944 Turbo wheels upgrade

[Billygoat]

Hi, I am new to 944 ownership and have recently purchased a 1986 944 Turbo.[]

I want to upgrade the wheels on my car and need some advise.

Forgive me but I am not technically minded so I hope this makes sense!

My car is August 1986 and currently has 16" Teledials. I understand that the dimensions of the 1985 / 1986 944 Turbo Teledials are:

Front: 7" x 16" offset 23.3mm
Rear: 8" x 16" offset 23.3mm

I want to change the wheels to the Silver Rose SE forged alloys (CS Rims). My research shows that the dimensions of these wheels are:

Front: 7" x 16" offset 65mm
Rear 9" x 16" offset 60 mm

I need to know what size spacers to buy to ensure that the wheels fit correctly. I assume that I need 40mm spacers![8|]

Is this a straight forward job?

Does anyone have any spacers that they want to sell me?

Thanks.

JB[]

 

[Fen]

Welcome to the slippery slope. That's about right based on your figures - I think 30 or 35mm is about typical for what people use. Do you have a set of forged rims lined up? If not you might want to consider something in the correct offset for your car. The forged rims have been known to fail (on track admittedly), but that leads me to suspect they are past their best and it will be an expensive proposition to fit them only to end up with big spacers and old wheels. If I had an early offset car I'd be very tempted with some deep-dish BBS or 5-spoke wheels that would still be in keeping with the car's looks, in 17" diameter.

 

[Billygoat]

Thanks for you reply.

I have already purchased the wheels and just need to fit them!! The wheels appear to be in very good condition with a lot of tread left. There are no noticeable marks and I didn't part with a lot of money for them.

I am not planning to use the car on a track.

I notice that 30mm spacers are quite a bit cheaper than 40mm. Am I right assuming that if I was to use 30mm spacers the wheels would sit 10mm further in than the current wheels?

JB[]

 

[Fen]

Yes, they would be 10mm further in if the total of new wheel offset plus spacer size is 10 less than the offset of the old wheels.

 

[944Turbo]

I think the forged may crack after refurbing, I would guess there isn't a lot of spare strength in there so if you remove some metal that may be a problem. I use them on track with slicks, no grief yet,
Tony

 

[Andy Duncan]

Jon,
You've obviously had the wheels off and checked the offsets, good.

I had a look at the Porsche parts manual before I Emailed you and it showed the offsets of ET52, I was looking at the model year 86, I've had another look and unsurprisingly 16" Teledials are also available at ET23 which is what you have. Apologies for the bum steer.

The issue with Porsche is that there are many models that share the same design of wheel but rim width and offsets vary to significant degrees.......

Re wheel options; your offsets are the similar to the 911SC and 911 3.2 Carrera. So wheels from these cars will be compatible.

You can get 17" Cup1 wheels (non Porsche manufacture) that have the offset ET23. This would do away with the need for spacers.

Give me a call if you want more info on these wheels.

regards

andy