Hello,
I wondered if anyone has photos of 4 spoke fuchs as they looked from the factory?
What finish did they come in color/texture? polished, black? two-tone texture?

also factory center caps, plastic or metal?

and last question, which rims are lightest, mahle? pedrini, fuchs?

I did a search for these questions, but was unable to find the answers...I'm sure it was asked before?

Thanks, Scott Allen

OK, I found some answers for wieght and finish in the forum.
Don't want to open a can of worms here. I think I am satisfied. Scott

Glad you found the info.
I noticed the attachment picture is an "american eagle" wheel. If posted just for reference, great. If your looking to buy, dont. The American Eagles might appear stock 914 but have a VW Bug offset. You'll be very limited in tire sizes. I bought a set from Performance Products last year and had to return them. Auto Atlanta sells the same ones also, without even a * note regarding wrong offset. They're aware of the offset issue but still list them in the catalog as 914 wheels.
Search "offset" if you have any questions.
Just trying to save ya a wasted weekend at the tire store and return shipping charges.

Tom

Attached is a pic of mine that I had refinished by Harvey Weidman; he and others told me that this was the original look (except for the chrome lugs). My understanding is that the Fuchs were the lightest, but not 100% sure on that. Note the "paddles" are shinier than the "frosted" background. You should be able to find the metal center caps on eBay; original center caps in good shape are hard to find as they usually are pretty badly beaten up. You also will need longer lug bolts for the Fuchs; these are also available on eBay but watch out to make sure the shoulder of the bolt fits the recess in the wheel exactly; i.e. a spherical vice conical shoulder.
BTW - any concours folks looking for near-perfect stock wheels, check out:
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=52225

Here is a shot of one of my original Fuchs with original lug bolts and center cap, for reference.

OK, so let me get it straight:

All factory Fuchs are all finished silver. And the wheels with the black background and silver 4-spoke pattern are aftermarket wheels. Right?

Paul

Unless someone painted the background of a set of factroy Fuchs black.
CCLINFUCHIT

As Craig said, people paint the "real thing" often. The easy way to be sure if they are genuine Fuchs is to look for the Porsche part # and or the little fox head logo on the back of the wheel.

The pic of the Fuchs showing a slightly more shiny windmill than background is correct. I have an O.E. 4 bolt Fuchs with a brand new but 33 year old spare tire on---for show or originality purposes only , that has not ever been mounted to the car or on the ground. The rim is EXACTLY as shown in this photo , with the same look or cast to the wheels appearance......

Is this an original finish , as in--- as come from the factory? If so, my hats off to you on retaining an outstanding preservation. A beautiful looking example.

I do believe this to be one of Porsches lightest wheels, but the Mahle Magnesium is far lighter....exact numbers do not readily come to mind. The magnesium wheels are lighter than the Forged Al. Fuchs because of the difference in element properties. The Fuchs are also heat treated and forged under tremendous pressure, resulting in a wheel that will bend before it will crack or chip out. Under stress, I have seen the difference at track events, where the aluminum forged
fuchs still retained the tire on the rim, but were distorted beyond belief. The cast mag rim , when hit hard , will simply disintegrate. And , if you ever get to see one burn..........white light never hurt the eyes so badly !

As to aftermarket rims: If one has the opportunity to come across a set of Campognolos to fit the 914- 4 bolt cars, it is nearly as light as the Mahle. I obtained a set of brand new Campys on Ebay a few years back. ($$$$$$$) They are INCREDIBLY light, as they are also magnesium. But, very crudely made with a very rough surface texture to them and painted in silver on the face side only.
A very complex pattern producing a very Italian look, similar to some of the Ferrari or Lamborghini styles as seen in the mid 70's. Very Cool. Not very Germanic in nature, but lending a prettier look than either the Mahle or Pedrini. Definitely NOT O.E. and available as 14 inch only, I believe. These came from an old warehouse find in So.Cal. and even tho packed in their original Italian packing and boxes , had dust a half inch thick on 'em. The center hole cover is a stylized aluminum disc attached by circlip to the wheel with a painted Campy symbol.

Lending a whole new meaning to the term Fragile..........

Has anyone out there a set on their car ??? If so, could you post a pic , so I may affirm as to the effort of mounting them on a future 914 purchase? I would post a pic of them myself, but am currently an analog guy living in a modern digital world and it may take me 5 more years to get it up to speed......

mrgreenjeans

74 914 2.0 Sunflower
84 944 Guards Red M030
89 Audi 200 Turbo Zermatt ( factory sunroof delete )
89 Audi 200 Turbo Cyclamen
89 Audi 200 Turbo Quattro GlacierBlau
90 Audi 200 Turbo Pearl White
70 Triumph TR-6 White

The 5 bolt Mahle gasburners are only 1lb lighter than the 4 bolt Fuchs. We (the club) weighed them all a few years ago.

Hey thanks....thats neat to know. I always was a bit deceived by the initial "feel" to them as they seem lighter than you can believe, especially after hefting a couple of the mag steelies. Where did the four hole Mahle's come in at ? Or the Pedrini's ?

Where can a guy go to view all the weights of all the wheels offered ?
mrgreenjeans

According to the Johnson book the Pedrinis were sold 1970-73, and the 4-bolt Mahles came in mid-'73.

I meant in terms of weight.........


mrgreenejans

IIRC- 5 bolt Mahles-10.5-11lbs
4/5 bolt Fuchs-12lbs
4 bolts Mahles/Pedrinnis-13.5lbs

Danke Schon, mein herr.....ist gut !

The color code discussion going on in the other thread, is kind of cool......had no idea that there could be so much conflagration ocurring down that avenue. Makes for a real interesting read.
Also makes this wheel discussion look pretty tame in comparison.

What do you spose it looks like over in the Ferrrari camp, with all the oil sheiks suckling off their trust funds , oil reserves, and previous kings /fathers vast mountains of gold bullion, and tryig to outdo the prince in the next town ?

And then to have the Italians over there busting their tails trying to paint all these goofy colors ?

Must be a real freakin' good time ....................

Remember seeing a Porsche 928 being assembled over there in Stuttgart, going to one of these yahoos with the halos of gold hanging around their heads. It was a Pearl White /kind of lemony green thing with the most unsatisfying colors of strobe yellow and purply kind of full leather interior.

A rich guys paint to sample car from Porsche's "Special Wish " Dept. or..... Boutique......whatever

Some bad acid being handed out over there for sure.............

I saw a pic of it later on in some archive about 10 years ago, during the formative stages of this game being played. And it was just as ripe looking in that pic as it had been in real life. There was a lot of attention being paid to it on the work room floor, by the amount of workers attending to it. I'm thinkin:



Sheesh.....all that cash and this is the best use that could become of it ??????

Poor car never had a chance to be "right" , from the git-go.

By chance did you also weight the steel rims ? Any figures ?

?
?

The spare on my car, practically new