I wish I could afford these!

Mr. Seinfeld, your wheels are ready...

Those are beauties. I imagine a Porsche nut will scoop them up for his one off dry ice blasted nut and bolt resto.  We should all be so lucky.

Ted

I'm sure they are valued wheels, but I've never been a fuch fan.  Don't know why - they just don't do it for me.

 

I'll take a set of Alex Bivens wheels any day. 

I'm going to have to be content with my old Fuchs repos. 

Boy!  

 

Forged and polished Fuchs wheels are sure getting up there!

 

Almost makes the 3-days I spent polishing each wheel from black anodized seem worth it!

 

I will admit, though, I am always surprised when I heft a wheel without the tire at how light they are.

That looks like Chinese corrugated not German!  Or it has suffered moisture exposure.

Approximately $100 per pound.

Ron, you can have these Bivens/Coddington Rudges

's done for a lot less. I'm just saying.

 

 

I'd rather have your wheels, Marty.

As Gordon mentioned, real Fuchs prices are getting ridiculous.

I believe those have such a hefty price tag on them because they're early wheels (they have a 901 part number instead of the later 911 #'s). I know $1,000/wheel seems a little outrageous, but someone in the Porsche world will pay it.

Yeah, me too!

 

Marty:

 

Where did you buy those wheels?

Love Marty's wheels---totally killer great! More like car jewlery than just wheels.

 

Never liked the look Fuchs at all. Plus they were never a Speedster option that I know of, so they just don't look period correct to me. 

 

Nice to not be jonesing over a $5k set of wheels so it's all good.  "To each his own said the old lady as she kissed the cow."

Bob , I know a guy who knows a guy in CA who knows another guy who makes the wheels.  Dialogue me for more info because the steel Porsche guys are a little finicky. Thanks for the compliments

I'm not a really big fan of Fuchs either, although I think they look decent on a speedster.  Three things I really like about these wheels are are weight (11 pounds) and their 42 mm offset and their forged strength.

 

 

Done, and thanks.

Done, your welcome!

I can remember when $300 per wheel for my 15x15 weld prostars was outragious.....thus I have a few sets.but.....I cant see more than $150 per wheel for this car...basicly a reshaped dunebuggy,ressorected bug what ever. whoo knows I may just leave the chrome cmcoming/fliberflab wheels on mine......possiably widened a bit in the rear.but a 17~19" would be a better choice for the hight I want& not have too much side wall.

 oh somany tires are china nowdays....why not the rims.....unless  a us maker makes something thats not a rip off....like what is being charged for this china stuff......yes I know thats not gonna happen, Ill probably go with some prostars of the 356 from greg weld.sweet light strong.

Wheel weight is important to me.  I'd rather not put a heavy wheel on these light cars.

Ron:

 

At what weight does a wheel become heavy for application to these cars?

that would depend on a few things, your wallet,you look you want, the usage of your car and what you expect of it. most all aluminum wheels will be lighter than the steel wheels,if there not look for somethen different....but a 22" aluminum wheel may tip the scales a bit....fenders too. as for oe wheels....and this a oe car???knock offs do just fine if that oe wheel is the look you like.and now come in 17" too!!!

I like my wheels to be under 16 pounds, if possible.  As Mark mentioned, going wider that 5.5/6.0 or larger than 15" adds pounds.

 

Getting a wheel under 16 lbs can be tough unless you go with some forged aluminum or magnesium wheels, especially with larger than stock sizes. A stock steel VW wheel 15x4.5 weighs about 16.5 lbs.

 

Typical passenger car unsprung weight is 3.75-5% of total vehicle weight per corner. So depending on what your particular 356 weighs, estimate around 60-100 lbs per corner. 35-55 lbs of that will just be the wheel and tire but you still have to account for the weight of the brakes/spindles/control arms/axles/shocks too. Basically, most wheels and tires tend to be "too heavy", compromising ride and acceleration. That's just the way things are with such lightweight cars. If you like your wheels, then try to see if you can find lighter tires. If you feel that's not enough then spend the money on expensive lightweight wheels.

the old mickey thompson 19.5x33 street tires I ran on my street car were over 75 pounds each. the 14x15 monocoque wheels they were on added about 8-10 pounds. the non dot equivelent tire for racing was about half the weight. ohboy I wore out quite a few sets of those.but the dot tire went for almost 30 years after it was resurected&put on my bug street car where I ran it for about 4 years till the hydroplaining got to bad then I went to 16x30 hoosier dirt track tires that didnot hydroplane. thays another thing to look at when buying tires .side sipes!!!! so the water can get out of the tread.

Ron- You have 16" alloys on your beast- are they forged Fuchs or cast copies? Have you ever weighed them?

I CAN DO THIS!!!!

 

I have two unmounted wheels, both 16" diameter, one 6" and one 7"

 

Don't go away, I'll be right back!

 

 

(tic, tic, tic, tic.........)

OK, I lied - the narrower one (6") had a POS Continental tire mounted on it so I grabbed the wider one.

 

The 16" X 7" was unmounted with no wheel weights and weighed 14.1 pounds.  

 

I won't speculate on the weight of smaller diameter or narrower rims but a 7" is pretty wide for a 356.

 

I had my yearly physical last week and my "Weight watchers" scale was the same as my doctor's scale weight, but mine reads out in tenths and his was a guess within a pound.

 

The narrower rim came from a late '80's 944, and the 7" came from a wrecked 89 911.  Both are original, forged aluminum from Fuchs, not repros.

 

gn

Excellent info Gordon! The Porsche wheel chart I have (I've posted it before in another thread- if anyone wants to see it again just holler) lists a 16x7 at 18? lbs and 16x6 at 16 or 17lbs. I wondered why the 16" wheels were so much heavier, so it's good to hear they're not. Al

 

IIrc, a genuine Fuchs 15x6 is 12lbs and a 15x7 is only 1/2 or 1lb more. I know a lot of the cast 15" wheels weigh as much or more than a 15x4 1/2" steel VW wheel. 

Glad to be helpful.  

 

I'll tell ya, though.......Forged Fuchs wheels are amazingly tough.  A friend (Bruce Ledoux, one of the founders of Larry's "Spyder club" site) bailed his Spyder into a curb at Limerock at about a 45° angle at better than 60mph and we all thought the wheel was toast for sure.  Pretty hard hit, too, and that wheel was perfect afterwards.

Gordon, 14.1 pounds for a 16x7 is very light!

Al, I have made in the US 15x6 repos that I bought new ten years ago.  I haven't weighed the bare wheel but I was surprised at how light the wheel/tire combo was. 

I just weighed my factory Fuchs on my bath scale, which is similar to Gordon's.

 

15 X 7 and 15 X 8 both weighed 14.5 pounds, although I'm sure the wider one weighs a few ounces more than the narrower one. Sounds like they are right in there and acceptable scale tolerance for a bath scale.

 

Mine have the plain aluminum center caps if that matters.

DOH!

 

Mine was missing the center cap.

 

That must explain the .4 lb. difference.....  

Ok guys, I've just spent some time with the bathroom scale (it's digital!) and-

Fuchs 15x6 (late,# 911361020.00)- 12 lbs

Fuchs 15x7 (# 911361020)          - 13.4 lbs

American Racing 15x6 Fuchs copy -16.4 lbs

 

All three were as came from their respective factories- the Fuchs 15x6 is missing some of the anodizing on the rim and spokes but the black finish is intact, the 15x7 has all of the black covering the spokes as well as between intact and the AR wheel is as it came out of the box. No wheels had valve stems or center caps. Al 

I'm surprised (and disappointed) with the American Racing repos weight.  They're heavier than I thought.

I think the .4 pounds is due to scale inaccuracy, or tolerance as I stated above, Gordon.....

 

But if you want to think my caps weigh a lot, that is up to you.....

 

I thought people might want to know 15" Fuchs weights, as most run 15s on Speedsters.

 

Thanks, ALB for weighing yours with a GOOD scale!

 

My wheels were sent to a refinishing shop on the west coast, can't remember which one, and are as new.

All it is Danny, is a digital bathroom scale. I found that every time I put the Fuchs 15x6 on the scale it was slightly different (from 11.8- 12.2lbs) but 12lbs came up most often. The other 2 weighed the same repeatedly. I believe those figures are fairly accurate because I've heard those numbers (or very close) thrown around in other circles before.

 

Ron- The AR wheels aren't as bad as some (I've heard of other VW cast 15" wheels weighing a couple pounds more), but you can easily feel the difference! Al

Mine is a digital bath scale too, but it just doesn't seem to be very sensitive(or accurate!)

Glad I horded three sets of Fuchs when the madness began...

 

WOW! No kidding...who woulda thunk! Save it for some vintage (performer) boards! 

About 1990 I passed on 4 15x4 1/2's (200? 300?) because the guy wanted the tires on them and I didn't want to pay for them to be taken off. Do you know what those are worth now? Hint- you would almost get a new 160 -170hp 2180 in trade...Al