New 17" 911 wheels don't fit the old 944 - what to do now?

[944newboy]

Okay, I feel for it. Bought some lovely 911 17" 5 spoke alloys(part number 996.262128 00) off ebay to put on my 1982 944, which is currently running the S2 16" alloys, with the addition of some shims(approx 10mm) sitting on the hubs. Unfortunately these wheels are quite badly marked so the new ones will finish off the look having just had it resprayed "Guards Red" of course . Now the rears are currently 225x50x16 and fit perfectly with the shims, but when I offered up the new 255x40x17 wheel which I think is an 8 inch rim, 2 things happened. The rear of the tyre gets so close to rubbing the inner wing it makes me nervous that when its off the jack and on the road it will be rubbing, and secondly the nuts wouldn't tighten up the wheel on to the hub needed to go another 2mm after the stud had pushed through the top of the nut.
So guys, what do I need to do, apart from getting at least one new nut?
I'm assuming I can put wider spacers on rather than the shims, I would guess about another 25mm should bring the wheel away from the inner wing sufficient, so replacing the shim as well would mean about 35mm spacers, but how should I work that out for sure? And how do I know that the wheel will tighten up on to these, or will the studs be that much shorter that they won't push through the next set of wheel nuts?
Many thanks N.

[Fatboy]

Hi,

You need bigger spacers - either that or later model hubs!!!

No Doubt someone more expert than I will be along tommorrow to point you in the right direction

[cyberface]

Eat them. They're a bit like big biscuits, but made of metal. Clean the tyres first though.

[zcacogp]

Erm, flog the poncy new wheels on eBay, hopefully make a profit, and replace them with the proper wheels for the car?

Just a suggestion.


Oli.

[I HATE GATSO]

agreed sale them on ebay

[HAB]

I take it you checked the offsets before buying them?

255/40/17's are too big for an early 944-The car wasn't designed for such big rubber and you'll get more wear on wheel bearings,castor mounts,steering/suspension components etc etc.Not to mention the clearance problems you mentioned.

If your car has no PAS like some early 944's,then you'll need strong arms with these tyres.

Like they said above,sell them on ebay,and get a nice set of Fuch instead.

Edited by HAB on Friday 20th October 00:17

[944gav]

You would need quite substantial spacers to make these fit - Porscheshop used to sell them so might be worth a look. Most of the later model wheels appear to fit the later 944 so you would effectively need spacers to widen things out to the same spec as the later model. 255 tyres will definitely fit on the rear if you have the correct wheels (or spacers) as I have them on one of mine with no rubbing at all. Strictly, you should have the same width of spacers if you are using S2 wheels as they have a totally different offset to the ones your car should have. Although the shims you have allow the wheels to clear the arches, I would have expected the handling to be compromised. You should also bear in mind that Porsche say if you put 17" wheels to a 944 you need to modify a few other parts. Can't remember exactly what but you should be able to find the buletin on here if you have a search.

[944newboy]

Thanks guys, not as easy as I thought it would be, tried a couple of independant wheel tyre specialists and they just gave up. Will try and work out how to measure up for the spacers. Thanks again
N