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Super Wide body tire and rim options

K Kuehl

Happy New Year,

recently I purchased a "1957" Vintage Speedster ( Hawaiian Garden) as super wide body. It came with the 8" and 10" rear aluminium wheels in 17" - and i shipped it to Germany as I live here :-) .

The registration office refused the US-made aluminium 17" rims.

I was test-driving a similar Super wide body with17" here in Germany - but the road-holding was horrible. Too hard and not secure to drive at all.

Although the installed 17" wheels/tyres look perfect I rather think of changing to 15" or 16".

What I have : 225/40R17 with 8x17" and +/- 1" backspace front and 255/45/17 with 10x17" and same backspace of about 1".
I have disc-brakes (non ventilated) all around. The drilling pattern is 5x4,75" front and rear. Rear even with 2nd row of 5x130mm .

May I kindly ask other super wide body owners to share their tyre/rim configuration and experience, please ?

I have the folloing 15" option in mind :
Steel wheels "Chevrolet muscle car steel rims  8x15 (offset 0mm) and 10x15" (offset ./. 12mm) and adding spacers each 25 or 30mm.

alternatively with:
a) Cooper Cobra tyres - front 235/60R15 and rear 295/50R15. ( Speed max 180 km/h)
(Cost about 1.700 US$ tyres and rims and spacers)
b) 215/60R15 Continental front and rear 255/50R15 Toyo (Speed > 190km/h)
(Cost about 1.500 US$ tyres and rims and spaces)



Alternative would be "Fuchs style" aluminium rims ( called Maxilite) , swiss made with TÜV :
- front 8x15" offset 10,6mm with 215/60R15 Continental + spacers 20mm
- rear 9x15", offset 15mm  with 255/50R16 Toyo Proxess (or Pirelli)
(Cost about 2.500 US$)

Last alternative in 15" would be same Fuchs style aluminium rims (Maxilite)
- front 8x15" offset 10,6mm with 215/60R15 Continental + spacers 20mm
- rear 11x15", offset ./. 27mm with 285/40R15 + spacers 15mm
(However this is about 4500 US$)

I did calculations of tyes/rim configurations here www.reifenrechner.at to ensure that the offset is within the limits and/or spacers needed.
Only the version with the Coopwer Cobra tyres require a tachometer adaption as it shows -5.9% in speed.

So, I hope that my (yet) theoretical finding is helping others, too, and I try to learn from others.

Happy new Year and hope to get yr opinions, too.

Thank you
Bjoern

Had ever dreamed of a super wide body....

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K Kuehl

Hello,

Thanks for your replies, particular @ ford356outlaw. ;.) ( nice car you had)
Some further investigations brought me to the following 15" rims and tyres, matching the 17" version by 99,x%
Front 8x15, offset 0mm with 215/60VR15 (94)
rear 10x15, offset ./.32 mm with 265/50HR15 (99)
Steel rims offered in Germany as  "American Rally Silver" with chrome hub cabs.
Chevy 5x4,75" holes.
Tyres both axles from make "VITON Galaxy R1" with White side letters. (RWL)

This combination does not require any spacers and cost is abt 1.200 $ for all 4 wheels ;-) further advantage : One rim and tyre brand on all 4 wheels.

I will check with TUV hopefully this week to see if the rims could be registered.

Keep fingers crossed
Have a good day
Bjoern

K Kuehl

Unfortenuately TÜV (TUV) did not accept these new steel rims and is insiting on "TUV-approved" and certified rims.

So I need to change stud-pattern from Chevy 5x120,xx mm to 5x130 Porsche- fortenuately the disc brake have alternate drilling and thread so I need to unscrew the Chevy studs and purchase M14x1,5 studs.

All his makes it quite costy, so I had to change to copies of FUCHS rims ( Maxilite from Switzerland, which are approved.)

Well, they look damn good - so I ordered 8" front and 11" rear - with same tyre brand as above, however 295/50HR15 rear ;-)
However, cost is rising from 1.200 US$ to +/- 4.200$ .... but hey - they are looking very nice... and will hopefully be approved finally.

By the way - due to increased tyre size the speedometer needs to be adjusted, any idea how to do this ( I have a VDO - made in India) with a digital mls-counter.

The speedometer cable is not directly connected to the instrument, there is a " digital converter" installed inbetween. Any idea how to adjust this ? PDF-Manual ? I do not have any idea..
VDO Gauge 3 pc Set 356 Speedster Spyder Porsche IN STOCK ships same day - Picture 7 of 10



Thank you for assistance.

https://www.maxilite.ch/thumbnail/fc/d8/cd/1660335325/mx180015rx-1_bc67_1920x1920.jpg8x15" Maxilite (+10,6mm from centerline)

https://www.maxilite.ch/thumbnail/a5/95/40/1660335276/mx111015rx-1_0e82_1920x1920.jpg

11x15" Maxilite (./.27mm from centerline)

Last edited by Kuehl
Gordon NicholsGordon NicholsMassachusetts 1993 CMC Supporting Member

@Kuehl

Those wheels are going to look AWESOME!!!!!  

Not cheap, but very classy looking.

Greg and Anna at Vintage Speedsters may be able to help with the wheel adapters and speedometer adapter for you.

Vintage Motorcars of California Inc.
12112 Centralia Road,Hawaiian Gardens, CA 90716
(714) 894-1550
info@vintagemotorcarsinc.com

Last edited by Gordon Nichols
K Kuehl

@Wolfgang

perfect . this manual is exactly what I was looking for. (It is not GPS based as there is a speedocable installed giving the signal to a "digital converter".


@Gordon: Thanks, VMC had already brake discs installed who have 2 sets of drillings - one 5x120,x for Chevy and one 5x130 for Porsche. That was very wise from VMC - so I just have to get new wheel studs and nuts with metric M14x1,5 which is easy to get here.

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chines1chines1

Yes, the GPS unit can be used with a pulse counter or hall effect sensor as well.  You can adjust the pulse per mile (PPM) to match your new tire size.    It has a manual input for a known value and also a calculated value by driving exactly 1 mile, however I would suggest inputting a known value and tweaking it until it is dialed in.  I have not had good success with the auto-cal feature.

Tags: rear, offset, rim, Super Wide, front, Fuchs, Germany, tyre
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