Hi everybody. I'm thinking about upgrading brakes, wheels, & tires this upcoming winter, leaning towards aluminum wheels (Natalie gained 83 lbs with the Suby conversion & she needs to go on a diet :-)).
Please post cool wheel photos, links, and thoughts.
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What's Natalie running for wheels now, Tom? Ive seen pics of your car, but I don't remember what it had for wheels. If we each put a couple pics of our cars in the "Stuff I Love" section on our Member's page it would be easier to check out exactly what our cars looked like. As well as aluminum wheels, discs with aluminum hubs machined to keep the weight down as much as possible will be the way to go. I know you already know that (since you've been talking about brakes)- I'm just thinking out loud here.
Genuine Fuchs (15's or 16's) would be an excellent choice, as would the new aluminum wide 5's, either with some Wilwood calipers behind....
PS- 83 lbs? Wow...
Since Chris CNCs the centers for our aluminum rims, we can have him write a CAD file for any bolt pattern... Plus they'll come in around 8-9lbs ea. So, if you like the look of any of his wheels we can make them work on your car, BUT expect to spend $5K
$5k?! Yikes! 
I guess that email I sent him asking for price info is probably moot, huh?
If you change brakes you can switch to 5x130 bolt pattern, which enables Fuchs (or Fuch replicas). I think Natalie would look good with a set. You could also go with a Minilite-style wheel, which I like on just about anything.
"Stuff I Love" section on our Member's page -
Hey ALB, where is that, I couldn't find it.
Fuchs (Fox) wheels are not for me.
Tom Blankinship posted:Fuchs (Fox) wheels are not for me.
Best bang for the buck if you ask me...
It's really a matter of taste. I hated black wheels until I did a photoshop of them on my silver car. So that's what I ended up with. Style was tough too, but to find wheels that fit,
It narrowed down my search. Then there was price. That helped a lot for me. Mine cost $100 each. Not bad for what I got. Again, my taste.
These look cool. Maybe with some black hubs.
craig posted:It's really a matter of taste. I hated black wheels until I did a photoshop of them on my silver car. So that's what I ended up with. Style was tough too, but to find wheels that fit,
It narrowed down my search. Then there was price. That helped a lot for me. Mine cost $100 each. Not bad for what I got. Again, my taste.
I like those a lot! I'm leaning towards more black. Do you have any more specifics?
The problem with non-flared speedster is finding a wheel with the correct width and offset.
There's a ton of beautiful wheels out there, but very few that will fit our cars-especially in the rear.
There's also a ton of beautiful wheels out there, but for one reason or another they just don't look right on a speedster. An example is the Boxster wheel (16x6). I think it's a decent looking wheel, with the correct offset, but it doesn't look right on a speedster.
Tom, the Porsche wheel shown above are quite wide-probably 8+ inches. You'd be better off to order a set of custom wheels from these guys in England:
Expensive, but you can order the exact width and offset you want for a custom fit.
Tom, have you thought of a suspension upgrade to handle the extra weight in the rear? What rear suspension do you have now? It's swing axle, right?
Putting the widest wheel/tire that would fit would certainly help.
Here is a current link to ebay for the wheel. Mine are 15x7 because I did not want to buy new tires. I added self stick Porsche center cap emblems over the Apex center caps. Not the offset I wanted (they didn't come deep) so I also added alum spacers to move them outboard due to the flares. Mine are a 5x114.3 (Ford) bolt pattern due to my ordering the disc brake hubs in a size I could match a lot of wheels to.
Craig, those wheels are great, Where did you get them?
Art
I researched the inet for what I wanted and then to avoid shipping cost found them through a local auto wheel/stereo place. The ebay link I posted has them but those are 4 bolt and I bought 5 bolt. You can get different offsets, but not many choices.
It's a matter on knowing what you want/need and then spending your entire marriage searching the inet for them. I looked for two months to find these.
craig posted:Here is a current link to ebay for the wheel. Mine are 15x7 .....
Do you know how much they weigh? When looking at wheels for these cars, weight should always be a consideration....
And Craig, I noticed (after the speil (spiel?) about the "Stuff I love" section that your member's page (and some others) doesn't have it? I don't know why...
The more affordable wheels tend to be heavy. ..at least with my vast experience and knowledge of nothing.
Tom Blankinship posted:craig posted:It's really a matter of taste. I hated black wheels until I did a photoshop of them on my silver car. So that's what I ended up with. Style was tough too, but to find wheels that fit,
I like those a lot! I'm leaning towards more black. Do you have any more specifics?
I don't want to rain on your parade, Tom – but Craig's car has a flare-fendered body. Your choices are going to be significantly more circumscribed.
The technomagnesio wheels are really, really nice – but set of the new AL wide 5 wheels vintage motorcars are selling come in at about one third the price. I gave a ridiculous amount for my Bivens about 10 years ago. What I can tell you, is that if Greg and Alex's wheels had been available then, I wouldn't be asking any questions at all.
If you don't care about the wide 5 thing, aluminum wheels with Porsche drillings and the corresponding brakes are going to be much lighter than any wide 5 brake/wheel package. If I'm not mistaken, CB's package is the lightest wide 5 available, but my research is also 15 years old.
Marty's million dollar wheels and brakes are probably the ultimate set up for a standard fendered speedster.
However, keep in mind that there probably isn't any more expensive way to trim weight. The advantage to a lightweight brake and wheel package is that the weight is "unsprung". Every pound of unsprung weight is equal to something like 5 lbs elsewhere on the car.
If you just want to lose some weight, there are many other places that are easier and less expensive. I'd start with the battery.
Tom, I think a set of chromed or polished "Phone Dials" would look good on your car, heck gun metal grey would to.
Stan, main driver is new brakes. If that leads to new wheels, I'm open. My battery is already as light as I can get...I think.
Those look good on your car, Rusty! I remember reading (another thread) that the 15x5's or 5 1/2" are only 10 lbs?
And Tom, if you're looking for lightweight brakes in wide 5 you've got some homework to do.
I don't know the weight but they are a little lighter than those steel wide five that I had.
Craig: My white car originally had black spoke Fuchs and I thought she looked good, but she never looked as good as your wheels against that silver background. Nice match!
Rusty, those wheels look great, too. That's where I would have ended up if I had gone wide fives.
I got my Fuchs (from an '89 911) from an ad on the PCA. I just saw a set of the same 16" size on eBay for $2,800 That was back in the days of email only (mid-1990's)
Does anyone know where the part number is stamped on original Fuchs rims? I understand (from a guy at German Car Day) that there is a suffix on the p/n that tells you the offset and I'm curious to see what mine looks like. It's on the back somewhere, but mine are pretty black back there from brake dust and crud.
Thanks.
BTW, I have two spares (unpolished spokes) up in the attic and I'm always surprised when I heft them at how light they are.
Rusty S posted:I don't know the weight but they are a little lighter than those steel wide five that I had.
The aluminum wheels are crazy light. With wide 5, it's the brake hubs/ rotors/ calipers themselves that are generally 20 pound chunks of iron. There's A reason all manufacturers moved away from this set up along time ago.
One thing is for sure: not very much thought is going into unsprung weight among VW aftermarket companies.
I got off the phone with Andy at AC Industries this morning He said that he has a new bolt on for the wide 5 setup coming out that is 10lbs lighter. He may have said 15 lbs lighter but that seems like a stretch. You won't need to change your spindles if you are using the Carmen Ghia type 3 setup.
"If you just want to lose some weight, there are many other places that are easier and less expensive. I'd start with the battery."
I'd start with layin' off the beer and carbs.
My wheels are 19lbs.
SPRUNG/UNSPRUNG...As Stan says....there's a big difference and not a lot of thought has gone into this by aftermarket companies. SPRUNG- VS-UNSPRUNG makes a big difference in a cars handling and ride comfort. I venture to say that a lot of people don't understand the difference. There are a couple of people on here who can explain those differences way better than me......Justin ???.............Bruce
Gordon- Part #'s are on the back side of a petal (or spoke). Your 16's should have 911 part #'s. There are date codes as well, but if you post the part #'s I have a chart that has the offset/backspacing info, as well.
according to Google:
Unsprung weight is the mass of a vehicle's suspension, wheels, and components directly connected to them rather than supported by the suspension. Unsprung weight includes the mass of components such as the wheel spindles, wheel bearings, tires, and a portion of the weight of driveshafts, springs, shock absorbers, and suspension links. If the vehicle's brakes are mounted outboard (i.e., within the wheel rather than inboard), their weight is also part of the unsprung weight.
The components that comprise a vehicle's unsprung weight are acted on by road shocks and bumps, and therefore the unsprung weight determines the reactive force that any motion of the wheels and suspension exert on the body of vehicle. The smoothness of the ride is closely related to the ratio of unsprung to sprung weight: the higher this ratio, the more severely bumps affect the vehicle.
...that's why really good (expensive) shock absorbers are so important on our cars...
Will Hesch posted:...that's why really good (expensive) shock absorbers are so important on our cars...
So what is a good shock absorber for our cars that won't result in a stiff ride?
It's pretty easy to see that reducing a car's weight will make it accelerate faster. And that's true for unsprung weight as much as weight anywhere else on the car.
But, as Ron Popeil would say, wait - there's more!
The springs in the suspension - coil, leaf, or torsion bar - push the wheels back into contact with the road every time you hit a bump. The less unsprung weight there is to push around, the faster the tires are back hugging the road where they belong.
So, everything you need traction for - accelerating, braking, or cornering - benefits from reducing unsprung weight.
Sir Isaac Newton was so impressed by how much lowering unsprung weight improves handling that he thought up his second law of motion to describe it.
Stan Galat, '05 IM, 2276, Nowhere, USA posted:... There's A reason all manufacturers moved away from this set up along time ago...
^ Why I need to stop posting from my stupid phone.
Sacto Mitch posted:Sir Isaac Newton was so impressed by how much lowering unsprung weight improves handling that he thought up his second law of motion to describe it.
Ike Newton was quite the driver. Healthy too, what with the apples and all.
Sacto has got it right. The less unsprung weight the faster the tires can get back to the road after extension and compression of the shocks/springs and do what they are supposed to do: grip.
Stan, Isaac was an English lad who obtained his degree from Cambridge in 1665 - just around the time the suspension of the MG-TC was being developed.
