Help...Wheel and tire recommendations

I want to replace the wheels (4 bolt pattern)and tires on my Speedster C. It currently has what I believe are the stock wheels (sorta chrone deep dish with gold plated center). The tires are P205 50VR15. Tires are 7" wide. The size looks great but I don't like the wheels.

I wanted to put on Empi 8 spoke wheels but would have to limit width to 5" which would look enemic on a flaired body.

Anyone have recommendations on wheels for a flaired body? Venders?

Check with Panasport (www.panasport.com) and Superlite (www.packracingproducts.com). These are clones of the original Minilite, which (I think) the EMPI 8-spoke was modeled after. They are both available in a wide variety of sizes, offsets, and colors, and they are serious quality wheels for not too much more than the EMPIs.

I've thought seriously about a set for my car at some point.

Here's a pic of a 356B/C with Panasports. Don't know why they left out the center caps.

Bob,
I have a set of 7" Porsche cookie cutters that I can let you have real cheap.

And those look great in a Speedster; off the beaten path too....

stock 8 spokes wit 2 blade knockoffs, dont know if they make wider, i believe american eagle made these, wont work on wide body but you can get the look

If you paint those 80's style wheels a nice semi-gloss silver, drill the middles out for stock wide five clips, pop rivet the clips in place, and put on a nice set of nipple caps (with just a hint of the lip trimmed off) and crests, you ought to have a really sweet set of unusual, but almost stock looking wheels.

And for pretty short money as well. Nothing looks cooler than nipple caps sitting deep in a stockish, subdued, wide silver painted wheel.

Subtle, but SO TUFF ! ! ! !

Thanks for the offer Terry. Love the cookie cutters but I'm going for a different look.

I'm having a hard time finding 15x7 wheels. Could I go with 5 1/2" and use a 1"-1 1/2" spacer?

Or, how would a wide body look with 5 1/2" wheels?

If you go with billet aluminum spacers then you can use any bolt pattern you want. This is just one example of many on eBay, most will do what ever bolt patterns you need, pricing and shipping vary depending on the vendor ~ Alan

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Billet-Wheel-Adaptor-1-25-5x4-75-5x5-Set-of-Two_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33749QQihZ021QQitemZ310076445756QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW

Bob, I have 5.5 inch wide wheels on my standard body. Even with spacers, I think that would be too narrow on a widebody. you need wider wheels, which are likely to cost a bit more. If you like the 8-spoke look, you can get the Panasports and Superlites considerably wider than 5.5.

Bob,
You could go with centerlines or the knockoffs.
They're available in a number of widths. I think Corey's are close to that width.
The best looking wheels I've seen on a Fat Boy are the ones Gerd has on his car. F'ing beautiful!
In any event, start checking out the Samba. Always a good source for interesting wheels.

Bob, these are all good suggestions, but if you really want to "pimp that ride" I have some wheels for you....

Very nice indeed Vince but, are they street legal?

"For off-road use only"

As they say..."what happens on the SOC, stays on the SOC..

To add to this dilema, as I test drive, I'm bottoming out frequently and I'm rubbing the inside of the fender well. I'm wondering if 7" is too wide. Also, would using 16" wheels prevent the bottoming out?

Any ideas what I can do?

Bob, I got my rear wheels from Pacific Customs. They're on the Web:
http://www.pacificcustoms.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=CL115703580&Store_Code=PC&search=centerline&offset=0&filter_cat=&PowerSearch_Begin_Only=&sort=&range_low=&range_high=
Make sure you get the right lug nuts for them, too. There are less-expensive knock-off wheels available, but the CenterLines are actually riveted. Some of the cheaper ones look like they are, but aren't.
If you can't find the offset you want, try racingjunk.com for used ones. They're rugged enough that they sometimes outlast the cars they're on, and there are plenty of good deals out there.
My front wheels came off a race car with rear-end damage; they were half as much as they would have been if I had bought them new. The 'new' ones came from PC, where they had been on a shelf for almost 30 years.

Here Bob....$200 for the Empi style wheels 4 bolt pattern on Samba..

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=655349

...or how about these?

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=654439

Brian, I like both of those wheels but the Empi are 5 1/2" and the other are 5". I really need at least 6" to fill the wide body.

Bob:

I didn't read all through this, but discerned that you want wide wheels and don't want to hit anything with the tire.

The only way you'll be able to tell for sure is to do a bunch of measurements from the wheel mounting flange on the hub, then in to the spring plates and out to the wheel well lip so you'll know what you have to work with, and then go out and measure the distance from the wheel mounting flange to each lip, then the lip to the outside of the sidewall of the tire. Then you'll have to do a drawing of everything, throw in the dimensions and see what wheel width and offset you'll need to make everything fit.

Just as an example (and I have written this up elsewhere on here in more detail): I have 16" 5-spoke Fuchs rims from a 911. They are all 7" wide. I'm running 205R50/16's on the front, and 225R50/16's on the rear.

I also have a 1-1/8" adapter/spacer at each wheel that goes from the 4-bolt, 130mm, VW hub to a 5-bolt, 130 mm, Porsche wheel, to get the wheels out into the wheel wells where they look "right". You could go as thick as 1-1/4" on the rear spacers and still fit OK with stock offset 911 wheels, but you might rub tire against the inside top of the rear fenders, especially if you have two heavier people on board. If that happens, then it might be time to set your ride height up a little.

Hope this helps..... gn

I'll add to Gordon's reply that if you are really tight you need to take into consideration the width of the tire when mounted and if it has one of the ridges that prevent scuffing the rims. I looked on-line and found that different tires with the same size actually had slightly different widths. Plus, those ridges are placed such that I couldn't get one of those tires on the rear of my car.

Since it seems many are running 15x7's, I'm wondering if my problem is the torsion bars. As I stated earlier, I am having a serious problem with bottoming out. The front bottom is getting all scratched up. If the torsion bars are stiffer, wouldn't it lift the body? I need at least 1-2" more to have adequate clearance.

Stiffer torsion bars/leaves control ride quality along with the shocks.

Height adjusters control ride height.

Two separate animals, unless your ride height is so low the suspension is bottoming out in its travel.

"unless your ride height is so low the suspension is bottoming out in its travel. "

Sounds like that is the problem. Looking at your pictures, you look to be about 1-2" lower than my car sits, so bringing it up an inch or so would make a world of difference. Contrary to popular believe, putting the body down really low makes it handle worse, not better, unless special mods are made to allow for proper suspension travel and, even then, its limited.

You should be able to adjust the front up relatively easily with the front beam adjusters.

For the rear, see my "setting rear end height" article under the "Knowlege" section on this forum. I would set the rear first, then match the rear height with the front.

For a very easy way to raise the rears I bought air shocks off Ebay. I think they were about $50 for the pair and just bolted in to replace the stock shocks. Stiffened up the ride and raised the car about 1 1/2 inches. I believe you can get them for the front too.

These are not the expensive air bag systems but the basic air shocks that are sold to give a stronger spring rate for when you're carrying heavy loads.

Thanks guys. It goes in tomorrow for an "Enhanced State Inspection" which is required in PA to obtain a title. I think I might punt this problem to them. They deal in hotrods and should be about to make the adjustments Gordon suggested or change out the shocks as Brian stated.

Regarding wheels and tires, has anyone used 7" wide tires on a 5 1/2" wheel?

Bob,
A typical 185 tire is a little over 7" wide, hence the 185mm.
You can run a 195 on a 7" rim, but you're really going to want more meat with a fat boy.
You need a minimum 205 which can run on a 5.5 to 7" rim.
If you want a real cool look, go with some 17" Escra Radars with a wide five adapter. They're 7" wide and the offset on them will give you a lot of options to fine tune how far you want them out on the fenders.
They're wicked looking, too.

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=234201

Quick Hijack-

Bob, are you still interested in the 1600cc I have? If so, give me a shout or shoot me an email. Thanks.

End Hijack