tgarnoldo

Looking for some advice on a set of track wheels for my 88 944 turbo. The 7 & 8 x 16 phone dials have 52.5 mm offset. The 928 cup wheels I'm looking are 7 x16 with 65 mm offset and 8X18 with 52.5mm offset. Will these work?

Thanks,

Arnie

TheRealLefty

They should work fine, just watch for front clearance. May need something like a 10 mm hub centric spacer in the front.

zerMATT951

I thought that all '87 and later Turbo's also had 65mm offset on the front... My '86 with '88 Turbo S drivetrain & suspension has 7x16 with 65mm offset Design 90's on the front with no clearance issues at all. Those 65mm fronts were the stock wheels on the donor car.

TheRealLefty

I think (not totally sure) that plain Jane late offset 944's are all 52.5 offsets. My understanding is that only 88 Turbo S, 89 Turbo and M030 S2's have the 65 mm fronts, necessitated by the S4 brakes.

Oddjob

The only cars that came with a 65mm front offset wheel are the M030 cars - the Turbo S, and the S2 M030. The M030 hubs/spindles are slightly longer than the standard setup, so the factory increased the offset of the wheels to compensate.

The forged Turbo S Club Sport wheel were 7x16et65 and the S2 M030 Design 90 wheel were 7.5x16et65. I think all the 7x16 Design 90s were 52.3mm offsets.

I have used the 7x16et65 club sports on my standard 87 turbo. They work fine, although appearance-wise they are set in pretty deep in the fender well.

zerMATT951

Thanks for the clarification! I've got a set of the Design 90's and a set of the forged Club Sport wheels, both fronts have the 65mm offset, so I figured that was normal for all Turbos. I had no idea that the hub was different on Turbo S and S2 M030... learn something new every day :-)

Do you know why are the hubs/spindles longer? Is it something to do with the adjustable spring setup? (sorry if this is sort-of a hijack)

edit: Sorry - I must have skipped over TheRealLefty's response - it appears to have answered my question. The S4 brake calipers are the guilty party...