My 73 wheels, brakes and tires are new but 4 lug. Lots of people convert to 5 lug. Is there a benefit to convert to 5 lugs on a weekend cruiser?

Appearance.

Brakes and wheel selection are a couple more.

Bigger brakes, more wheel choices, handles big six engines. Expensive to convert but pretty easy since it all bolts on.

Tire selection is my biggest reason. It's getting harder to find performance tires in the appropriate(close to 25" diameter) sizes for a 15" wheel, and there are only a couple options for 16" wheels in the 4x130 pattern. Going to 5x130 opens up more wheel options for 16's, which opens up options for wider tire selection while keeping the overall diameter close to stock. It also doesn't hurt that that I like the way 16x6 Fuchs look on a narrow body.

Also,

Looks like you're on the other side of the mountains, but there's quite a few of us around the Sound. Check out the link in my signature for the PNW thread if you're interested in joining in on some of our shenanigans.

5 lug front rotors are much heavier than un-vented 4 lug parts, so more un-sprung weight. For a car with modest HP, stock brakes are quite adequate.
You should be able to lock up the front wheels with stock brakes.

if you can afford the couple grand or more needed to make the swap, and don't mind tilting away from originality, i highly recommend the update for the reasons stated by others.

i performed the upgrade about 10 years ago, using a rear trailing arm kit from PMB, 914-6 struts at the front and 6x16 SC-style fuchs. for calipers i opted for a set of aluminum brembos and kept the rears stock. sebro vented/crossdrilled front rotors paired with porterfield R4S pads stop the car nicely.

5 lug is not a performance upgrade on a stock 914. Having all your stock components in great shape is the best performance upgrade. But if the stock parts are all trashed, bearings, ball joints, rotors & soft lines need replacement and calipers need restoration, then it makes more sense to go 5 lug if that’s what you want.

Agree with Mep. good condition stock brakes with good pads are wholly up to the task 5 lugs purely a personal preference

I agree this is a BIG reason. Back in the day, the quickest indicator whether the car was a 6, and therefore closer to being a true Porsche and not just a measly VW, was 5 lugs on the wheels. There may be a few people, but I'd bet if most had the choice of their 914/4 or a free trade to a like-condition six, the swap would happen in an instant without hesitation. There's so many modded cars around now, there's no telling what's under the skin, but having 5 lugs just kinda seems a notch up from 4 bolts from a superficial perspective. As others have said, there's nothing wrong with the 4 lug setup or the factory brakes, so really depends on what your plans are for the car.

Dan

The 2.0 four lug Fuchs are some of the lightest, strongest wheels you can put on your car. They are forged and rarely get bent. They are still available for a reasonable price, have the correct offset for a stock body and fit a wide variety of tires from narrow to wide. As much as I change around my cars from stock, I've always thought the 4 lug Fuchs were sort of the ultimate wheel for a stock 914.

I love the 4 lug Fuchs wheels. But they are 50 years old. I have two that are cracked from 50 years of AX runs. One was a nicely refinished wheel that was on Betty's car. She found the crack when washing the car. So now it is a table.

We have 3 complete sets of 5 wheels, and 2 cracked ones. Plus two full sets of factory lug bolts.

So if you have them, please check them carefully for cracks. A failing rim in the twisties would ruin your whole day.

Clay

...by one pound-ish.

Early '70s five lug aluminum hubs with a really early solid discs are 1 pound less than stock all-iron 4 lug rotor/hub/thing.

When you're done, it's thousands of dollars. Multiples of. It's not just the conversion parts. Factor in every replaceable item. Including strut insets. Don't forget to match the rear suspension. Wheel refinishing too if needed. Tires? Then the alignment. What type wheels are currently on your car? Do the math before you take the plunge.

But if you add in 6x16 Fuchs that are 3-4lbs more & 16” tires, you could easily be adding 20-30lbs of unsprung rotating weight. It will probably make the car ride better on the highway but feel a bit more sluggish when accelerating. There’s usually a trade off.

But trust me, I’m the first one to say that stock is boring and it’s your car to do what you want.

It's all in how you do it really. Instead of springing for 911 parts I'm going the redrill route up front and the new Uro hubs on the rear. No unsprung weight gain there, and the brakes are still balanced for a narrow body with less than 150hp. The cash I saved on the 911 stuff I blew on wheels that that should come in just under 12lbs each. The tires I'm going to combined with the wheels will shave off about 8lbs a corner from what I had.

Depending on what wheels you find, a lug conversion can be about $2k with tires and no alignment needed if you're getting -4 parts redrilled.

What <12lb. 4x130mm wheels (and tires) did you pick?

Going to 5 lug, not changing 4 lug wheels

Fuchsfelge 16x6's Fuchsfelge USA and Bridgestone Potenza Sports in 205/55R16



Edit: added tire selection

As others have mentioned, you can get wider wheels and bigger brakes going 5-lug using 911 suspensions. The 911 front suspension also can be a direct bolt-on procedure.

Also in the 914 world, there is a stigma about the 914 being a VW or a Porsche. Putting 5-lug wheels slides the 914 closer to being a Porsche.

Here's my car with it's VW look with solid front hub/rotor.
Click to view attachment

Here's the 911 suspension with vented front rotor.
Click to view attachment

Here's my car with it's Porsche look.
Click to view attachment

It lightens your wallet and thus you go faster?

My shop garden hose reel is a cracked 4 bolt Fuchs.

Of course you can damage any wheel from a pothole, curb, etc. but Fuchs hold up amazingly well.

Side topic...
Can cracked 2.0 Fuchs be repaired and be safe?

Maybe but for what they cost, I would just get another one.
If you have a real 7R or 11" RSR Fuchs, then it's worth looking into repairs.

Both 4 and 5 bolts wheels are amazingly light and strong, that's why they're my favorite rims.

But if someone wants to give me a cracked 5 bolt Fuchs, I'll do a 5 bolt conversion...on my garden hose reel.

Cracked Audi wheels work well too.

@Robroe There are multiple ways to achieve a 5-lug. For your question and car, I would say the only benefit would be the appearance of the 5-lug Fuchs (which is amazing when you think about how long this wheel has reigned on the throne).

This is where I would recommend re-drilled rotors and hubs (the factory rotors are drilled...) You can retain all of your stock components which are amazing at stopping the car. You could even go back to 4-lug simply by swapping out your wheels.

Once you get into higher horsepower and wider wheel/tire applications etc... the world is your oyster as to what components you can install and how much you can spend.

Read my 5-lug conversion thread and

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=105728

If you do a five lug conversion you can save money by only using four lug nuts