Brad W

Has anyone ever had their factory wheels widened? Call me crazy, but I like my Phone Dials on my 82. I am thinking of having them widened to 9 inches in the back from 7 inches and then adding spacers to fill up the wheel well. Also Any idea of what size spacer to use?

m21sniper

It can be done, but i understand it' pretty expensive.

BrianG

Shop around...... I have heard that it's really not all that terribly expensive at places that specialize in it.

Brad W

It’s $200 per wheel and then $75 for refinishing. So for $700 I can have nice clean wheels 7 in front and 9 in rear. I already have 225-50-16 in front and 245-45-16 in rear. That will give me a custom stock look

goliver

Do the xray the welds afterwards or something else to test the integrity? These cars are capable of some pretty high speeds and good corner loads. Hate to have a wheel come apart. Can they do phone dials as well?

jyoon

i would just get a set of 8" phone dials and leave it at that. the widest tire on the street that you'd probably run and can easily find is a 245 and that will fit an 8" wheel ok.

911Dave

I have 245 tires on 8 inch phone dials, and they are perfectly sized for each other. I also have 245's on 9 inch Fuchs, but the tire is a little too narrow for the 9's. The side walls bend slightly outward from the tread to the rim. For 9 inch, you really should jump up to a 265 or 275, but those are impossible to find in a 16" diameter with the right sidewall height. Stick to 8".

The most perfect fit would be 225's on 7's, and 245's on 8's, which is my phone dial setup.

BrianG

IF you were to widen a 17" CUP 1 wheel, what would be the reasonable maximum width you would go to?

What rubber would then be appropriate?

SharkSkin

Depends how far you want to go. I saw this car at last year's Devek Days. I think the tires were up in the 345 range, but I'm not sure. If I see it again I'll check. It had about a 3" section welded in each wheel.

hupp

Where can one find some 8 inch phone dials.

BrianG

That'd be great, Dave. I'm very curious!

FlyingDog

I think they came on 951s.

911Dave

My 8's are from a 951. I don't think they ever made 8" 928 phone dials. They have a 23.3mm offset, which is about 1.5" too shallow.

cobalt

If you cut and weld an aluminum alloy wheel you will need to heat treat the wheel to T6 condition (solution and artificial age) depending on its original chemical composition. If you don't do this than the temper will have been destroyed and if you push the car real hard it can fracture. You would also want to have the wheel X-rayed to verify that the welds are not flawed. This too can cause wheel failure or air leaks. This can get rather expensive. You can do it without either process but you are taking a big risk.

It was pretty common practice back years ago to widen the older fuchs alloys by cutting and welding.

Brad W

The company that I am dealing with does not X-ray buy they do check their welds for cracks. They TIG weld inside and out; from what I understand it’s a pretty common process. Now for the 8 inch Phone Dials, are the 951’s an identical match to the 7inch Phone Dial? Also, I think that one 928 model came with 9inch rears wheels w/ 245-45-16 tires, I could be wrong. Finding a larger tire is hard to impossible without going taller. So I will limit myself to the 9 with a spacer to accommodate the wheel well.