I think I have covered the most common Fuchs wheel size combos for a GT tribute or clone. This would be for aggressive street and possibly light track use. Pick a wheel size combo that you think looks best in your opinion. Then list your reasons ...

BTW I am certain most have seen this article on Eric Shea's GT:

http://www.retromodmag.com/features/porsche-914-6-gt

Edit: please post pics to further illustrate your preference!

They hold enough rubber and look period correct. The larger diameter always looks funny with sharper sidewalls. Wider front wheels create a larger scrub radius that makes steering at low speeds harder.

These cars don't always measure the same in all 4 corners, but do what you like the best.

Research what rubber is available before you pull the trigger on a particular size wheel.

Example, 245/45-16 , tirerack shows 10 brands however 5 are race only.

Just something to think about

15's (7/8) look the best!

Also I think having the width to rim ratio match front to back is important too. for example use a 7" tire on a 7" rim and an 8" tire on an 8" rim...

Factory specs - for those intent on duplicating originality

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Here is an interesting set of 7's and 8's x 16's

The big difference between the wheels is the 8x16 & 9x16 will cost you multiples of all the other sizes.

It all depends on tire availability.. which could be limited in both 15" and 16" diameters.

That said, I liked one I saw with 8x15 fronts and 9x16 rears.

True that ,,I made Eric some custom 9 x 15s...noway would they fit his flairs...any body want some 15x8 weidman rsr finish with one inch added to the inside ?? 15x9


Me...8 & 9 x15 with dot race tires 245/225/ 50

what no 10.5 & 12 x 17 ??? 315/35 dot race tire

So far I’m the only 7X16 front 9X16 rear. My rears are actually custom built Weidman 8.5X16 but that isn’t a poll choice. My reason for going with these is tire option availability and the fact that it perfectly fills the wheel well in the rear.

Larger diameter rear tire like a 935 - I like it!

What's with the smoke screen? Great looking car.

Wow, I forgot about the Weidman option. They have the nice 'small' taper of the 15" in the rear, with the full diameter of the 16" ..... is that widening service still available? they do look great, thank you for posting

Yes. Just open wallet and wait. He's still the best.

Got $10K? I need a top end rebuild. But, I’ve still got one kid in college and another project car. The 240Z is getting a stroked fuel injected 300HP...

BTW Spoke, besides 914Rubber LED headlights, there isn’t a single exterior light that isn’t one of your PCB-LED’s.

Just thought I'd post some pics of the # 2 option above.

Edit: just adding a quote of a later post that mentions tire sizes for this yellow tribute

Even better in person.

Those 17's look much better than I would have thought!
What tire sizes are those?
Any spacers?


Someday I wish to see a great tribute example as this 'in person' ...


Tires look great ! What size tires did you select for your front (7), rear (8.5) x 16?

Did you use any spacers?

I ran that setup briefly - had a set of Weidman RSR style 8 & 9x16. However later I found that the 16's wouldn't clear the custom suspension/brake/flare setup in front so I used a 15x8 front with the 16x9 rear for a few months/events. Then sold that 16" set and went back to 15's all around.

As someone noted above, that set of wheels alone (w/o tires) was around $3500...and that was over 5 years ago IIRC...

I think so. Harvey closed up shop down in Oroville proper and moved the business up onto his own property on the mountain. He’s doing a second set of wheels for my car. Full polish. Painted crest caps. Think of them as dress shoes!

Harvey will see this thread. He’s around and he doesn’t miss much... call him if you want a set done. The problem is, the 16X6 wheels have gotten so expensive...

Eric Shea...if you're watchng...

What tires sizes are you using on your fantastic yellow 914-6GT

Looks like from the pictures that they are Pirelli P4s and the front is a 195/65/15 on a 7" Fuchs

What's the rear size tire....the wheel is noted in the article as an 8" Fuchs

Thanks...John

Are those custom width Weidman wheels made from 6" wide fuchs?

and what is the offset of your 8.5?

Sorry, I didn’t see the questions until now.

Harvey would have to answer the offset question but suffice it to say, you can only fit a cats whisker or two between the tire and the inner flange of the flair. McMark did the welding and he had a real six with factory flares in the shop at the time. He compared my reproduction flares to the factory flares and found that the reproduction flares are thicker gauge and have a flange that is much wider. The factory flare would have fit the tire perfectly, but the flange on the reproduction flare had to be trimmed a bit. I keep the 914 in a warehouse in the winter so I can’t just go out and peek at the tire sizes. If you’re really interested, all of this is chronicled in my “Just another damned project thread” which is on page one right now.

The conclusion we came to was that Harvey knows exactly what offset is needed for the 914 flares. I have no rubbing and I’ve used two different sets of tires.

Oh, yes. The 8.5” wheels are each made from 2 - 16X6 Carrera Fuchs.

More pics

I've been hearing for years that 16x6's -- which used to be the cheap undesirable ones -- have been swooped-up to make custom 3-piece 17's and so forth.

Here's part of my stash off and on the car. I exclusively use 15x8" Fuchs and 15x9 Braid now and have some black centered and some RSR style.

^^^ awesome!!! so those are 8s & 9s x 15 in the pic above? any spacers used?

Hi guys,

I'll be running 8 & 9" x 16" Fuchs on a car with GT flares and need to decide on tire sizes. Would 225/50 (front) and 245/50 (rear) look nice? I'm also considering 225/45 and 245/50, but I'm not sure how that would look.

Appreciate any guidance and thoughts. Thanks!

8 & 9 x 16 are under serious consideration with me as well. If I were to go that wheel size, I would do 225/45-16 front and 245/45-16 rear. This would make the front a tiny bit smaller in diameter than the rear.


More pics!

I was able to find 205x55x15 and 225x50x15 in matching tires but there are not a lot of choices. Our race car mechanic told me to buy a set of hoosier slicks and we would groove them ourselves. I'll do that when my car is closer to getting on the road.

+1 ... those tire widths are perfect for 7s and 8s x 15 and it seems like 7 & 8 widths x 15 diameters have the most votes so far ...

Race/track tires in 15" are still available in decent sizes for 7 & 8 x15..
Street tires in 15" for 7 & 8 x15 are a little bit harder to find.

Anyone tried these sizes for a street tires on Fuchs :

205/60/15 front on 7x15
225/60/15 rear on 8x15

Not on my car but in a 911. The front was ok. The rear was taller than the front so it looked a bit hot wheel-ish. Remember, the 60 is an aspect ratio, not a size. You would want a 55 on the back to make it even.

Wow love some of the big rims and tyres shown,its also about the HP to turn them ,small bore six is most likely out of the question ..
16 x6'' are climbing on price remember on pelican a guy had the rims machined of and used BBS spun alloy inner and outer bands,a true 3 piece wheel that looked great,I seem to rememeber he went to 15'' for way cheaper than any thing he could find,jeez imagine drilling all those holes in the centres .

mepstein
Sorry it's a GT flared 914-6...
Yep aware of the aspect ratio....trying for the basic stock diameter target of approx 25"
I "talked" to Eric Shea and he is using 195/65/15 F and 215/60/15 R on his beautiful yellow 914-6 GT...this was mainly because he had some 7/8x15 Fuchs with tires on them from a 911 and they worked and no added extra expense....I'm all for that.

BTDT on the racing rubber....plenty of very good stuff Michelin/Goodyear/Hoosier/etc

Just trying to find a good street tire for a flared 914 with 7/8x15 that look period correct and have a decent bite/ride.
What's hard is finding a tire spec'ed for and 8" rim....

Thanks

gothspeed,

Are all of the cars in the pics running 225/45-16 front and 245/45-16 rear? If so, that's what I'm going with!

So this is a picture of #41 when it was just out of paint with real Fuchs 8x16 up front and 9x16 rear. I am picking up my finished Fuchs in the next day with 7x15 and 8x15s Polished paddles polished caps. I think I like the look better in 15 and my space saver is a 6x15 and I wanted them all to match plus I can sell my 8 and 9s and get money back.

I think the 8 and 9 -16 look the same and the car looks better in the staggered look even if they where staggered they just did not look like it by the wheels at 8s and 9s

Natcho wants the 8s


Bob B
Click to view attachment

Pm me a price for the 9s x 16

Hi & Thanks - Yes they are 15x9 Braid (BZ) wheels for rear, which are race-quality Fuchs look-alikes ($700-900/ea) and factory 15x8 Fuchs up front. I was fortunate to get a great deal on (4) NOS 15x8's a few years ago and now I also have (4) fresh Al Reed refinshed 8's also. Planning to get one more pair of 9's to have a street/garage set and 2 race sets for tire-management purposes.

I tried factory 15x9's but they would not clear the bodywork. IIRC the factory 9 offset is -3mm and the Braid is available in any custom sizing but I went with a 'standard' Porsche offset of 15 for future flexibility to maybe use on a different car or re-sell.

I do use spacers both front and rear but don't have the sizes handy. The front suspension is heavily customized as are the flares (Tangerine not GT) so it's not a typical 914-6 setup. The front has raised and decambered spindles with Carrera A-calipers and thick vented rotors, and fairly large spacers widen the track significantly and are needed for the 15's to clear the brakes & ball joints. SRP swaybar and brake ducting, 22mm hollow t-bars and custom-valved Bilsteins. Also have extra long studs and open steel lug nuts as required. Very effective and strong but heavy setup.

^^^ Cool! Thank you for the info

Here are a couple more pics! What size are these VVV ?

For reference these are 15x7, 15x8 with 205 50 and 225 45 BFG Rivals. 23" tall, short for some, I like them for performance reasons.

Justinp71

Very nice looking 914...

great red...what color is it..

Thanks! It's a color match to the factory '75 scarlet red, but in my case its 2 stage paint.

Your tire size choices look great! Now you have me considering going with 15" dia wheels ...

Is the front dia larger than the rear? Post more pics!

Justin is a pretty quick autocrosser. The 15” wheels are essentially a gearing change and it helps for autocrossing.

Technically they are larger by .1" on paper. In that photo they look a tad taller, but they don't appear to be any taller in real life. Be warned though I have barely enough ground clearance to clear a speed bump ... my real problem is the magnaflow bumper hangs down and scraps sometimes, also have to be careful not to scrape the headers on certain driveways.

Tire sizing chart for the Rival, its also DOT rated 200 treadwear. But get's traction similar to a 100 tw tire.

16x7 front and 16x8 rear. LOVE the look but you have to pull the rear fenders. :-)