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Thu Nov 03, 2005 9:13 am

Hi All!! I have these exact wheels on my 71' fasty and they rub like hell in the back. In addition to new shocks , i think that a wheel with different back spacing might help. Im not hung up fatter vs. thinner tires, just want to drive my car without popping a tire from rubbing. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=212386 does anyone recognize this type of wheel, do you think its the cause, and what is the backspacing? the wheels came with the car, and god only knows which owner put them on. Thanks

Thu Nov 03, 2005 11:04 am

Pics of them on the car would help. If it is close, you might be able to dial in some additional negative camber in the suspension. You might be able to get some earlier (supposedly shorter) axles, too. Can anyone comfirm this about the axles?

Thu Nov 03, 2005 11:15 am

If they are rubbing on the inside, changing the offset with studs and spacers will work. If they are rubbing on the outside, (rubbing the inside of the rear fenders) the offset is wrong and you are going to have to go with different wheels or modify your suspension.

Thu Nov 03, 2005 11:17 am

you could roll your arches, take the wing...sorry rear fender off, then cut the lip off the inside of the arch, had to do it mine, extremely low type 3 with wide low profile tyres, so the wing would of just shredded them
but no doubt someone will come on and say blah blah dont roll your wings but its up to you

Thu Nov 03, 2005 11:36 am

Those aren't Porsche wheels, they are factory alloys available during the '70s. they are 5.5 inches wide. They shouldn't rub, unless you have something wider than the 165R15 for a tire.
I have 205/65R15 on AE 8-spokes, they rub, so I had to fold the inside of the fender lip over. I used channel locks wrapped in cardboard, or you can use plier covers. Ther was minimal deformation to the visible outside fender lip.
If you have air shears or a cut-off wheel they can be trimmed after you take the wheel off, but this will damage the paint and require finishing work. Grinder and primer at the minimum.

Thu Nov 03, 2005 11:37 am

I put short axles on my car. They're pre-1967 Bug Axles I believe. We had to use a press to get the bearing housing off and put the type 3 housing on. Im not sure about the compatabilty with the IRS on your car though since mine is a swing axle. On my car with 8-spokes I had about 2mm of fender clearance before putting the short axles on, and about an inch afterwards.

Thu Nov 03, 2005 4:19 pm

kenikh wrote: Pics of them on the car would help. If it is close, you might be able to dial in some additional negative camber in the suspension. You might be able to get some earlier (supposedly shorter) axles, too. Can anyone comfirm this about the axles?

Agreed, pics would help. Short axles won't help since you have IRS. You could always use the John J. method of gaining tire to fender clearance. Add a 1" strip of metal to the inner fender lip (note the outer fender must be off first). It really does work. 8)

Fri Nov 04, 2005 1:15 am

thanks for all the good advice guys! I'll try to borrow my buddys digital camera this week and post a pic or 2. Its kinda driving me crazy when I have a mechanic here in town telling me that the car originally had 14'' rims, the tire store guys are telling me my shocks are dead but the rims are the right size, and the local foreign auto part store dude is tellin me I have to much backspacing! ARRGGG.

Once I post the pics maybe you guys can help me get to the bottom of it.
Thanks again guys! Ill post again soon.

Fri Nov 04, 2005 4:39 am

Well i can tell you now that they didn't come with 14" rims!!
Stock it 15" 4.5 inch wide

Fri Nov 04, 2005 8:29 am

i have those rims on my fastback. i'm running 165R15's and in the rear they were millimeters from rubbing. i did what someone suggested and rolled the inside lip of the fender to give it a little more clearance. i can barely fit a figer between it now. unfortunately you cannot use shorter bug axles since yours is irs. i would like to know how they fit on your car with 165s, since i have not found out if there is a width difference between IRS and Swing.

Fri Nov 04, 2005 8:46 am

tripicana wrote: i have those rims on my fastback. i'm running 165R15's and in the rear they were millimeters from rubbing. i did what someone suggested and rolled the inside lip of the fender to give it a little more clearance. i can barely fit a figer between it now. unfortunately you cannot use shorter bug axles since yours is irs. i would like to know how they fit on your car with 165s, since i have not found out if there is a width difference between IRS and Swing.

I got curious about this, and looked it up the front track is the same for all T-3's. 1310mm
The rear track difference between the swing and IRS is 4mm. 1346mm versus 1350mm

Fri Nov 04, 2005 4:29 pm

Here is a link to some photos of my fasty. You can get a sense of just how close its riding right now, and Ill post some more close up picks of the rear tire area. just by looking at the pic of tripicana's fasty, I can tell mine is rideing a little low, It does have 165's all aroundhttp://groups.msn.com/AircooledVW/flint38sfasty.msnw
thanks again guys!

Sat Nov 05, 2005 9:02 am

Man is that thing pink. :wink: Yeah, it looks a little low in the rear, as well as being tight with the tire to fender. More than likely the offset of the rims are for a bug, as you shouldn't be that tight that low. Normally with IRS, you'll start tucking the top of tire inward when it gets lowered, but yours isn't doing that, so it must be torsion bar sag. :roll: I hope this helps.

Sat Nov 05, 2005 9:34 am

if i can, ill get some pics for you of my rear wheels and tyres, and closeness to the arch

Sat Nov 05, 2005 10:35 am

in my picture, the enigne is removed. thats why its sitting a little high.

Sat Nov 05, 2005 11:53 am

Maybe thats the solution!!!!! Ill just take the engine out!!!! :P Oh...wait a minute.