Gary Knox

Andrew,

Check with a Fikse dealer (928 Specialists??). Fikse delivers some of the wheels that David orders with about a 3 to 5 mm aluminum spacer. Probably significantly less $$ than Ernie's.

Don't go too wide, or you'll have significantly less "threads" gripping on the lug nut. My recollection is you should have AT LEAST 9 turns on the nut for satisfactory clamping of the wheel to the axle.

Good luck,

Gary Knox

JPTL

When you get this squared away, you're going to have one mean looking ***-end on that car.
Meaner when you're putting that supercharger to use

Randy V

Hey, Joe - you got rubber?

Me thinky too much rubber!

Jim M.

Andrew,

Something doesn't sound right here. The DFW group had it's coffee gathering this morning and one of the guys had aftermarket 996 wheels on his 89 S4. These were 11" rears with 315 tires on them. No rubbing on the inside and about 1/4" clearance on the outside. He does plan to roll the fenders for more clearance, but they do fit. I think one of the guys took some pictures...Steve J. are you listening??? If so, please post the pictures!

Jim Mayzurk
93 GTS 5-spd

atb

Andrew, those look awesome.

Sorry for the off-topic, but I'm looking into ordering 12" wide rims, what kind of offset would be ideal? 45mm? (running Ott flares so I'll have some extra room on the outside.)

greg928GTS

Andrew, I had to cut away part of my rear fender liners to get my tires exactly where I wanted them.

I still don't know how a non-GTS 928 can fit the 295's, but people tell me they're doing it! I wouldn't go any closer than what I have, and I've got the flared fenders! I just don't get it.

But I wouldn't worry about trimming some of the fender liner, not a big deal. It's the suspension arm that you don't want to be rubbing against.

AO

Good idea with the jack! Thanks.
Thanks Gary... God tip on the number of threads - I'll be sure to count them.

AO

Hard to say really as it really depends on the tire you're running, but, I'd say you need to have a least a 40mm. With a 45mm (or higher) offset, if you find it a tad too far inboard, you can always add a spacer to get it just right.

danglerb

What seems to trump the fat as can fit tire, is a stickier tire. Some people seem to like the Nitto 555 Drag Radials, good but not the best traction, and not insane wet, with maybe 8k of abuse in them. Supposedly they work pretty well for autocross too, but you need to warm them up.

Garth S

Andrew,
On factory studs, up to an 8mm spacer can be fitted leaving 14-15mm of thread engagement ( the 'usual' minimum is enough threads to = bolt diameter + one turn ... the studs are 14mm).

The easy trial is to get 1/16" or 1/8" sheet aluminium scraps, trace out the spacer pattern, and jigsaw and drill to produce perfect spacers. In 20 min, one could make a pair - no, they're not hubcentric .... but neither are they thick enough to cover the ring machined on the hub.

I ended up making 5-6mm spacers on my S4 this way, and left them in place without issues. The dimensional tolerance on sheet thickness is precise - no worry about wedge shaped spacers.

Mike Frye

Andrew,

I don't think the jack thing would work unless you jack it and compress the shock/spring would it? You're trying to figure out what the tire will do when you hit a bump, not at normal ride height, just jacking under the wheel somewhere is only going to raise the whole thing.

stuartph

Andrew


I've found some pictures i took of the clearance i have with my 11" ET45's

I'll try and post them if you like, if not i can mail them to you

atb

Thanks Andrew.

Gary Knox

Earl Gillstrom referred me to the following web site recently. It is MUST reading for all of those in our group who feel that going to dramatically wider tires gives us dramatically more rubber on the road. Pretty technical, but from an engineering perspective (I took the scientific route, not engineering route in colleges), it seems pretty accurate to me. Take a look at it, you might be quite surprised: http://www.carbibles.com/tyre_bible.html

Gary Knox
West Chester, PA

PS: You'll have to scroll down about 2/3 of the way to find the "aspect ratio" etc. stuff about bigger/wider tires and their effect.

Garth S

So true, that I cannot bring myself upright with a straight face to debate the tire width subject . two things rarely change .... the mass of a car and the gravational constant - both of which largely influence the required contact area to keep a vehicle rolling at any specific inflation pressure. That area is effectively a constant, so changing tire dimension merely changes the patch shape.
Yes, other behaviors shift as the patch shape changes - but each is a trade off .