RennBod

Just picked up some wheels for my 86 944 lux and need some advice.

They apear to be Cup 2's but I suspect they are aftermarket cup-2's as they do not sport a porsche part number anywhere on them. (I dont mind, they were cheap enough to risk.)

The wheels are two different sizes.

The first pair are marked with the following.
ET52 (offset?) 7 1/2 J x 17 H2

The second pair are marked with
ET47 (offset?) 9 J x 17 H2

Both wheels have a stamp in them that says "Made in italy"

The thing is, I know they "fit" and dont look like they will foul anything (even though the rears are seriously wider looking than my old teledials), will the car handle ok with them? (I am thinking of using the 968 caster mounts) I am worried about offsets.

Also, what size tyres should be mounted on these rims for use on a 944? Its not the profile so much, its just the rears I am worried about.. should they be wearing 245's or something wider??

Any other advice?

xsboost90

yes, factory boxster wheels on my car are 7.5 front and 9 rear.

you will need 205/45/17 front

and 255/40/17 rear

this is the most common sizes known to these cars w/ 17's

icat

The 86 944 had an early offset of 23.3mm. As such, to mantain the stock "look" you will need to run spacers. The most common application uses a 21mm spacer in the front and a 28mm spacer in the rear. However, these are used when both front and rear wheels are 52mm offsets. The rear spacer is larger to compensate for Porsche removing spacers from the rear and "inseting" the wheels. Your new rears appear to be a 47mm offset, so it is likely that you should alter the spacer size in the rear.

jjjr944

Hey RennBod, before you go the spacer route, test fit them.

I run the exact same set up with the mille Miglia cup2 replicas on my 86NA car and the rears were so far out that they actually rubbed on the fender lip when I hit a big bump. Some banging by XSBoost90 with a soft headed hammer tucked the inner lip in. Spacers will only worsen the problem if I am not correct and push the wheel out of the fender more.--is that true icat?
Seems some 86 non-turbos have problems with the 17's as the swing of the rear suspension arm causes the tire to hit the lip and or fender at about the 2 o'clock position when looking at the arch form the side. Turbos do no have the prolems, so I am not sure how the ROW cars are set up.
Maybe others may have more to say.
Good luck.
jjjr944

KuHL 951

Don't use the spacers on the rears. I have the same wheels. The fronts have a 1/4" spacer, the backs are real tight especially on the left. I had to cut/roll the lips to prevent the left tire rubbing with 255's. The left side seems to be a common problem on these. Mine carved a good bit of sidewall before I figured out it wasn't the top of the wheel well but 9-10 and 2-3 o'clock that was needing the trim. After that no problem except in extreme compression during hard cornering. The MM seem to run a bit less offset than the OEM C2's

F: 215-40 but would prefer 225-45, they were on the car when I bought it.
R: 255-40

RajDatta

The proper size to run is 225-45 in fronts and 255-40 in rears. That is what ran on 968s with 17 inch wheels.
Raj

MachSchnell

I agree, I think 225's would be best - I moved up from 205's to 215's and they still feel thin on 17" rims - 225 should be ideal and give a bit more rubber as well as a nice handling balance under power.

RennBod

Fantastic response, thanks guys!

One small change, I have just remembered that the front of my car is running black brembo calipers, like the 944S2 or non MO30 968's.., which means that the hub and disk etc is different. (doesnt it?) So how would this have effected offset?

I have trial fitted the wheels, and even though the rears look seriously fat, they seem to have plenty of room in the arches, but once tyres are on and the suspension is compressed this may be another story.

icat

You are correct in that the spacers will push a wheel toward the outside of the car. Not sure why yours would rub without spacers though. I have 52mm offset 993 Cups on my 86 951 and I had to run 28mm spacers to create the proper width. However - that width is not the same as the stock width - it is wider, but mine do not rub at all. I would think that a 21mm spacer would be needed with the 47mm offset wheels. However, if we consider that Porsche originally had a 21mm spacer at the rear on all 944 series cars and then removed it for later cars, then one could reason that a 47mm wheel might not require a spacer at all. Since the 21mm spacer would appear to be the correct size to fill the wheel well and go as wide as possible, and Porsche removed a 21mm spacer on the 86 951, then I would think that the wheel would have the same clearance as a stock 86 951. I can not guarantee this, so my suggestion would also be to test fit.

Danno

"Porsche removed a 21mm spacer on the 86 951, then I would think that the wheel would have the same clearance as a stock 86 951. I can not guarantee this, so my suggestion would also be to test fit. "

Hmm, that's kinda correct. If you put that 17x9" 47mm offset on the rear without a spacer, the outer rim-edge will sit inwards about 1/2" compared to the sotck 16x8" wheel. Then there will be 1.5" extra rim-width on the inside.

icat

Danno is the expert here, as I used his info to mount my 993 Cups. For me, getting the wheel to sit out as far as possible and fill the wheel well was as important as updating the look. Therefore, the spacers were required. Your goals may vary, but let us know what you find out.

Robby

not sure abotu offsets, but, the 205 is WAY small for a 7.5" front- the front Boxsters wore 205s & I'm almost sure they were 7" not 7.5", but, don't quote me....

Cup 1 & 2's had 7 AND 7.5's....

I NOW have Cup 2's - 17X7 & 17X9- the offset was dif & I bought 7mm spacers- regertting it b/c they went on PERFECTLY W/OUT spacers- don't ask me how- I had Turbo S Club sports... anyway, I now have 225/45/17 fronts & 255/40/17 rears & 1/8" spacers on the rear (I had these 1/8" spacers on ANYWAY- the Cup 2's stuck out EVERY BIT AS FAR as the Club Sports., BUT, are DEFINATELY different offsets.... GO fu**ing figure....

ANYONE want to buy some nice aluminum 7mm spacers? Racer's Edge- $50 new- still new- haven't been used- I'll pay S&H..... ALWAYS TRY new wheels BEFORE buying spacers no matter WHAT....

Now if I can just figure out WTF Pilot Sport PS2's have some damn much sidewall roll in them..... WHY WHY WHY WTFWHY???????

Danno

Hey Robby, he's got an '86 with 23.3mm stock offset. You've got TurboS with 65/60mm stock offset. Putting the same wheels on both your cars would result in interesting differences...

Robby

Absolutey- that's why I started by saying I don't know about the offsets.... I STILL say, that if he ALREADY HAS the wheels, to TRY to mount them w/out any spacers, etc, FIRST, just to see.... these offsets must be off or something- otherwise, why would the offsets of the Cup 2's go almost OPPOSITE of the way you & I discussed? I ALREADY had bought the 7mm spacers before we talked- STUPID, but, I would have thought I would have NEEDED them based on our conversation AND every bit of other reasearch I had done...