Jim Chambers

Discovered that my new to me 924S has two 7x15 52ET phone dials on the right side and two 6x15 52ETon the left!
The 7's must belong on the rear. Does anyone know if the car could have been delivered with staggered width wheels? I see the parts manual shows the 7's as 2 required and the 6's as 4 required.
I plan to install new tires as the 205/50's I have are too short.
I want to go with stock size 195/65's. Wondering if I should go wider at the rear with the 7's? I have heard the car will understeer with wider rear tires.
Or should I find a pair of 6" wheels? Or is it OK to use 195's on 7's?
Decisions, decisions.......What would Ferdinand do?

Spidey944

I think mine was ordered with the BBS 8" and 9" wheels from the factory, I'm sure it's a possibility the 924s where the same way. It's hard to say as people loved to mess with these things back in the 80's and play with them.

205/50/15 and 195/55/15 have nearly the same rotating diameter, they just appear a tad shorter since the sidewall is slightly shorter.

When you are talking understear it's unlikely you will even notice a difference unless you're at the cars handling limits as a 195 or 205 tire are quite narrow compared to a 245 or 285 tire

ideola

What year and color is your 924S?

There was an option to order staggered wheels, so it is certainly possible that the car was ordered that way or came that way to the dealer (with 7s on the rear). If the car has the M030 sport suspension, it should be balanced pretty well with the staggered setup. Even if not, I doubt you will notice imbalance for street driving, it likely only become apparent on the track.

I would keep the staggered setup, as the wider rubber in the back fills the arches better and (IMHO) looks better than the skinny 6-inchers. (Yeah, I know, that's what she said).

Jim Chambers

Car is a black '87. Option sticker does not show M030 or any wheel option. Are you suggesting wider tires with the 7's on the rear? Or 195's all around?

Spidey944

With them being 15" your options for tires will be very limited size-wise.

195/55/15 on the front will be doable
205/50/15 should still be able to be found, even though that size was only used as an OE fitment on a few cars recently (the 2000's Mazda Protoge' I think) on the 7" wheel you could run a 225 series, but you wont find them avail in anything under a 55 or 60 profile

mel_t_vin

Agree with Dan...understeer will only be a serious issue on the track...at 8/10s. Do you plan to track the car...often?

For a factory fitment, I'd run a 195/65 on the 6s, in front, and a 215/60 on the 7s, out back...and call it a day. If you don't like that set up, you can always add more bar in the rear, or pick up another pair of 7s for $200.

Jim Chambers

Thanks Allen. I don't intend to track the car.

Just yesterday I bought 195/65's for the front and 215/60's for the rear, as you suggest. Frankly I am more interested in filling the wheel wells as compared to the 205/50's. Looks great now. Higher gearing and accurate speedo were important as well.
The car has a slightly larger 21.5 mm (944 I think) front bar and an aftermarket 14 mm rear bar. Haven't driven it hard yet as I am sure the cam belt is old and needs replacement.

mel_t_vin

Sounds good, Jim. What tires did you select?

The car was sitting on 205/50s?? Jeebus! I'm sure it didn't handle as designed running 23" tires. And, it must've been more than a little, irritating, on the highway [under-geared].

How long have you had your 924? Don't see many well-kept ones on the road anymore. Post a few photos.

Lastly, check the options sticker [in the trunk, behind the carpet, near the lock mechanism]...if your car has both front and rear bars, it may be one of the rarer factory M404 or M456 models.

Jim Chambers

Bought cheap tires but supposed to be good for the price. H rated Ohtsu.
Car will be used as a back road and around town driver.
Talked with the original owner yesterday. He bought it new in PA and kept it 22 years until sold in 2009. He did some PCA autocrossing in the late 80's and said he was class winner two years running. Insurance paid for two damaged wheels early on and he replaced them with two 7's. He installed the rear bar and replaced the stock 924S front bar with a slightly larger 944 version. He also installed an Autothority chip (I know nothing about chips!) and some sort of aftermarket air intake (I intend to go back to stock air cleaner). The option sticker shows only normal options, including AC, for an '87 924S.
Car only had 55K miles on it when he sold in '09. Second owner only drove 5500 more miles. I bought it and had it shipped to Oregon last month. Paperwork confirms only 60,500 miles. No record of belt replacement since 24K miles and water pump is likely original.
Attached pics are from the Pelican classified ad. Haven't had a chance to take my own yet (note the two 6's on the left side, 7's are on the right. Had to have been this way since the 205/50's were installed in '07).

V996

I wish my black 924s looked that good!

mel_t_vin

Jim, that is one, clean, 924! Nice purchase.

Yeah, definitely get rid of that aftermarket, hot air, intake. That's not doing the car, or you, any good.

Does the sticker show option M990 seats? That would account for the rare, desirable, seats with Porsche cloth script inserts. With folks selling ratty, non-script, seats for $500/pair these days, what you have there [front/rear script seats, dash, carpet, door cards] is a $2000 interior, exclusive of chassis/motor/gearbox/suspension.

No record of belts since 24k?? Circa...mid-90's?? Wow...that would be your first order of business.

Happy motoring...