7" wheels on a SWB

[Nordschleife]

My SWB is a hot rod, so no worries over mounting 1980s Fuchs wheels to our early car. We're already over the Rubicon...

Later Fuchs 7" x 15" wheels do fit on our 1968 SWB without any special mods. I believe the 1968 MY front fender lips are a tiny bit narrower (think "pinched together") at the top-center than the previous 1965-1967 fenders -- as seen in Dr. Johnson's book -- but I rolled mine anyway when we did the bodywork to gain the maximum clearance possible.

Tires on the front are 205/50-15 Yokohamas. I've included a couple of photos so you can see the clearance and offset. The shape of the tire shoulder matters too. A tire with a more pronounced sidewall "bulge" might not work as well.

I have no experience with 7" rims on the standard 911/912 SWB rear fenders, as our car was widened back in the 1980s with SC metal flares, which we subsequently hammered/heated to their current, more rounded shape a few years ago. Rear tires are 225/50-15s Yokos mounted on Fuchs 8" x 15" using the standard thin Porsche spacers from 1967/68 cars. Handling is very nimble and predictable, really fun to drive and tossable without worries that the rear end is going to swap directions on you.

Best Regards,
Andy

[curtisaa]

Your rear flairs( flares') look custom ?? Are those fabricated by you or are they "bolt-ons" ( no-offense to women) ??

[hdavis]

Henry...that looks good. I would assume it handles great too !

Thanks Curt, I believe it handles fairly well for a car that is otherwise completely stock

[super9064]

Andy,this is such a nice car, what color is it?

[andyjboy]

Curt - Andy mentioned this in his earlier post:

" our car was widened back in the 1980s with SC metal flares, which we subsequently hammered/heated to their current, more rounded shape a few years ago."

[ttweed]

Thanks for your help the backspacing is 4 inches with +3/4inch offset(19mm).[/url]

Raj-

That is less offset than the ET42 Fuchs 5.5" rim by about 23mm or about 7/8", so the 5.5 Minilite will sit that much further outboard and closer to the fender lip than a 5.5 Fuchs. It looks like it would place the outboard edge of the rim somewhere further out from where a ET36 6x15 Fuchs would land by about 3/8", but inboard of where a ET23 7x15 would sit by 5/8" or so.

The tires you mention are vintage-treaded Euro racing tires, no? Not sure why you are set on those? I don't understand the sizing numeration scheme perfectly, but I did find specs for CR65 Dunlop 500L & 550L-15 that shows the 500L has a section width of 187mm, which should fit easily on the front. The 550L shows as 204mm section, with a diameter of 659mm. That is a very tall tire--nearly 26"! A 205/55-15 is only about 24" tall. A 205/60-15 is less than 25" tall. Although it might fit in the rear and could work fine, it looks like a 550L would raise your gearing and ride height quite a bit, if it really is as tall as those specs say.

If you would need any spacers, it would be on the front, I think. 7mm is as wide as you can go on a spacer without replacing the wheel studs with longer ones in order to ensure sufficient thread engagement on the lugnuts. The rears should fill out the wheel well fully and shouldn't even require rolling the fender lips on a '67, if you use those tires and they really are the dimensions above.

HTH,
TT

[v-8]

This his how mine fills up - pretty tight in the back but no rubbing..