Mike1982

I am getting new wheels in tires in the spring for my car, I LOVE the Mille Miglia cup 3. Those are the turbo twist ones without the chrome finish. I have a '86 944 Turbo and wondering if I could fit the tires: F 18*8.5 (225/40-18); R 18*10 (255/35-18) on my car. When I plug in for my car '86 is doesn't come up, but when I put on a '87 it does, does this mean if I put on wheel spaces it will work? If I have to put on wheel spaces, what size wheel spaces do I need? I like the 18" compared to the 17" but I will be getting them in the spring because I LOVE them. I have the Fuch's on my car now, I think I might use them for the winter or something. You can't beat the prices at tirerack.com the wheels will be $229-$239 for 17" and $259-$279 for 18" plus $100-$140 for tires. Most other places for wheels are SO expensive. If anyone has those wheels on their cars, pictures would be GREAT!! Thanks.

Mike Buck

You could get those to fit, but the wheels alone will weigh double that of your Fuchs. Are you concerned about the impact on performance, as it will be significant?

MitchB

The reason you can't plug in the '86 into the Tire Rack menus is that those wheels won't fit w/o spacers. The offset for the '86 951 is different than all other later Porsche cars. A very good explanation can be found on the Racer X site -

http://members.rennlist.com/951_racerx/

Spacers will make it work if that's the way you're set on. I get the feeling that it's "the Look" you're wanting. For a street car you'll probably be fine. For any competition work, many folks get a little nervous abt spacers...
IMO you get what you pay for with wheels - there really aren't any bargains.
BTW those Fuchs are worth big bucks if you decide to sell - maybe enough to pay for your new setup.

M

Jerad

If you get those wheels and want to sell your fuchs, let me know, I wanna be first on the list.

Fen

I run 9x18 and 10x18 Cup 2's on my '92 Cab. 8.5 sounds too narrow. Mine are very heavy and they ruin the ride - they look good though...

Mille Miglia do wheels in the early offset as well - a friend has 17" Cup 1's on his '86.

Randy_J

Watch for potential suspension issues. Porsche does NOT recommend 18" rims on the 944 series as there are control arm issues due to geometry change and loads.

Even with 17" rims, they recommend upgrading to the 968 castor blocks.

Do a "searh" on this issue on this forum and you'll get lots of information.

Fen

Yep, I've read the tech bulletin - don't see how it's any different to the 968 though, which can run 18's.

That said I DO have 968 castor blocks on both cars, otherwise the tramlining would be horriffic.

gilwong

I run 17 inch rims on my 86 951 and it changes the ride quality significantly. I love the 18 inch look but I don't know if I'd go there.

BTW, one of the members of this board (User Name is K27) has 3 17 inch Mille Miglia cup 3 (twisties, right?) wheels with good rubber for sale as he is parting out his 86 951. No fitment problems or spacers. The reason he has only 3 is that one was bent during his accident. They are available at a good price.

IMHO, the wheels look "big" enough on the car because of the way the rim meets the tire. 18 inchers may actually look too big for the 951.

gilwong

Mike 1982,

Sorry forgot, but there was a tread recently (2 or 3 weeks ago) saying that Mille Miglia was about to discontinue their Cup 1, 2 and possibly 3 series wheels. You may want to check with Tirerack on this rumour and the timeline for this development.

porshhhh951

going with 18 inch wheels on your car ...will kill the performance....but, if you really dont care about that .....and are looking for the "look" i dont see a problem.....a local dealer here has an 86' on display with 18's(turbo twist)

sincerly,
john

Mike1982

The more I think about it I am going to go with the 17" wheels instead for a few reasons. I am not in to auto crossing or racing everyday but that does mean I don't like the performance of it, but the 17" seems better because it will help out the handling plus the more I have looked at 18", those are to big of a wheel for the car anyways, it was just a thought. Now going to the 17", how much of a difference is there in the performance of it? I know the tire spins a little slow at the same speed, but not that much.

gilwong

Mike 1982,

17 inch turbo twists are plenty of wheel on the 951. They look bigger because of the way the rim meets flush with the tire, in fact they look like 18 inch for most other wheel designs. If you lower your 951, the 17 inch rims visually fill up the wheel wells perfectly.

The 17 inch rims cause the ride to change significantly. You are using a lower profile tire with stiffer sidewalls and wider rims with greater contact patch. Steering feels heavier, less nimble and the tires tramline quite a bit,
causing the car to be jittery and nervous.

However, the car does feel more attached to the road and looks a lot more racy.

Going up from the stock 16 inchers to 18 inchers and using spacers IMHO would stress the suspension components, causing premature wear.

gilwong

Mike 1982,

You should check with k27 on this board to see if he's still got his 17 inchers with low mileage Falken tires.

turbinek

Hi there

just read those thread's

Will 993 17" cup wheels fit 86 944?
Can you fit 18" wheels on a 87 944T?

Answer 18" are not allowed - official Porsche statement

kind regards
Frank

JPR

I have had 18" wheels in a previous 951 and will install them again in my current one. The do NOT destroy the ride or the performance. Actually, the 18" Fikse/summitomo combination rode significantly better than the 17"cup/S03 combination my car had before. I used the setup for more than two years and nothing broke, wore prematurely. The acceleration and cornering was also greatly improved.

Sure, you get there wrong wheels or ones based solely on style and performance can be impacted, but this is the same for 16", 17" or 18". The Fikse were even lighter than the phone dial or the much vaunted fuchs.

If you like the 18" look, pick the right wheels and go for it......

JPR