Will they work? Anybody running them?

what is a V6?

do you mean R6?

Yep, I meant Hoosier A6. It's hell to get old.

Don't see why they wouldn't work. 205/50/15??

Hoosier is pretty specific about rim widths that work best
they recommend a 7inch rim for their 205 tire
It should fit on a 5.5 rim but it may not offer as much grip as a smaller tire might on that same rim

go to the hoosier website and see what is available for sizes.
they also show their width recommendations for best performance.
I know from one conversation I had with their technician that a 205 on a 7inch rim should be faster than a 225 on a 7inch rim.

You're right, all the tires I looked at, Hossier, Kumho, BF Goodrich, & Hankook all had recommended measured rim size of 6.5", but they do say that 5.5 to 7.5 will work. I can't find a smaller tire or a wider 4 lug rim. I guess I will have to convert to 5 lug to get what I want. I would hate to buy expensive tires that aren't doing what they are supposed to do. I do want to keep the car narrow, at least for now.

I would give it a try.
because they are recommending 5.5 - 7.0, I'd definitely give it a try
the A tires are really really really good!
the only problems I see are:

1) your giving up a tiny bit of the tires capability
2) a hoosier 205 may or may not fit inside of a stock fender. Hoosiers are made wider than any other tire... so a 205 hoosier is going to be nearly an inch wider than a 205 street tire.. you should be able to cut the lip, bend the lip, or pull/roll the fender enough pretty easily. A 5.5inch rim is probably not going to change the need to pull the fender lip any different than you would have to do with a 7inch rim. Plus you can stay 4 bolt and find different 4bolt rims that are wider if you want to. There are 4bolt 7's out there.

Brant - Thanks for your input. Your knowledge about tires has prompted me to do a little more research. Here's what I have found:

I am currently running Falken 205/55R15 tires and there is plenty of clearance:

The section width is approximately 8.5, tread width is 7.2. I say approximately because I can't find my exact tire. Must not make it anymore.

Tires that I am looking at are:

Hoosier A6 with sw 8.7 and tw 8.0
Hankook z214 with sw 8.4 and tw 7.6
Kumho v710 with sw 8.3, with tw n/a

All measured on a 6.5 rim

Looks to me like the Hankook might be the pick as it is about $74 less than the A6. For me, with only 3 AXs under my belt, they will probably be just fine. Fine for me and fine for my budget.

Oh, and I did find some Centerline 4x130 15x7 rims, but they want over $200 and I already have an extra set of Fuchs, so I guess I will go with them for now. I say for now because I have most of the stuff to convert to 5s. Just want to get this going now for this season.

Here is my car (some time ago) with the narrow body and 205 Hoosiers. I think we did do the baseball bat thing on the wheel wells.

Click to view attachment

Here is my car (some time ago) with the narrow body and 205 Hoosiers. I think we did do the baseball bat thing on the wheel wells.

Click to view attachment
[/quote]

Very nice looking, but I guess somewhat different now. Do you recall what size 5 lug wheels you were using?

15x7 Centerline wheels - score!
Probably cheaper to go w those wheels than the full 5-lug conversion, then those new wheels (cookie cutter type wheels are cheap though).

Wider wheels are best, period. Its too bad there is not a 195/50 racin tire, because that would work great on a narrow 914. My 205/50 Hoosiers on 3-piece 4-lug wheels w thin spacers to perfect the backspace still required I roll the rear fender lip, which cracked the nice paint on there (d'oh!). I sold those wheels 2 years ago for what I bought them for.

[quote name='ww914' date='Mar 1 2013, 10:33 AM' post='1828097']
Here is my car (some time ago) with the narrow body and 205 Hoosiers. I think we did do the baseball bat thing on the wheel wells.

Click to view attachment
[/quote]

Very nice looking, but I guess somewhat different now. Do you recall what size 5 lug wheels you were using?
[/quote]


Ha, yea somewhat different.

I believe those fuchs were 7"ers as that was the max wheel width we could run with the GGA PCA group here.

In the '90s I ran Hoosier R205s on 4 bolt Fuchs alloys and barely had to pull on the fenders for goood clearance. I don't think the A6s are any wider than the older design.
Click to view attachment

those fuchs pictured above are 6inch fuchs

I've ran just about every brand of 205/50/15 on 5.5" rims including A6/R6 Hoosiers.

No problem and not dangerous.

You will likely need to roll the fenders.


KT

Does rolling the fenders mean just bending back the inner lip or more?

Rolling the fenders means passing a round object between the tire edge and fender lip.

Start with a small pipe, "roll" the car forward and back and allow the tire to draw the pipe.

Increase the size of the object until the tire no longer touches the fender lip under compression.

I've used up to the fat end of a baseball bat to get the results I needed.


KT

The flat surface on the fender lip may be flattened or you may need to to slightly move the fender itself.

Take your time.
The paint may crack.
If there is bondo under the paint, it could pop.


KT

KT, thanks for the above explanation on fender rolling.

I have now installed the A6's on the car. I can get my finger between the tire and the flat fender edge on both sides. There seems to be about the same clearance on the inner fender. Is that enough clearance or shall I "roll" the fenders a bit to be safe? I would hate to ruin those brand new tires. I would rather wear them out than kill them.

Has the car been aligned? What's your rear toe-in per side? How much camber?
A finger width is probably plenty but only driving at the limit will tell for sure.

When I baseball bat a fender I have someone at the wheel roll the car forward and back, slowly so I can carefully direct the bat (or shovel handle, closet bar, etc.) as it rolls.
The tire absorbs most of the energy so it isn't nearly as traumatic on the fender as one might expect.

I actually keep a short length of closet bar with my track tools for emergencies ever since this happened.
Click to view attachment

Back when I had money for tires, I ran A4's on stock 5.5 fuchs 4 bolt rims. I had no rubbing issues, did not need to roll or cut anything, but clearances were close. I switched to some 7" rims. I had to roll and cut a tiny bit on the back, nothing to the front. As the offset was not perfect, I had some spacers made. The tires and car were transformed. It was like a new and more awesome set of tires. The wider rims allowed the tires to perform to their full potential. Run on the 5.5's if you have no other options. Find a way to get those skins on to some 7's for best results.

That certainly makes sense to me. I have collected most of what I need to convert to "5's". I guess I need to move this up on my bucket list. I will run what I have now for awhile and then when I make the switch, I should be able to notice any difference.

Looking at the tire wear after about 14 runs on Saturday, I decided to look for and found some 4 lug 7x15 wheels. I can't wait to get them on. I have some other issues that I discuss on another thread. I like the way the car handles, I just don't like the way the tires are wearing. I am still muscling the car around, but I think I am going a little faster. Took me two or three runs to get used to them.

+1

Cookie cutters are cheap!

I have a very nice set I'd sell but he's running 4 lug.

and heavy.

I have a set of 4 lug centers available for 3pc Keizer wheels.

Really light wheels are great, but bring money.

These things are relative. Cookie cutters are pretty similar to Fuchs 5-lug
in weight, which I don't think is a lot. The heavy wheels are the new fake
mini-lites and the revolutions. Also 16" boxster wheels.

About as light as you can go for the money and without going custom.

Ha... good idea marketing light just came on!

Your website needs a "light weight" product page for all us guys that started out racing knowing zero about what we were doing. And a list of what to do first, second, third and so on to get the maximum performance out of our 914 platforms.

15 X 7 Fuch are 11 lbs on my bathroom scale. Cookies are 12 lbs.
Both are some of the lightest production wheels one can buy.
Trick 3 piece wheels can knock a couple 3 lbs off that.......bring money if you need that extra half tenth second.

Well, the Revolutions came in and I already have the Hoosiers mounted. They sure fit on the rim better than the 5.5s. I didn't notice it before but the Hoosiers on the 5.5s were hitting the inner fender well pretty hard, so I have ordered 1/4 in spacers and longer lug bolts. Had to roll the outer fenders a little more. When I get everything back together, I may have to work on those fenders again.

I got my rear coilovers with 225 lb springs and will install them tomorrow.

I have the front suspension apart waiting for new polybronze bushings. The PO installed 22mm torsion bars at some point, so I will leave that part alone. I will play with the camber a little.

I have an appointment for cornerbalancing on the 9th.

So, since my last AX, the only things I will have changed is wider wheels, the rear spring weight, a little more neg camber in the front, new suspension bushings and a corner balance. That shouldn't be too much of a change, do you think?

By the way, the Revolutions weigh 20 lbs, which is 6 lbs more than the Fuchs.

I can sure see were a guy can dump a ton of money into this stuff, just like JP and Chris alluded to. Oh well, it sure is fun!

Sounds like enough of a change.
I wouldn't do anything else for a while except maybe adjust the front sway bar, and/or tire pressures between events.

It's going to take some getting used to.

To be blunt, 22s are way too stiff , particularly for a street car with a stock chassis...IMO. The car will will push and may well pound itself apart.

I was not a happy camper when I first went to 21mm!
I went up the ladder from 180 to 200 lb rears ...nope ....to 225....nope, 250s, nope. 300s........too much.....but progress. 275s were just right. The 275s also got the inside rear to stick under OTG thru a corner.....see pic, note smoke & curved black line. At one AX a month you figure out the time frame. At that point, on a rough venue I got double vision from the pounding more than once. At this point I had a fully seam welded chassis and a full cage and that worried the hell out of me.......down tubes came soon there after.

Extrapolating 22s in place of my 21s (SWAG), to balance the car I would have to go to about 375lb rear springs to get the handle back......I like oversteer for AX.

Well, they may be too stiff, but they've been on there since I have owned the car and it hasn't seemed too stiff to me. I haven't driven a stock 914, so I don't know the difference. I will just have to see with the way the car handles with the way I have it set up for now and go from there.

While we're here.

Anyone going to 200 lb or greater rear springs should be aware that they can cause problems.

Specifically at the shock towers, trunk level at the forward end of the hole. The tower connection is a weak spot on 914s......really pretty scary if you get a chance to look at the whole connection under all that sheet metal. Excessive lifting forces will crack at that bottom forward edge. 200 lb springs seems to be the tip over point. The springs try to rip the shocks towers off. The fix involves adding welds (and/or down tubes) that were never there in the first place.....under that sheet metal.

Not my best pic, but the trouble starts at the top of pic at the seam just forward of the hole.

All the talk about TB sizes and spring rates doesn't do much if your chassis is flexing. The best money/effort I put into my car was rigidly attaching a carbon fiber targa top. I know it's not as good as a cage, but it is lighter and has improved the tunability of the chassis. For now, I would suggest you run the standard targa top and try to mount it as rigidly as possible. I never realized how flexible the 914 chassis is until I did put in the new top. Now, I can feel very small changes in sway bar settings where before I couldn't. FWIW

Do you possibly have a build thread on your top? I am curious how you went about it.

The 914-6 GTs that Porsche built had reinforcement on the A pilar...you don't...and would still crack or pop the windshield out. So, are you trying to eliminate cowl shake or stiffen the chassis?

I am going to be caging the car soon and tying in all the pick up points. I was just curious how borderline went about it.

Sorry, no build thread. I haven't been frequenting this site much lately......too many people telling me what to do and what not.

If I was just autoxing, I'd seriously consider doing what Bill did. Huge weight difference vs. a full cage. Cost would also be a lot less.

Don't have any stats to prove my point, other that having watch and driven in Bill's car - it does handle extremely well.