Racing for Porsche fitments. Why are you limiting yourself to 7 & 8 x 15"? You can fit 8s and 10s on an SC. Trying to keep the points down for classification purposes?

TT

[ronaldtrotter]

I didn't realize I could fit the larger wheels on the car. But, I presently have 5 pts on the car and with only three to play with I am trying to be careful. So 245's are the biggest I could go and the wider wheel would also add pts I believe.

[Steve Grosekemper]

The lug pattern is 5 x 130mm. The guys at Motomotions have the steel wheels from Circle Racing for Porsche fitments. Why are you limiting yourself to 7 & 8 x 15"? You can fit 8s and 10s on an SC. Trying to keep the points down for classification purposes?

TT

Tom raises a good question. What are you really looking to do with this wheel tire setup?

I suggest you don't look at wheels but tires.
What tire's do you want to run?
For example if you run the 15x7&8's you suggest you are limited to 225-50 tires. This was super popular at one time but not so much anymore. So see what tires are available in 15" and then 16".

If you are looking for the cheap way out put a set of 15x7 (944) cookie cutters on it with 225-15's. you can rotate them and they have a lower height and therefore a lower final gear ratio.

If you want the ultimate setup you can squeeze 16 x 8 & 9's under there with 245's up front and 265's in the rear.

There are several setups that will work, it just depends on what you want to do and what you want to spend.

[ronaldtrotter]

What I am looking for is a good setup for both AX and later TT. Thus having a set of wheels for those events and a set for my daily driving. Presently I have OME Fuchs 16x6/7 with 225 rears 205 fronts. It seemed like have the lower drive ratio with 15's was a good idea. This even though the tires are getting harder to find.

[ttweed]

This even though the tires are getting harder to find.

There are no high performance DOT tires in 15" that are any bigger than 225s anymore, except for Hoosiers. They still make a 245 and a 275 in 15", but they aren't cheap. There are lots of choices in racing slicks, but then you aren't street legal anymore, and they are 6 point tires. Your brake upgrade paths are limited with the 15" rims as well, if that is a future possibility for your car.

Here is another good resource on wheel and tire fitment for Porsches from Bill Verburg that Pete didn't mention above:
http://members.rennlist.com/1976c38/index.html

TT

[ttweed]

So 245's are the biggest I could go and the wider wheel would also add pts I believe.

Actually, there is no penalty for running a wider wheel if the total track increase is not greater than 2". With the difference in offsets on the 7 x 16" and the 9 x 16" Fuchs, there is actually less than 2" of track increase, and the 245 tire will work much better on the 9" wheel than the 8", for the same 2 point penalty.

TT

[ronaldtrotter]

Thanks for all the information and resources. I have to decide which way to go. The 16x 9" Fuchs sound pretty good for the rear, if I could get a pair at a reasonable price. It would keep me within the new 8pts allowed and give me a better footprint for the car. I still would like to find an affordable set of wheels to use for track. I maybe wrong but having tires for track and tires/wheels for street has to be a little less expensive then running street tires all the time. I'm to new at this to know for sure but it seems to me that it would be. In the mean time I need to continue to get seat time to learn to drive the car. What ever I do I am continuing to have a great time at each event.

[ronaldtrotter]

Thinking about it I may be asking the wrong question. Maybe I should be asking what others in IS are running on there SC's and what has been the best combination wheel and tire for the car.

[ttweed]

The 16x 9" Fuchs sound pretty good for the rear, if I could get a pair at a reasonable price.

Unfortunately, the days of a reasonably priced 9x16" Fuchs wheel are long gone. They are going for $1200/pair and up (nearly $2000 for new ones, last I heard!) You can buy a complete set of the 8 & 10 x16" steel wheels for $400! Motomotion also has lighter aluminum racing wheels from Circle for less than $1000/set. See http://www.gruppeb.org/forum2/viewtopic.php?t=1223 (may require registration on the GruppeB forum to view this thread.)

The other alternative is to pick up some used BBS, OZ, or other brand of alloy race wheels that come in Porsche fitments.

TT

[ronaldtrotter]

Thanks, I contacted Momotion and they have put the steel on hold. This they say is due to some quality issues. I think I'll wait and look for some fuchs until the steel ones come back on line. But when they do they sound like a good alternative for track wheels.

[Greg Phillips]

There are at least 2 ads in our classifieds, 15x7&8 Fuchs for $750 and a set of 15x7 BBS wheels for $350. They are off of early 944's, but I think the offsets should fit the early 911.

Greg

[RickK]

Anybody familiar with ROH Wheels? I've heard of them but don't know anything about them. http://www.groupawheels.com/zr6.html or http://www.jdwheels.com/porsche.htm is where I saw them. Judging from the price I would guess they are comparable to the Mille Miglia wheels many people are running. I know, usually if seems to good to be true then it is, but I've found that sometimes companies that don't focus on Porsche products will offer products for Porsches that don't have the Porsche premium price. I've typically heard of ROH wheels on Mustangs or imports. I'm curious if anyone has heard anything about their weight or strength.