Currently i have empi 8 spoke rims on my car with 165 SR 15 tires on them. I want to go to a wider tire but dont have much room. The empi rim has too much off set.

I have read about using a bat to "roll out" the fenders. Exactly how is this done, and will it resolve my problem. Does anyone else out there have empi 8 spokes on their car, and what is the widest tire you can put on them.

Thanks

Craig

If you look on the fender lip, where it tucks back in toward the tire, yul see the lip to be flattened or rolled. Jack the car up enough to get the bat in w/ the wheel on. Push down on the handle, forcing the head of the bat against the lip, using the tire as the fulcrom point. Roll the bat to flatten lip.... Viola

Hi Craig,
When I was in college I ran 195/50-15's and Empi 8-spokes on my first 914. This required a little rolling of the rear quarters, but nothing extreme. I will tell you up front that you will damage the paint doing this, so don't try unless you are prepared to do some touch-up work. Best case scenario you will just lose the paint on the edge of the wheel opening. Worst case scenario you may crack the paint a few inches up from the edge.
Take an old bat or some appropriately sized pieces of plastic PVC pipe and insert between the tire and fender at the back of the tire. Roll the bat/pipe forward across the top of the tire. Use the friction between the tire and bat/pipe to your advantage - twist the bat/pipe to roll it forward across the tire. Start with a small diameter pipe or section of the bat - you don't want to do to much at once. Make several passes gradually using a larger diameter section of the bat or pipe until you have pulled out the fender sufficiently. Then sand and repaint the edge of the fender where all the paint chipped off. It's not that hard, but watch out for one thing - don't put downward pressure on the bat/pipe so much that the top edge of the bat/pipe presses outward against the inside of the fender up high above the fender lip - this can cause cracking of the paint up high above the wheel opening.
As an aside, I saw some pictures the other day of a machine being used in a tire shop to do this (they were doing a BMW M3 at the time). They remove the wheel and bolt it to the hub. It has an arm with a big rubber roller on the end of it. You adjust the angle and length of the arm, and then it is rolled back and forth against the inside of the fender to pull it out. Looked pretty slick. No paint damage either.

-Ben M.

The lip in the wheel opening is what you're after. If you have a nice paint job, be careful with what ever technique you use. Some guys flatten out the lip completely by folding it upwards against the inner fender. They use a bat against the tire, rolling it back and forth to start the bending. Another way is to grind or saw about half of the lip off. Take it slow so you don't get the metal hot and blister the paint. Of course, if you're gonna paint the car soon, nevermind anything I said and take some big ol' pliers to the lip.

Hey, well will you look at that! I just did a google search for "fender roller" and found that machine I was just talking about. $30 rental sounds pretty good for not having to deal with paint damage.

http://www.bmw-m.net/Gallery/haweka.htm

-Ben M.

Pretty slick !!!

Thanks Ben

what about me ???

You need really strong thumbs. If you ever manage to get then rolled I still don't think the surgeon general will appove.....

The way I have done this is with a wooden (not aluminum) baseball bat and two people. With the car on the ground, insert the large end of the bat a few inches into the space at the rear of the fender opening. Then drive the car very slowly forward while holding the handle of the bat down to control the pressure. The bat will roll forward on the tire, pushing out on the fender. The tire will deform around the bat, so the fender will only move out a little bit. When the bat reaches the front of the fender opening, put the car in reverse and roll the other way. Rinse and repeat.

The paint might not even be damaged, but you can gain an inch of clearance this way. If you don't think such a big rod will fit in your hole, start with a closet pole. I guarantee you will switch to the bat quickly.

OTOH, that fancy tool looks like a slick trick if you like spending money.

OK Korijo - Thanks to you too

Personally, I'd get rid of the Empis and get some 914 Fuch alloys. They will have the right offset for the car and you could easily run a 195 size tire and even probably a 205.

Im with Anthony,IMHO you could spend more money on paint and body work than you would spend on a proper set of wheels(correct offset) ie, Fuchs,etc. Oh, and I've got Empi's too!

Lazarro 75' 2.0 914

I'm running 195-60-15's on a set of Empi 8-spokes and it's a very close fit. I like how the combination really fills out the fender well, but you'll likely need to do some amount of modification to make things 'comfortable'. I found that pulling the fender was enough for me, I didn't need to actually roll the lip (as I was worried about paint damage.)

Of course, as we all know these cars weren't made the exactly the same.. so that which has turned out to be a close fit on my car may simply be a non-issue for you.

I'm definitely entertained by this icon:

Ahhh yes. Its the Berkeley guy. How are you ?? Long time no speak/type.

B

Try rolling your fenders use that order of ideas.

you forgot one!