71 Standard Bug- Porsche Cup Wheels

radstude · Post by **radstude** » Tue Nov 11, 2008 11:35 pm

What do I need to do to run Porsche Cup wheels on my standard bug. Do I need to narrow the front & add spacers or what. Fronts are 17"x7", the rear will be either 17"x7", or17"x9". There's not much info. for these wheels on a standard Bug. I've look on Germanlook.com, but that is more for Super beetles.

Derrick from NC · Post by **Derrick from NC** » Wed Nov 12, 2008 2:14 pm

What is the offsets for thoses wheels....should be stamped on the inside & will say something like +35. Depending on offset, a 17"x 7" will probably work on the rear with redrilled drums or rotors with or w/o spacers and 215/40 tires. I'm thinking you will need a 2" narrow beam to make the fronts work.
I had 16"x8" and 6" wheels from a Porsche 944 on my lowered 67 with 225/40 and 195/40 tires with stock fenders.....it was a tight fit. I now have 18"x9.5" and 8" porsche replica wheels with 255/35 and 225/35 on my 67. Front & rear fenders are approx 1" wider and the front beam is 2" narrow

radstude · Post by **radstude** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 11:22 pm

The 7"x17", Has 6' backspace, The 9"x17" have 7" of back space.

Post by **Marc** » Sat Nov 22, 2008 3:06 pm

What's usually overlooked is the effect on the turning radius that wide rims have. You may be able to squeeze the wheel inside stock fenders OK going in a straight line, but the inner sidewall will rub on the beam when you turn. More than ~4½" backspace (depending upon the tire used) will necessitate cranking in the pitman arm stops to prevent rubbing, leaving you with the turning circle of a cement mixer. Narrowing the beam brings the inner sidewalls closer to the body/pan at the rear, too - so although that may permit stuffing wider rims under the front of a lowered car it still doesn't solve the turning-circle problem.
I run 6x16" ET52 rims on the front of my `77 Standard (195/50-16 tires) and they fit nicely under stock fenders, with a decent turning circle - but only due to the addition of 20mm spacers which reduce the effective offset to 32mm for a backspace of ~4¾". For comparable clearance with a 7" ET52 rim it'd take ~½" thicker spacers which'd bring the outer tire sidewall out an inch - possibly still OK for fender clearance at stock ride height, but if your plans include any lowering it's going to be a problem.
In the rear I have 8x16" ET52s (225/5016 tire) and 28mm spacers. This yields a healthy ~½" clearance between the inner sidewall and the forward springplate bolt & suspension bump stop, but would never fit under stock fenders (I have Creative Car Craft +1¼" rear fenders). If I were to grind off the bump stop and the springplate bolt head I might be able to shoehorn the rear tires inside stock fenders, but it'd be tight with little safety margin to prevent ripping open the sidewall if the tire were to lose pressure before I noticed...can't see 9" ever working under stock fenders (unless you go to the extreme effort of narrowing the rear suspension).

Long story short, it's tough enough to get 6" fronts and 7" rears to fit comfortably. For 7s and 9s you've got your work cut out - my advice would be to simplify your life and select some less-radical rims.

ColoRam · Post by **ColoRam** » Wed May 06, 2009 3:09 pm

Creative car craft wide fenders! Going to run cup wheels in my 77 std, full width beam and disk brakes with +1.5" in front and +3" in the back. Back fenders will be REALLY wide so I'm going to run some fat spacers back there but car will look clean in the end! (I am super stoked, I'm balls deep in the build as we speak!!) here is a reference against stock stance and wheels with the fenders all primed up...

Sadly, cant show you how the wheels fit yet but I promise I did my research

Gotta fit the disk brakes....