aljolyn

I have a set of Cup II's , 17 x 7 & 9 on the car now. '88 944 N/A. Not real crazy about the flush looking wheels and was wondering about a deep dish wheel. Is there such an animal with the required offset.

MAGK944

On your 88 you have two choices: convert to early offset or go widebody. Early offset rules for the classic deep dish old school Porsche look.

aljolyn

When you say convert to early offset, what does that involve. I'm guessing more than just getting early offset wheels.

MAGK944

Unfortunately quite a bit more than just wheels. Starting in 1987 Porsche pushed the wheel mounting hubs out on our cars to make room for abs, that's commonly called "late offset". Prior to that the wheel mounting hubs were further in the fender and that allowed for a deeper dish wheel commonly called "late offset".

The early 944's can use early or late offset wheels, you just need a spacer for the lates. The late 944's are stuck with using the newer wheels only, that tend to not have any dish to them.

To change to early you need, in the front: a-arms, spindles, hubs and rotors from a 1986 car. In the rear: trailing arms and stub axles again from an 86. You would also lose your abs and the spindles and hubs on the 86 are a little weaker. It's really not a thing that is commonly done but entirely possible. Hope that helps.

MAGK944

oops mistake in this sentence...Prior to that the wheel mounting hubs were further in the fender and that allowed for a deeper dish wheel commonly called "early offset"

catamax944

+1 on everything .
If you really want to do this you could swap everything with someone who wants to go late offset .

thirdgenbird

there is a member here in iowa that has full early offset suspension in his garage.

MAGK944

Never could see the point of going from early to late. No advantages and less wheel options, especially as you can now get improved stronger hubs for the early cars.

Curious, anyone gone widebody on an early offset and made room for an even deeper dish?

catamax944

The point is having a huge selection of wheels without using spacers ,not all prefer early offset wheels .Many have done the conversion to late offset.
Personally i love my early offset and hope one day to get some fuchs on it.

MAGK944

There really isn't such a huge selection of factory wheels in late offset that would suit our cars. Discounting 18" which I consider too much wheel, you are looking maybe six more styles available in 16/17". Good aftermarket like BBS, HRE, Fikse, etc have most of their styles available in early or late.

FrenchToast

Yes, early offset and widebody has been done. Holbert Racing did it with a widebody 931. Or I guess that would be a widebody x2 for the 931. Back when the company was in existence it was their poster car for most of the 924-944 parts. I believe the original is out there somewhere, as well as a replica.

There are some advantages to late offset, mostly for the spindles though. With the exception of the 1986 Turbo, All the late offset spindles are stronger.

For a regular bodied car, yes there are less wheel options but some of those options include 17" OEM wheels, which are ideal for those not looking to spend a small fortune on custom wheels.

MAGK944, btw - is that your car in your avatar?

Take care!