Not really looking for comments on the car, know you guys can bash with the best, but what to you think of the wheel well treatment? Can do big tires w/o big flares.

ebay

looks like an RC car.....

blegh

Nice looking Fiat.

The full raduis wheel cutouts look disfunctional on a 914......but they can't hurt that body kit any.

QUOTE (Aaron Cox @ Mar 17 2006, 12:19 PM)

looks like an RC car..... blegh

Agreed.

QUOTE (bondo @ Mar 17 2006, 11:49 AM)

QUOTE (Aaron Cox @ Mar 17 2006, 12:19 PM) looks like an RC car..... blegh Agreed.

honey i blew up the kid!

QUOTE (bondo @ Mar 17 2006, 12:49 PM)

QUOTE (Aaron Cox @ Mar 17 2006, 12:19 PM) looks like an RC car..... blegh Agreed.

ROFL!

The front wheels look lost in those wells.

i like that car that had the stock lip sectioned and raise. it had the same profile but higher.

While it might have some function, I sure don't like the form. It might work on some cars, but the style just doesn't go with the 914. But that's a taste thing, and a few people will like it. Very few I think

Off hand, the only kind of rig I can think of that looks good with a lot of space around the tires is an off-road beast... rally or 4x4 with gnarly tires.

QUOTE (Howard @ Mar 17 2006, 11:18 AM)

ebay

I will never understand why people will take the classic sporty look of a teener and mess it up with one of these kits

ignoring the many things that can be said about the car itself... I hate the wheel well treatments

There's not enough car for that much cut-out. Just my $.02

Carrera styled flares have a nice transition to the round wheel opening, see GTeener's car. You'd be surprised how wide a wheel they fit. The problem with updating one part of the car is that you should do it consistently throughout the car body. Go too far and you have an obvious body kit.

QUOTE (Howard @ Mar 17 2006, 11:18 AM)

but what to you think of the wheel well treatment?

crappy photoshop work, © by SirAndy

QUOTE (boboli914@att.net @ Mar 17 2006, 11:52 AM)

The front wheels look lost in those wells.

A while back I read somewhere, I think it was a tire site, that if the gap between fender and tread is greater than the sidewall height, your car will look funny. So really low profile tires need smaller gaps to look right, the place that I read this was justifying lowering kits as required by low profile tires. Since then, I've noticed that this general rule of thumb seems to work. In this case the front needs to be lower, the rim needs to be smaller (more sidewall) or the fender opening needs to be smaller (less gap). I've seen some cars that look goofy even if this rule is followed, so it is not gospel.

Check it out when you're driving, it even works on trucks, lifted trucks need more sidewall, tall rims need alot less gap. My Mitsu Mirage has cavernous fender wells for the stock rims and tires, it's right on the verge of breaking the rule.

Eric

QUOTE (SirAndy @ Mar 17 2006, 04:37 PM)

QUOTE (Howard @ Mar 17 2006, 11:18 AM) but what to you think of the wheel well treatment? crappy photoshop work, © by SirAndy

not too bad....I like it..........

That's the ticket, Andy I like that better than my 'drooping eyelid' look.

Nothing looks good (flare-wise) without big enough tires to fill it. The front looks understuffed on the objective car. That is what makes it look poorly done.

Back in the eighties, when I bought my 914, I wanted to add 930 flares which are closer to round than stock 914. Since then, I've noticed that cars haven't had squarish fender openings since the 60's and early 70's. Since then, they are all closer to radiused openings. Only trucks still have straight(ish) tops to their fender lines. Ther are exceptions, but not many. Check while you're standing in a parking lot, or driving around. So the 914 fenders are definately dated, along with the rest of the car (and I mean that in the best of ways, I still find my car's lines beautiful). Neo's comment is right on, to update the fender wells, the rest of the car's styling cues need to be brought along as well.

When I came to this realization, I bought GT flares and 7" and 9" Fuchs because, now, to me, they just look right. Don't get me wrong, I've seen altered 914's that are beautiful with different looks, but I really love the GT theme (but not 916 bumpers, that's a different conversation).

Just my $.02,
Eric
Now if I could just get all my parts out of the garage and onto the car...

Another one, and nice looking car for you Tejans.
blue

I think with the right sized wheel/tire combo the look could work, but in the red car pic, they are way to small to do it justice. IMHO

Although I've wacked , cut, massaged, and bastardized my car...I still feel that the final result is a tasteful (somewhat extreme) version of a 914. It still has squarish wheel openings and all the stock lenses in place along w/ a few modernized additions like Audi A4 side marker lenses, etc. When I was in the planning stages of what i wanted my car to look like, I considered chopping the front turn signal humps out of the front fenders leaving it w/ a slope nose look. I then decided that the 914's identity would suffer and decided against it. Now I'm really glad I didn't do it. If you want big rubber ...you pretty much have to run flairs. I believe round openings on the fenders detract from the 914 and it loses it's identity somewhat. Just my 2 cents.

Bill

That abortion (the red car) is close to having formula 1 flares

I stole them off Kimi's car.