more about Fuchs, Fuchs Options

[ME733]

You have asked about the fuchs which came on my 914 S....here goes...the O.E.M. spare rim is dated 8-72...and so are all the others.....and they are part#...914.361.011.00 .They look different in /on the backside than THE PHOTOGRAPH with notes you have shown......as a point of intrest the spare RIM and ALL the four on the ground are identical in every way...EXCEPT the four on the ground have a Painted BACKGROUND.....and after looking closely with a magnifing glass its obvious they are painted...and not quite dead flat black....they are Not anodized....the spare tire is an original tire ..DUNLOP 165 hr 15....looks like it and the rim have NEVER been used...the rim is clean and perfect (both sides and the tire has full tread....and is not dry rotted.(cracks showing in sidewalls)..However,.I would never consider using it obviously. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/bye1.gif)

[ME733]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/popcorn[1].gif) TOM, ..Is this of any intrest?...my O.E.M. set of "fuchs" are not HUB CENTRIC as discussed ...but LUG centric. The front HUBS on my car are "HUB CENTRIC"...the rear hubs are "LUG centric."..Question???...were or are there rear hub centric hubs?...when were the rear hub centric hubs available?....and BOTH SETS of the Mahle wheels...all 8, eight... are HUB centric in design....were the "MAHLE" wheels available ...AT or AFTER...the fuchs were available?. If they were only available somewhat later,(1974?) it would explain why they are hub centric. ANY idea on the history ?....thanks ..murray.... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/popcorn[1].gif)

[Tom_T]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/popcorn[1].gif) TOM, ..Is this of any intrest?...my O.E.M. set of "fuchs" are not HUB CENTRIC as discussed ...but LUG centric. The front HUBS on my car are "HUB CENTRIC"...the rear hubs are "LUG centric."..Question???...were or are there rear hub centric hubs?...when were the rear hub centric hubs available?....and BOTH SETS of the Mahle wheels...all 8, eight... are HUB centric in design....were the "MAHLE" wheels available ...AT or AFTER...the fuchs were available?. If they were only available somewhat later,(1974?) it would explain why they are hub centric. ANY idea on the history ?....thanks ..murray.... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/popcorn[1].gif)

Murry, as far as I've researched - & others who may know better can chime in here too -

1. The hubs were only hub-centric in the front & integral with the disk brake rotors, but the rear rotors may have had the end-shaft/driveshaft hub extend through the rear disk rotor at some point for the same effect (anyone else?).

2. Hub centric & matching wheel issue came in for the `73 MY, but there was some carry over of the early 72 MY front hubs on the early-73 MY builds to use up the stock.

3. They had non-hub-centric ("plain flat back") wheels of all types ending with part # -00, whereas the hub-centric ("back machined for hub-centric lip") ended in -01; but both were used in the early 73 MY, which caused some mismatch problems due to inattentive assembly at the factory, wherein the 00 wheels would not seat on the new hub-centric hubs & posed a serious hazard of loosing a wheel/tire.

So in 12/73 they issued the BO (2L with Fuchs 2L Alloys) & BH (all others) Recalls as noted above in this thread a few pages back, after the problem was discovered, to have all the 914s checked for proper wheel matching fitment.

4. From what Pat Garvey has said here, the "new" Fuchs 4 lug 2L Forged Alloy Wheels were available in the late 72 MY (early 72) before the 73 MY started. According to most of the books on 914s, the factory & sales literature, etc., they all or almost all indicated that both the Fuchs 2L & 4 lug Mahle "Baby Gas Burner" Alloys became available for the 73 MY, but it makes sense that they might have made some available in advance of that auto MY release in Aug/Sept.

5. Those early releases could have been intentionally made as #-00 variety for pre-73 MY models' application on new & used/aftermarket wheels for the older MY's 914s, as well as the #-01 for the "new" hub-centric 73 MY 914s. The factory probably intended that the latter went on all 73 MY 914s exclusively, but they were either not in stock or they workers got careless on the mix-n-match problem - who knows why/how?

6. I've recently seen the Fuchs & Mahles & Pedrinis as both -00 & -01 varieties now for sale on-line here, TheSamba, etc. - so they produced the 4 lug alloy wheels of all varieties in both versions.

7. As far as I know, the "standard" or "base level" OE Steel wheels for the 73 MY 1.7Ls were changed to the "mag-look" 4-point star pattern design, which was only produced in the hub-centric stamping, since that was one type of tooling, whereas the alloys had to have the inset ring machined into it after forging or casting as an extra process, so it could be easily left "flat back" & stamped as an -00.

Hope this helps! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)