More Fuchs questions

[oprn]

I asked these questions in another area but maybe there is no traffic there anymore so I will try again here.

Back ground is I have a glass Manx copy street Buggy that I am converting to disc brakes and genuine Fuchs 5 spoke wheels. The rears are 15" x 8" and I am happy with that but the fronts are 15" x 7" and with appropriately narrow tires for the weight of the front end (165 15) and in the interest of steering effort the wheels are really too wide. I would much prefer 5.5" width.

I also have a 944 with Fuchs on it. The car came to me with two 15" x 7" and two 16" x 7" wheels. Ideally I would like to have 15" x 7" all the way around on it.

So what are the relative values between used (as they are now out of production) 15" x 5.5" wheels and 16" x 7" wheels? Also rarity, as in what is the chances of finding the 5.5" width and how desirable is the 16" wheels to others?

Thanks in advance!
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We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age)

[Bruce]

My late Beetle is significantly heavier than any glass buggy. I have 7 & 8 x 15" Fuchs on it. The front tires are 205/55/15. Steering effort is minimal. In the past 30 years I've had these wheels on the car, I've never thought the steering was too stiff.

7x15" Fuchs are worth a lot more than 8x15s. That's because guys with early narrow bodied 911s can use them with a 205/60 tire. They can't use the 8s.

Same goes for the 914 guys. They will fit 7x15s with a narrow tire.

IMO, both are pointless since a 205/60 fits a 6" wheel just fine.

The 7x16s are not worth as much as 6s, or 8s. There were tons of 911s shipped with 6 & 7 x 16s. Whenever they want to upgrade to wider wheels, they buy a pair of 8 x 16s (or 9s!). Then they remove their 6s and put their original 7" rears up front with the new 8s on the back.

You might then wonder why a 6x16 is worth lots. There are several companies making 3 piece wheels in sizes and diameters that Porsche never offered. For those 3 piece wheels, they cut out the centers of a 6 x 16.

Original 5½ x 15s are "earlies" to the VW world. They have the perfect offset for the front of a Beetle. Sure, lots of guys will want original 4½s on the front, but their rarity limits who can do it.

I've seen ads asking $800-1000 for 5½s each. Similar to what a deep 6 will bring. The 5½s' values are driven by the VW world (as is the 4½). The only P guys who want a 5½ is someone with a 68 911S since it is a one year only wheel. Any other year, they want other sizes. If they don't care about originality, they'll go with a deep 6 every time.

Some VW guys might want 7x16s for their rear, but mostly it's the P guys who will buy them.

When it comes to wheels, the Porsche guys are frugal. They aren't willing to spend the money that VW guys will.

The holy grail of Fuchs is the 911R wheel. It is an early "deep" 7x15, with a special offset of 49mm. (Late 7s have an ET of 23mm) It means you can fit a decently wide tire under the narrow rear fenders of an early 911. I've seen these wheels sell for $5k/pair.... to the VW world!

Join the Porsche Wheel Trader group on FB.
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[oprn]

Thanks for the comprehensive reply!

I had 205 55 14s on the front, changed to 165 75 15s and the difference in steering effort, ride quality, reduced bump steer and wander on the highway was well worth the change. Some of it was due to eliminating the wheel adaptors (offset) and some because of the increase in diameter. This car likely is only carrying 300 to 350 pounds on the front axle so wide fronts only serve to increase the understeer.

I could buy 15 x 5.5 reproduction Fuchs at a fairly reasonable cost but I don't know how close they look to the real thing. I would rather stay with the 7" ones than have a mismatched looking car.
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We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age)

[Puppy67]

The Flat4 and Maxilite wheels are reasonably close (apart from being polished instead of anodised). You may be able to get them anodised, otherwise a satin clearcoat can give a close approximation.

[Bruce]

[oprn]

Thanks for the heads up on weights. Good stuff! I wasn't sure that a 1" change in rim width would be worth doing but perhaps it would be. My biggest concern about these rims is they are very subject to curb and rock damage with a tire that narrow on them.

You are correct about the VW track width being too narrow for the ruts in the road. That has been a problem I have been battling right from the my first VW back in the late '60's. Adding castor made a big difference too as well as getting rid of offset of the spacers.

As for wider tires having more traction that is partially true up to a point. There is an ideal foot print area vs rubber compound vs weight. One side or the other of that ideal means less traction. Back in the early '70's my buddies and I discovered this with the front heavy, light rear end cars of the day. We like many that age were into smoke shows but didn't have the budget for big power. With the lack of power there was two ways to get the tires to brake free better, you either went super wide or really skinny. Properly sized tires had too much traction.

Having said that I did notice that in a hard corner my 205s on the front would start to slip before the rears so I feel that for the light weight of the glass Buggy they were marginally too wide. Adding an anti roll bar to the rear could have changed all that though.
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We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age)

[Bruce]

[oprn]

That is pretty cool! I expect there are not many machine shops here that would be willing to tackle that job!
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We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age)

[Bruce]

[oprn]

Ok thanks! I will see if I can find some 6” wheels.
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We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age)

[ALB]

[ALB]

My friend Jim's Speedster with cast Fuchs. I believe the wheels are 4 1/2's-

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On a lifelong mission to prove (much to my wife's dismay) that Immaturity is Forever!!

[oprn]

Yes I am considering removing a few leaves in the front beam. I made the mistake of installing a lowered beam. I should have gone for dropped spindles instead. That would not have limited travel like a lowered beam does. The shocks are just cheap stock Beetle units.
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We had the stone age, the bronze age, the industrial age and now we are in the age of mass deception and mind control for corporate profit. (The mass media age)