Maximum available width in aa steel flared car, What is there to work with on wheel/tire availability Options

[charliew]

I've tried to read every thread on this and the other site and tried to see what the clearances were at the lip of the opening. My teener will be a little lower than stock but it's a street car so not real low. I have some 18inch 996 chrome turbo wheels for a dune buggy but the rears are 11 inches wide, the fronts are 8's. I have seen 8's on the fronts but not sure of the 18 size. The rear is the big question. Does anyone have the width between the inner fenderwell and the flared fenderlip? I have read that it's the inner fenderwell and not the control arm thats the first interference spot. I would like to get at least a 9 inch wheel and hopefully a 10 in there and then figgure out what it will take to get it on the 5 bolt 911 hub. My early plans are to use a 911 bearing in a modded control arm without wheel spacers. That may be more work than whats necessary though.

If there's a thread someone knows about that covers this well, point me to it and save the explanation. I have decided any wider than the aa flares and the car gets too obvious and might draw too much attention.

[SirAndy]

Does anyone have the width between the inner fenderwell and the flared fenderlip?

They are called 9" GT flares for a reason. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/shades.gif)

If you shave or roll the lip and get the offset just right (spacers) you can run a 10" rim, but the max. tire patch width you can fit will not change.

The max. tire you can fit is somewhere around 275 or so, depending on the brand.
And there's no guarantee it won't rub on the inside when you hit a bump in the road.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/popcorn[1].gif) Andy

[ellisor3]

Not sure if this will help but I had some custom wheels made and needed a ton of measurements to avoid the spacers. Here are a few that may help you. If you need more I measured everthing I could think of.

James

[Cap'n Krusty]

IIRC, I've seen 9s and 11s (Fuchs) on a 914/6. Dunno if they were factory flares, but this was Otto's car that ran the Parade speed event the first time it was held in Monterey. Maybe 1973?

The Cap'n

[SirAndy]

IIRC, I've seen 9s and 11s (Fuchs) on a 914/6. Dunno if they were factory flares, but this was Otto's car that ran the Parade speed event the first time it was held in Monterey. Maybe 1973?

9"/11" was an option from the factory but it came with wider flares front/rear.

The standard GT flares were 7"/9" ...
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/bye1.gif) Andy

[charliew]

Man you guys are something. Thats great info. I searched and on page 7 of the search I found a thread by futureoptions, what size rims will I need to buy? and Burton replied. The best tire choices for the street seem to be in the 16 and 17 range with 8 or 9's. I guess if I go to the larger bearings the load on the bearing in the rear won't be so bad. If the bearing is moved out to be in the center of the wheel the cv will be way up in a hole.

ellisor3 replied he had some wheels made but there was nothing else on the post. I guess his copy/paste method didn't take.

[carr914]

[charliew]

Found another on pg 18 of my search: Joe Ricard: How big of a tire can a gt flare support, the answer to all your questions, Although he seems to be using fg flares others in the post are using steel flares.

On my 75 with original steel wheels there seems to be between 1.0 and .750 between the tire and the inner fender. Therefore I conclude that the 9x15 fuchs 911.361.020.03 is the correct wheel and offset to clear the inner fenderwell. What is the tire size usually on that wheel? 225/235/50? I think TC was the one that said good tires are hard to find in 9x15's

If I can add right the difference from the stud surface of the hub to the fenderwell with the 195/15 inch tire is about 133mm with whatever neg camber and toe my car has. My car has obvious neg camber but sets pretty level. I don't know about the toe. With wider tires do you need to increase the toe?

I have some aftermarket 9x15 fuchs with 205/50/15's bf goodrich ta's and they aren't very wide.

I would like to have the rear wheel/tire combo worked out before I start on the steel flares. It seems to be safe the 9 inch wide wheel in 16 or 17 is the only way to be safe to start with. Toe and camber seems like it could make a big difference on the clearance of the innerwell.

[charliew]

Well after reading here and elsewhere it seems that 5.750 is the maximum wheel offset on the rear with 911 parts. I tried to add up what it seems to be on my 74 914/4 and came up with about 5.250 and that might touch the inner fenderwell. With the 911 rear stuff it might be different and I haven't put any of that stuff on yet. Because of tire availability I decided to be conservative and go with the 17x7 and 8.5 inch boxter wheels, f55 and rear 50 et. I found some new with new tires for a good price, 205/50r and 255/40r. They are a little skinny but will work ok as long as I get the right spacers. I think I will get a set of 1.250 spacers and I can use them to see whats what. I taped the aa flare on the rear quarter and it measures 12 inches to the inside of the wide fenderlip from the 10 o'clock tire position. The 255/40's are supposed to be 10.3 inches wide so I might need some wider spacers to fill it out.

[SirAndy]

I taped the aa flare on the rear quarter and it measures 12 inches to the inside of the wide fenderlip from the 10 o'clock tire position.

I've never seen a stock GT flare with 12" of usable space ... (On top, where you need it. I'm guessing that would be 12 o'clock in your world)
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/popcorn[1].gif) Andy

[Derek Seymour]

I don't think I have ever seen a 914 with 18 inch rims. If you try it please take a pic and post it, it would be interesting to check out. I imagine even with 35 series tires 18 inches is going to fill up the fender pretty tight.

[atsealevel914]

I don't think I have ever seen a 914 with 18 inch rims. If you try it please take a pic and post it, it would be interesting to check out. I imagine even with 35 series tires 18 inches is going to fill up the fender pretty tight.

heres the kinesis car with 18 x 10s. i read somewhere that the flares were modified.

[ellisor3]

I did not realize in my last post that I did not add the pictures. Somewhat crude way to figure it out but here is what I did

[ellisor3]

I did not realize in my last post that I did not add the pictures. Somewhat crude way to figure it out but here is what I did. Here are the actual measurements for the rear:

Center of the wheel to top of fender well 46.7cm
Front side measurment(wheel center to virtual lip) 11cm
Backspace 15.7cm
Total useable width (inside well to virtual lip) 26.7cm
I ended up going with 17x7 and 17x8 rears
Anything bigger than 8"would be too tight on the rear and or would be sketchy to drive if you had a bigger front.

[charliew]

Man! that is one fine straight car. I would be afraid to drive that car anywhere.