Litespeeds

The early offsets are 23.3 mm
The late offsets are 52.3 mm

Right now my 1988 944 has stock phone dial 15x7 wheels that are 52.3mm and I was wondering can I fit an early offset of 23.3mm 15x7 wheel without sticking past the fender wells. The difference of 29mm translates to just about 1.14". From the looks of my car, I think I can fit the early offset wheel but I just want to make sure.

Has anyone put early offset phone dials with 225/50/15 tires on their 86+ 944's? Please let me know asap. There is a person selling a set of early offset phone dials that I don't mind buying. Thanks.

What I want to achieve is a wheel/tire setup that fits to the edge of the fenders without sticking out or rubbing.

cjeckert

wont work you can go from late to early but not early to late they will stick to far out and rub on the fenders.

Porsche-O-Phile

IIRC the offset changed in '87, not '86, but there may be exceptions.

You could always roll the fenders. . .

MichelleJD

They did change in 87. My 3-series has a 40mm offset while the M3 has a 26. No one has been able to get the M3 wheels to fit a standard 3 without cutting or serious rolling of the fenders. I'm trying to find a way to do it now.

Litespeeds

I heard it was 86 1/2 was when they changed the offset.

It is kind of hard to believe that the stock 15x7 23.3mm offset wheel will stick out past the fender wells. I actually test fitted a set of 18x8 and 18x10 turbo twist wheels on my 944 and there was still room in the front and rear.

Right now I have a set of 16x6 +52 and 16x8 +52 Design 90 wheels and the gap is huge. From the looks of it, I can easily go out 1 1/2" before it reaches the edge of the fender.

I guess the only way is to get an early offset wheel and put it on my car to make sure.

flosho

Wait, isn't he going from late offset phone dials to early offest phone dials? Which by how I'm reading what you wrote means it would work.

Unless you mixed up what you were writing?

Litespeeds

I have a 1988 which is a late offset and want to put on early offset wheels.

From what I have read, earlier cars can use the late offset wheels but they have to use spacers. Am I correct on this?

Funn944

Offset changed in '87. But to answer one of your questions, I'm running 225/50/15 fronts, and 245/50/15 rears, on my '86.

Litespeeds

I have a late offset car so what you are telling me is I can fit those early offset wheels and they should not stick out past the fenders.

Litespeeds

Are you running those size tires on the stock 15x7 wheels? Isn't the 245's a little too wide for the 7" width?

josephsc

To clarify: the common wisdom is you can put a late wheel on an early car -- but not an early wheel on a late car.

But then, I don't think anyone has recently tried doing it -- and there are so many parameters that actually goes in to wheel fitment (ride height, spring stiffness, spring diameter, fender shape, tire width), there might be a combination that let's you do it.

Porsche-O-Phile

You can put late offset wheels on an early car, but they sit in the fenderwells too far without spacers. Yes, you can still drive it like that (I did for a while in a pinch) but it obviously handles better with the proper spacing.

Spacers are rather expensive. I'd opt to get the proper offset wheels for your hubs - probably less expensive in the long run. Good spacers for front and rear are gonna' run about $400.

Litespeeds

Is everyone positive that you "CAN'T" put an EARLY wheel on a LATE car? Why?

My stock wheel size is 15x7 with an offset of 52.3mm which translates to about 1.44" sticking out and 5.56" stickin in. Looks like there is quite a bit of space that I can push the wheel out before it reaches the edges of the fender.

The early offset 15x7 wheel with an offset of 23.3mm is about 2.58" out and 4.42" in. The difference is only 1.14" sticking out further than my stock late offset wheels.

Now are you sure that if you have a 1987 or 1988 944 with stock phone dial wheels that you can't push the wheel out another 1.14" without any problems? Sure looks like there is enough space.

I just want to get confirmation from someone who knows for sure and not just from what they have read somewhere.

I have heard that with the proper offset, you can fit 10" wheels on the front and 11.5" on the rears of a 944 without rubbing but I am sure they have serious suspension mods.

xsboost90

ive seen early wheels on late cars before- they look STUPID. If your car is not lowered and you want to have tire sticking out of the wheel wells, and possibly rub when you turn or hit a bump then go right ahead.

FRporscheman

Just go to the seller's house and test-fit one of the wheels! If it don't fit, then you split.

I take it that the only bad part about using early-offset wheels on a late-offset car is that they stick out too far. But aside from silly looks (and rubbing the fenders), won't this slightly wider wheelbase help handling? Say, for a track car, where looks aren't important.