Karmann Ghia Wheel Fitment
 

I have a 1974 Karmann Ghia and was planing in on running 17" cup wheels on all four corners. But the main question is .... is it possible to fit 9's on all four corners , no flares , low and not hit anything.

Thanks for any help . And yes I know its in the wrong forum but I figured more people would veiw and respond this way.

Not to burst your bubble, but I seriously doubt it. 7" is about the widest that would fit without a lot of mods. Even then, you will have to be careful with the backspacing. Take a look at this page:

http://www.danielkorb.com/ghiawheels/

I believe these are 16x7 wheels. He had to mod the bolts and the bump stop to make these fit. Also, notice the wheel spacer he used on the fronts.

I am going to try 17x7" Porsche:

http://www.wheelenhancement.com/inde...lDetail&id=142

These have a backspace of 55. I think that with very little work these will work with 205/50/17 all around. Really, even with 235/50/17 you are only gaining maybe an inch tread width. With these light cars, I'm not sure how much more actual road holding you will get with the larger tires? Check out the specs of different tire sizes here:

http://www.tirerack.com/tires/tirebran.jsp

If you look up a brand of tire and open up the specs you can see the wheel size and tread width along with the section width (sidewall to sidewall).

Other than looks and bragging rights, which is important to some people, I think it is very much overkill. I am planning on a true daily driver so I think what I put on will be enough. I am running Porsche 2.0L Fuchs with 195/60/15 all around and you wouldn't believe the improvement over the standard 165's.

Take care,

Kelly (Cohibra45)
soon to have a Raby 2.9L roller cam:D

yea you could run 9's all around, but why would you want to?

first off, even porsche runs either 7's with 8 1/2's in the rear
or 8 1/2's with 10's in the rear. They dont run any cars with
one width all around, except maybe really early 60's 911's.

second of all, 9's in the front are going to make it very hard
to steer without power steering and also make the car very
dangerous when it rains. VWs are extremely light in the front
and with all that extra width, it will make it easier to leave the
ground and start to take flight.

lastly, you will have to seriously tub the front and rear of the car
and make custom inner fender wells for the wider wheels. Plus
you will have to narrow the front and rear suspension alot. Not
to mention, narrow the gas tank or have a custom one made.

I have 16x6 1/2's on my ghia. The rear tuck in well but the fronts will require a very low profile tire. Plus I am not able to use my heavy duty sway bar now. Link below has pics.


http://www.shoptalkforums.com/viewto...184&highlight=

Hey flatIV,

How much clearance do you have on the inside and outside of the wheels out back and what size tires are you using?

Thanks

The rear tires are 205/50/16 but are completly wore down so they are more like a 205/45/16. What you really have to worry about is the tire cross section because every tire has a different cross section width. Mine are 8.2 wide and the outside of the tire clears about 1/4" from the fender lip. The inside I had to cut down the bump stops but did not have to relocate the bolt on the control arms. I originally had Rivieras that cleared only 1/8" and never rubbed. The fronts were my main issue bucause the 205/50/16 what are on the back were on the front. The looked great and tucked into the fender well but when you turned the corner and enter the driveway the tire rubber a good bit. I went to a yoko 195/40/16 and have not rubbed any. The tire is a little smaller than I wanted.

Like I put up in my original post...tirerack.com has specs on most tires that include the section width. Very important!!!

Kelly

Thanks for the help....... I was able to get everything to fit and clear without tubs or flares so, BOOYAH! :lmao: I'll post pics tommorow of everything.

Wanna bet? :eek:

Trogdor,

I can't wait to see how you fit 9" rims all round your Ghia and what rubber you are running on them without major mods :cool: !

I'm not trying to be smart, just very hopefull that you have found a way of sticking massive rubber under the car without any major modifications to metal, inside or out!!!

This could be the greatest thing since sliced bread :D !!!

Kelly (Cohibra45)

From personal experience there isnt much room in the back
of a KG. Ive run 195's and they were tight. I know some
have run 205s on 17 x 7's. Dont really see how 9's could
be put on a GHia and sit inside the fender and not outside
like a 4 x 4 :D

So is that a yes?
And if I'm right you need to change your sig to Trogdor is the God of VW's.

Still waiting on pictures :)

Kelly

I have 7"x17 with 4x100 bolt pattern on both my ghias, the wheels have honda offset
they rub in the front, i will prolly have to shorten the beam but not by much maybe 1/2" each side, or just raise it up.

What size brakes are you using to run a 9" diameter wheel? Even the Mini Cooper used a 10". You need to upgrade to the 10";-)