17" Wheels

[Guest]

I was wondering if anyone could help......

I'm going to fit some 17" 996 alloys to my 1990 C2 which has been lowered by 30mm. I seem to remember reading somewhere that I'll need to change the steering stops. I can't find the info and can't remember the exact details.

The new wheels are 7/9 front/rear and have got a 55 offset, so I think they'll fit OK but just wanted to check first!

Many thanks

Steve

 

[Dave Wilkinson]

Steve,

The steering stops are effectively slightly thicker washers which restrict the lock, preventlng contact between wheel and chassis. You can achieve a similar end result by using some 5mm spacers on the front wheels. The ET55 wheels are "slightly" more offset than the standard 964 wheels (ET52.5 I believe) so some 7mm spacers might be enough to overcome THAT problem as well as the steering issue.

The slightly larger offset at the rear probably won't cause a problem regarding contact with the oil pipe on the right hand side but it might be worth checking before you get too ambitious. The same spacers at the rear might be a good idea.

Regards


Dave

 

[Guest]

Thanks Dave

That's a bit of a blow. I thought they were the correct size to fit without any spacers.

Steve

 

[Guest]

Steve, Dave's advice is sound, however, my experience is slightly different. The rears will fit without trouble or spacers, as long as you don't fit tyres too much wider than the 255/40 width/profile. The fronts will fit too without spacers unless you want to fit 225/45 tyres to the front, instead of the standard 205/50 size tyres.

The 225/40 tyres are sometimes preferred by C4 drivers, as they help to reduce the inherant understeer in these models. Then the 5 or 7mm spacers and/or steering stops are a good idea.

My own C4 has 225/45/17 55mm fronts with 7mm spacers and 255/40/17 55mm rears with no spacers and I have no problems. I will be lowering the car soon and so don't yet have experience of this setup with a lowered ride height, so please bare this in mind if yours has already been lowered.

Hope this helps.

Malcolm

 

[Guest]

Thanks very much for your help.

The wheel/tyre sizes are:

Front 7J x 17 ET55 - 205/50/ZR17
Rear 9J x 17 ET55 - 255/40/ZR17
Car is lowered by 30mm

It sounds like I'll just have to try it out, although I don't like the idea of trying it only to find that the tyre and wheel arch/oil pipes could get damaged in the process.

Thanks again for your advice. I'll let you know how I get on.

Regards

Steve