how much flare to fit 7"s, just contemplating Options

[Aaron Cox]

winter is coming- as is my five lug conversion. i wanna run 16's front and rear. how much flare is needed to fit 7's in the rear and is it worth it????

[redshift]

I'm not sure about 16x7, but 15x7 will fit under my 74 with about 1/8th to spare..

Not the other car though..



M

[McMark]

Also depends on the tire size you wish to run. But 7"s shouldn't need too much flaring with moderately sized tires. If you want some nice meaty tires you'd need more, maybe 1" or so? This is just a guess.

[seanery]

AAron, I'll let you know in about a month. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[URY914]

It also depends on the wheel offset. 5" is about the most you can have before the tire starts rubbing on the inside.

Measure your car-all 914s are not the same.

Paul

[Aaron Cox]

im thinking 205 all around or as big as i can fit in the rear

[Andyrew]

I have 16x7's and 15x7's, both with 225's, 16's fuch's 15's cookies, almost identical offset. If they had 205's they would fit the fenders, but with 225's I had to do some custom flares.. not hard if you dont mind painting the fender.. but you might need bondo if you want it to be perfect..

let me know if you want me to show you pics..

Andrew

[Aaron Cox]

pics would be.....spiffy (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif) sure. thanks man

[mskala]

I think we've been through this before on multiple lists.

a) all cars are a bit different due to assembly methods

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool.gif) tire size, tire brand, camber, etc are all in the mix

c) 7" wide fuchs (with exception of 911R rims) have ALL
the additional width on the outside, so they stick out
(duh) 1" farther than 6x15 or 16.

On my -6, I have probably less than 1deg neg camber,
run 6x15 cookies (same offsets) with 205/50 victoracers
and they only had about 1/4" gap to spare.

Stupid note: 1970 cars only had completely flat-return
rear fenders, so I bent mine up just to be safer.

[machina]

I run 7's all around on my 914. I think with the right tire, 7's will fit on just about any 914. You have to be willing to roll the inside of the fender lip a little bit but it is not a big deal.

regards,
david

[mharrison]

I am adding the fiberglass GT flares to my 914. (I can't help it, I can't afford steel right now!!) How deep a wheel can I fit under there? Actually, how big do I have to go so it won't look stupid? I don't want a big empty fender flare with a skinny little wheel/tire combo in there.

Thanks,
Matt

[seanery]

I think 8's and 9's look good.

[SirAndy]

jenny got 7" all around with 205 tires. the offset is custom (rewelded steel wheels) and it is a VERY tight fit, but looks great!

(IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/uploads/post-2-1062486138.jpg)

[Jeff Bonanno]

gun show? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/w00t.gif)

[SirAndy]

gun show? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/w00t.gif)

naa, we didn't make it to the gun show.
ihop was just way too tempting (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool.gif)

Andy

[ss6]

Steel wheels are 7 x 16 (don't know, never had any)? Are they the same offsets as the Fuchs?

I'm running Fuchs 6 x 16's with 205's and they are pretty snug in back, but I didn't have to tweak any sheet metal to get 'em in there. Fuchs 7's with 205's may fit without tweaking sheet metal, but it'll be REAL close depending on the section width of the tire you choose, plus how your particular car came together. If you want to put 225's in the back, you will most likely have to do something to the fender. For example, the section width of a 225 Kumho VictoRacer is about 9.2" on a 7" rim (TireRack website), and my rear fender well is 9" wide at it's widest. The 205 is about 8.3" on a 6" rim. If you get a little rubbing going on with 205's on 7's, the old baseball bat trick may give you the extra sliver you need.

Is it worth it? A set of sticky 205's will give you plenty of grip for a 2.0, for street driving and at least the first year or so of AX/DE. If you don't have the rims yet, get 6 x 16's, and avoid the flare question until your driving tells you you've run out of tire. If you have 7" rims already, you may still be able to tuck some 205's in the back, but you may be locked into a lot of camber and limited in your ability to lower the ride height. Save the flares for the six conversion.

[campbellcj]

I have 15x7's with 205/50's and 16x7's with 205/45's for my car; the rears were fairly aggressively rolled and pulled with the standard baseball bat procedure. It still looks "stock" and there is actually extra clearance now - I plan to try 215/40 Hoosiers on my second set of 16x7's.

I did absolutely nothing to the front to fit the 7's.

[Brad Roberts]

This will stir up some shit.

The cars where all created equal... the problem is 90% of the alignment shops dont know that you can adjust the rear of the car. Meaning that rear toe and camber rarely get aligned. Especially when they dont have the alignment shims in stock.

If you take your car to get aligned and they DONT ask you for rear shims.. and they dont charge you for rear shims... they DID NOT align the rear. They can show you paperwork giving you the specs from what the computer read.... but did they actually change anything ?? A 914 with its thrust angle off will drive just fine.. thrust angle is all 4 tires going in the same direction.. if they dont adjust the rear.. they use the rear as the "constant" in the equation.. meaning that the front alignment will be based on the rear... WELL if the rear is wrong...


B

[machina]

assuming the shop won't have the shims on hand, how many and what size shims do you suggest keeping around? I saw the post about the guy making up some laser cut parts, 3 for $20.00.

thanks,
david

[Brad Roberts]

I suggest keeping the thinner sizes around. I *think* we have 1-2-3 mm shims (maybe 2-3-4mm) I would keep the smaller ones around for more precise tuning of the rear camber. I find a ton of the thicker shims... and keep all the thins ones for myself.


Also make sure the alignment shop uses a torque wrench on the three bolts holding the control arm to the tub. If THEY strip these nuts out with a air gun... you wont know it until later on when you end up with rear wheel steering. I dont recall (and I'm too lazy to look it up) but I think the torque settings for these are around 17lb ft.


B