Design 90 alloys

sheep911uk · May 17, 2004

Help needed please!! i have just bought a set of design 90 alloys for my 83 944,3 of the wheels are fitted with 205-55-16 tyres and one is fitted with a 205-50-16.
I have been told the two rear wheels are bigger than the fronts,how do i tell which are the bigger wheels and is it ok to use the different size trye?
Thanks

Fen · May 17, 2004

I agree with what Andrew has said and confirm that the S2 sizes are almost as he suggests. The S2 used 55 profile tyres all round, with 225 section on 8" rims for the rear and 205 section on 7" rims for the front i.e. 225/55/16 rear and 205/55/16 front.

As far as telling the wheels apart is concerned the size is cast around the valve stem. For S2 D90s that should be 8 and 52 for the rear and 7 and 55 for the front.

Some 964 model 911's had D90's but they only used 6" fronts. I had an S2 coupe that turned out to have a pair of them incorrectly fitted and it wasn't an easy spot.

Now for the bad news:

D90's won't actually fit an '83 car because they have an offset (the 52 and 55 numbers around the valve stem) designed to suit the post '87 ABS-equipped models and the face of the hub that the wheels mate to is quite a bit further inboard on your car than on an S2. You can fit spacers if you want to, or you can swap the hubs to those from a later car.

Sorry to be the bearer etc...

sheep911uk · May 17, 2004

Just had a look mine are 8-52(rear?) and 6-52(front?)
What would be the cheaper option spacers or newer hubs?
Thanks

Fen · May 17, 2004

I'm guessing they're off a 964 then.

I'll let somebody else comment definitively on the spacers vs hubs question.

Assuming they fit on without any other mods then I would prefer hubs myself as I'm slightly wary of spacers, and also you might get used hubs for reasonable money, but you might find that you need discs and callipers or something to match. I want to say spacers are about £150 - £175 a set but I could be making that up.

Guest · May 17, 2004

The rear tyres should be 225/50/16ZR 8J (NOT 225/55) and front should be 205/55/16ZR 7J. 964's have the same rears but the front wheels are narrower, 6J, 205/55/16.

Fen · May 17, 2004

Yep, you're right. Mine had 225/55's on the back, but they should indeed have been 225/50. That's what you get for checking the car not the book...

Diver944 · May 17, 2004

Nick, I believe your '83 944 will have as standard 7" ET23 15" wheels all round ( either Fuchs, Cookie cutters or Teledial)

Using this excellent website http://toy4two.home.mindspring.com/offset.html

I calculate you will need a 42mm spacer on the rear and a 16mm on the front to maintain the same clearance of your callipers that you do now.

http://www.design911.co.uk list 18mm spacers at £90 a pair and 43mmm at £120

Guest · May 17, 2004

ORIGINAL: Diver944

http://www.design911.co.uk list 18mm spacers at £90 a pair and 43mmm at £120

Ouch, is it me or does that seem a tad steep to anyone? Arnt spacer just pieces of turned ally?

Guest · May 18, 2004

Hi ,I have an 83 944 with later d90s from a 964 on it. I have the same size spacers of 43mm all round. They aren't spacers in the normal sense. They are aluminium and bolt to the original hub bolts. They have their own bolts to replace these built into the spacer. You bolt the spacers to the hubs and then the wheel to the new spacer. They've been on my car over 2 years now without a problem .The wheels sit in the arches nicely and make the car look much more modern.

sheep911uk · May 18, 2004

What size are your wheels i was told 8s probably wouldnt fit on the back and to use 22mm front spacers!!!

Fen · May 18, 2004

ORIGINAL: sheep911uk

What size are your wheels i was told 8s probably wouldnt fit on the back and to use 22mm front spacers!!!

I've no idea about the size of spacer you need front and back, but whatever size you use you are trying to put the face of your hub at the same place it would be on an ABS car. Once you achieve that 8's are bound to fit, given that they were standard on the S2. In fact the last Turbos had 9" D90's on the back and I run 10's on my cab, so that piece of advice is suspect.

Guest · May 19, 2004

Sheep911uk

My wheels are 8 inch wide design 90's at the back with 6"'s up front. I have 43mm spacers all round. As Fen said they put 8" D90's on the S2's and the turbo's had 9" D90's. All the spacers do is bring the wheels out to where the original wheels were. When I tried the later offset wheels without spacers they looked comical. They sat a long way in the arches. I've just checked my wheels and it sounds like your wheels are the same as the ones on my car. Mine have 8 and 52 (the offset) on the backs and 6 and and 52 on the front. I purchased them from a 964 owning friend after he upgraded to cups.

Marv

sheep911uk · May 19, 2004

Thanks for all the advice so now the hunt is on for some s/h spacers!!!!!

wedgepilot · May 20, 2004

ORIGINAL: Diver944
Using this excellent website http://toy4two.home.mindspring.com/offset.html

Very handy website Paul

I also have '964' D90's which I've long suspected needed a spacer on the front. According to the website, I need 10mm, so I reckon a pair of 7mm shims should help matters. Only £25, which is much more sensible than the silly prices being asked for spacers.

Cheers,
Alan

sheep911uk · May 26, 2004

Probably a stupid question but i fitted the wheels last night and everything seemed ok everything moved and no fouling so are the spacers just for cosmetic purposes to make the wheels fill the arches better?

944Turbo · May 26, 2004

I would imagine it will be strange to drive without the spacers and there maybe extra load on the wheel bearings.
Tony

sheep911uk · May 26, 2004

Thanks i keep getting conflicting reports jasmine say 43mm all round diver944 says 43mm rear and 19mm front!!!
When i took off the rear cookie cutters last night there was already a spacer on the wheel it was alloy and looked like a genuine porsche part!!!

wedgepilot · May 26, 2004

You're slightly narrowing the track of the car if you don't fit the spacers, so I suppose it might theoretically affect the handling, but probably not so much that you would notice.

Guest · May 26, 2004

Just to throw some more light / dark on this subject, I've recently changed my ABS hubbed '88 944S from 7J 15" 52.3ET teledials all round to 7.5J ET65 16" D90's at the front and 9J ET60 16" D90's at the rear.

The website suggests I too would benefit from the 7mm shims to put the wheels back where they should be.

I can say that without the shims, mine tramlines like mad now. Whether this is down solely to lack of shims or something else I can't say yet, but I'm getting to the stage of seriously considering changing to 7J D90's at the front (ET55) if I can find some nice ones and I may even change the back to 8J ET52 too. The 9's do fill the rear arches nicely though;-)

Fen · May 27, 2004

I'd be willing to do a deal with you on the 7.5 and 9" ones for a set of S2 7 & 8" if you like - I've been casually looking for a set of Turbo D90's for my track car for a while.