I'm an original ower of an 85.5 944. I decided to update the wheels and tires last week with a new set of Sport Edition Cup 3 17" Turbo Twist replicas from the Tire Rack. They carry these specially made for "early offset" 944's (pre-87). Also ordered recommended 255/40ZR-17s for the rear. Just put them on and went for a spin.... The first little dip in the road caused the driver's side rear tire to hit the fender and slice off a strip of rubber from the outer corner of the tire. It's about 16" long and about 1/8 thick. Joy.

Upon furthur inspection I noticed that I have the left and right wheels reversed. I didn't realize I had ordered directional tires. I also did some measuring and it appears that the passenger side has a good 1/2" more clearance than the driver side.

Since my car has never been wrecked or modified, I wonder what's going on! Is this common for the rear to be offset to one side? Did putting on the wheels on the wrong side cause this (ie they are offset to compensate for this difference)? I'm wondering if this is adjustable, or maybe due to bad/old bushings.

If anyone can provide any help/experience it would be greatly appreciated. I have notified the Tire Rack and emailed a photo. I'm guessing they have sold lots of these to 944 owners with no problems, so it must be my car, or my installation mistake.

thanks,
Van

 

seems like all the 944's have less clearance front and rear on the drivers side. My 86 turbo was rubbing when i put 17's on it. Take a baseball bat or a jack handle or something, place between the fender and the tire. Put the handle at a 45 towards the center of the wheel and roll it so it rolls the fender lip -mainly at the front of the wheelwell on your car from the bottom most part until its almost at the top. Early cars usually rub at the bottom 12" or so.

 

and welcome to rennlist!!

 

Thanks for the replies. Man, I'm really sick about this. I did some more measuring on the offset of the back wheels, and it not as far off as I thought. I'm surprised the passenger side didn't scrap the fender lip also.

Dan, thanks for your input. I tried your suggestion to bend the lip, but I was a little nervous to put too much force on it. I'm concerned that I might deform the fender. The lip on my car varies from about 1/2" to 3/4". Did you bend the whole 1/2" lip up (changing it from an L shape to a V), or just edge closest to the tire (creating a U). This seems like a good solution if I can bend the lip enough without messing up the fender.

I can't think of any other solution for this problem. I can't believe how far out these rear wheel offsets are. Also, the front offsets are surprisingly small. So the front wheels look much more narrow and recessed in that the OEMs. You can really see in the fender well around them. I may start a new thead about these wheels.

 

Here a shot of the wheel with the shaved rubber hanging down.

thanks,
Van

 

i rolled that thing into a v as much as i could but just about ten inched from the bottom and down. The metal is pretty tough so it doesnt form very easily.

 

Here's another angle.

[IMG]

 

Okay, thanks Dan. Yes, that little lip does not want to bend! Did your tires rub only when the suspension compressed like mine to doing?

 

In that last picture, your front wheel sure does sit in a lot...or so it looks. Sure you don't have the fronts on the back and backs on the front? I'd highly doubt you have done this...but you never know.

Also, looks as if thats a Missouri plate. Where at in MO are you?

 

St. Louis. I purchased the car new from Parktown Porsche in 1985. It was made in Feb/85, so it was one of the first 85.5 944s available in St. Louis.

As for the offset. Yes the front looks a little funky. Fronts are 205/50ZR-17s and rears are 255/40ZR-17s, so there's no mistaking that. The front seem like they could use an inch or so spacer to bring them out. With these new wheels, the rear tires track way wider than the fronts do.

I make it over to KC every once in a while. Have some in-laws there.

thanks,
Van

 

Here's a link to the wheels at Tire Rack. The rears are 17x9. Fronts are 17x7.5.

http://www.tirerack.com/wheels/resul...5&autoModClar=

 

Here's a reverse angle on the front wheels. They are offset in at least an inch now from my OEMs. Seems odd?!? Being 205s, they are 10cm skinnier than the 215/60VR15s. The wheels basically look great, but the front offset is too narrow, and the rear too wide. Again these are supposed to be made specifically for early offset 944's.

Am I missing something here? Anyone know if these are supposed to look this? Hopefully I can bend the lip to make the rears fit. Maybe they sent me the wrong wheels?

thanks,
Van


[IMG]

 

I have 17' turbo twist on my 87 (255/40 rear 205/40 front). Just put some new Kumho's on the rear. No rubbing here. I never even considerd that they would rub. Guess I got lucky. Good Luck

 

That's good to hear. Do your fronts look set in like mine do in this photo?

 

my old 85.5 had cup1 reps, same dimensions. 7.5" front, 9" rear, it was setup with 215's up front, and 235's in rear, it never rubber, but it had 1/2"-3/4" spacer up front (i never actually measured it) also. is the suspension original?