My fathers best friend since I was born is a machinist. I can get my bolt pattern changed to something other than the 4x130 for free.(except for shipping) I have flared fenders (stock gt) and want to fill the wheel well out. My parts car is drilled to fit the 4x100 bolt pattern. I looked on some web sites and found that pattern has many options available. If I go this route, how would I determin the offset needed to fit the car?

Would I be better off sticking to the 5x130 pattern?

Yep!

most 4x100 wheels will have the wrong backspacing... 4x130 or 5x130 is better for a stock(ish) car. 5x130 is probably the best... more options on rims. some might need spacers tho.

Ok. I can understand Porsche guys wanting to stay Porsche. But what is the difference between putting spacers on a 4x100 pattern and on a 5x130 pattern. Most of the wheels I look at with a 5x130 pattern have a 50 to 55mm offset. With the flares that would be the same size spacer either way? ? ? Please set me straight if I am wrong. It may help knowing that I do not want to have another 914 with the same fuchs that everyone else has. This is one of the few areas that I want to update the look of my car. Any wisdom for a newbe? The car in the picture to the left has 16x6.5 4x100 wheels on it. But it does not fill out the wheel well. ( I also don't like the wheel design)

just take a few measurements...face of rotor to inside of fender and start looking at the 4*100 wheels.
I think that is the vw bolts pattern, and maybe the honda pattern so you should find alot of options.

The difference between 4*100 with spacers and 5*130 with spacers is one bolt. When dealing with spacers, the more bolts you have the safer you are going to be in the long run.

Rich

I'm with you... if you can find something really cool, do it. A 914 won't look right with stock Toyota rims, but if you can find something aftermarket you do like, and the backspacing can be figured out... go for it.

you can go Chebbie 5x?? pattern if you want, it's your car... my opinion on a stock car is just that... "my opinion" and shouldn't matter a hill of beans on any car that doesn't have my name on the title... to me a lot of honda-esqe rims would look odd on a 40 year old car... but again, that's my opinion...

5x4.5 is chrysler/ford wheel pattern...

if you have to buy spacers anyways, there is an outfit on eBay selling 5x130 to 5 x 4.5 wheel spacers/adapter. that will bump you up to having 5 lug pattern and a lot of wheel choices as well.

Stick with the stock pattern to retain resale value and to 'appease the masses'.

Go 4x100 if you can find rims you like that will fit.

It's your car, we can't tell you what you should do.

And remember there is positive and negative offset. Make sure you know which the wheels you're looking at... are.

here's a ton...
http://superbuytires.com/v/Honda/Civic/1999/?diameter=16

of course you'll have to research each one for the spacing... but there's some that wouldn't look bad on a teener... you can always photoshop some in...

the shipping might be cost prohibitive, but here's a NICE looking stock bolt pattern...

http://forums.aussieveedubbers.com/viewtopic.php?tid=42585

I am looking forsomething in a BBS style? The 5 bolts are stronger makes alot of sense now that you mention it, especially with spacers. That is the wisdom I need! I agree that the wheels shouldn't look like they belong on a toyota. I was even considering the newer 911 wheels, but was unsure of spacers or adapter safety. You guys are awesome as always! Any more suggestions are welcome.

There are BBS style rims in 4x130 and 5x130.

depends on the style, but a lot of the BBS rims are 18" and up now. can 18s fit under a stock fender without looking like a monster truck?

plenty of people run spacers, but I've always heard to avoid adapters.

Maybe I should say a cheaper brand that is the style of a BBS. Those do not come in the 4x130 that I can find. They are various names that I can't recall, and they come in all sizes except the stock pattern. The 5x130 is available, so that would be the best choice, but pricey because of the Porsche bolt pattern. I guess we are all supposed to be rich if we own one My original choice was a 15" with a 4x130 pattern in the deep dish VW style with an 8" width. But the tire availability is very slim for that size wheel. As far as I have found, they don,t come in a 16" or larger diameter. again thanks for the great input!

I emailed the V-Force people, they are getting me a shipping quote, but the rims them self are cheap enough... about $550 for all 4..

I might be wrong but I think all the factory porsche alloy wheels are forged. There is a big difference in forged and cast wheels especially the cost. The porsche wheels and their spacers with lugnuts without tires that will be needed will equal the complete tire/wheel brand new price of other bolt pattern sizes and if you shop long enough you probably won't need spacers. You just gotta figgure out the offset and width you need. I would not go with 15's because of tire choices.

There is a car on this or one of the other forums with nice wheels but I don't remember if it had flares or not. I do remember the wheels looked nice.

Fieros also used 15 inch bbs wheels but that is really old school.

Thanks for the website to superbuy tires (tatoophreak). There are some nice wheels in there that are very close to what I am looking for. Would a 17" wheel fit? Time to do some measurements.

I think a 17" will be a tight fit, and not leave you much rubber, but might be doable