lightweight wheels for a 944 IT car?

[1gplus]

Hey All,

What is the best options for lightweight 15x7 wheels for a late offset (52 mm) 944 IT car? I cannot find any.

Cheers,
Henry

[944-spec#94]

I have seen at least 1 or 2 late 944 that have used 15x7 early offset wheels(23mm). The tires just fit under the fenders if you had enough camber. This might give you more options. I am not sure what the IT rules are for track width, but i would be just about 2" total width increase.

[joeg]

The only "track" rule in IT is that it has to fit inside the fender's wheel well.

[timo944]

you can get late offset phone dials, but better idea is to retrofit an early suspension to your car - because of the hibs, the whole deal is lighter and you can use cookie cutters...

BTW phone dials suffer from the bends - i.e. they are soft...

[ChrisCamadella]

I disagree with Timo. I raced for MANY years in a 944 with the phone dials, and the only problems I had with them were caused by the driver doing something stupid.

The later suspension is better from a geometric standpoint - less camber change (that's one of the reasons it was reengineered).

[924Guy]

I disagree with Timo. I raced for MANY years in a 944 with the phone dials, and the only problems I had with them were caused by the driver doing something stupid.

The later suspension is better from a geometric standpoint - less camber change (that's one of the reasons it was reengineered).
[/b]

I've bent a bunch of phonies... yeah, always as a result of an impact!

VERY interesting about the suspension design - always though it was due to the desire for lighter unsprung weight...

Ah, well, camber change becomes negligible if your spring/t-bar rates are high enough!

[timo944]

I thought the suspension was redesigned to account for the additional space needed for ABS? Unless you mean the 85 redesign?

[924Guy]

IIRC '85.5 was when the aluminum stuff came into play, which was what I thought Chris was talking about.

Though there is an added question - is the geometry improvement for the front or rear (or both?) suspension? Wondering where that puts the 924S, since it has the old steel front a-arms, but the new aluminum rear trailing arms...

[Team SSR]

The 85.5 (and 86?) front control arms were aluminum, but they are the same length as the early steel. The latest aluminum ones ('87 thru 968) were longer and thus have a different offset wheel requirement. The wheel moves in a bigger arc with the longer control arm and screws up the camber a little less. The aluminum rear conrol arms don't get this benefit, but they may be more rigid.

[924Guy]

Makes sense, thanks for the clarification.

I wouldn't be surprised if the rear arms are more rigid; they heavily boxed the rear arms on the factory race cars to the extent that you can hardly see any of the stock parts.