Deep Sixes vs. 6s

[jkeithtalbot]

What is the difference between the 15 X Deep 6 and the 15 X 6?

And what are hearts?



TIA
K.

[ttweed]

Functionally, there is no difference between the early and late 6s except for the tire safety bead in the dropwell which was added to the later 6" wheel to run modern tubeless tires. They are the same offset, it is just the shape of the forging die changed the way the spokes were formed and attached, giving a different appearance to the rim (the early 6 looks deeper.)

The "hearts" refer to the shape of the triangular cut-out between the spokes. On the one next to where the valve stem penetrates the wheel, the cut-out is extended a bit towards the wheels center, giving it a "heart" shape.

I've attached a pic of a 4.5 x 15" Fuchs wheel with the heart (don't have any deep 6s) and a later 6" Fuchs without the heart.

TT

[Porsche Rescue]

I'm told that mounting tires on the "deep" 6 requires turning the back side up.

[Scott Clarke]

The safety bead found in late 6s was added to help retain the tire on the wheel in the event of a rapid defaltion. As such, it has no relation to whether or not a tube is installed in the tire. The profile of deep sixes between the rims is such that mounting tires is more difficult that on late 6s. This can be a real nightmare with a less-than-great tire store. They do need to have tires mounted from the back side.

The deep 6s have large holes for valve stems. Not everyone has these stems on hand, but they are available. I'm not sure if late 6s use more conventional stems.

The difference in appearance is most noticible in the areas between the outer reaches of the 5 spokes and the wheel's rim. in a deep 6 there is a significant "valley" at these points. A late six, by comparason, has a slight recession.

[jkeithtalbot]

Thanks for the clarification.

-K

[jonnysocko]

Just one more question to go with this... what year did they start using the deep sixes?

[Porsche Rescue]

The "deep" 6 was the original 6x15 Fuchs forged alloy. First appeared in '69. I will defer to better authority on the change but I think it was mid-model '70 or '71.
The current popularity of the "deep" wheel is due to the fact that it gives the illusion of being wider, appearing more like the 7" wheel.

[jonnysocko]

Thank you for that, I have a 71 with a Nov. 70 build date, it doesn't appear to have the deep sixes.