the color is important to me as well. i want them to be a bright silver w/ clear coat as is stock w/ the 83 boxer...i suspect the same for the other years too but i have seen several boxers with a darker silver wheel color and they looked to be non-clear coated. i really want to see how they look and work on another owner's car...i am not keen on being the beta teast subject. if they turn out well, i would like a set of 8 and 10 x 17's as well. i will follow this thread closely. pcb
Me too. I am desperate to get the original TRXs for my BBi, but again I am told Michelin is not producing it. With the good season in front of us I am afraid I have no choice but to go with four new wheels as my TRXs are 10 years old and the rears are gone. (the front are super crappy, but still driveable for a good 1500km this year). So, what to do? Shall I go with the 245/55 TRX of the early TR and wait until Michelin wakes up and bring back to production the correct 245/55 or shall I go with the wheels produced by Group 4 with modern tyres? I like those Group4 wheels as they look original and not vulgar as many other non original wheels I saw on various BB/BBi. Does anyone have a picture of how they actually look on the car?
it seems we have lost our manufacturer? did the mods make them go away? alway a shame when a vendor that actually could provide a significant service to our owners group get's the boot. maybe there would be a way that the vendor pledges a sponsorship participation after the first deposits are taken? low risk for both parties.
Yep, looks like it.......thankfully, they were quoted, but editing might blast that also...better write it down!!!
I agree with everyone else. I would like to see the wheels on a BB and information on color -spray or Powder ? I think the price is ballpark if includes paint. I remember being advised to use a Mercedes bright silver (which i did and looks amazing!) but not sure on exact paint code. I can probably look it up. I remember it was cool and not warm silver with green blue tint.
The manufacturer has confirmed to me that he did, in fact, get booted. I'll try to pass questions from people posting here to the manufacturer and post its responses. I don't know whether that, too, is disallowed, but I guess we'll see. I for one would like to find out whether this may be a source of wheels I would like. It makes me nervous to be tied to one tire manufacturer as our only source for keeping these things on the road.
Those photos are of 5 lugs wheels which will not fit on a BB512i. Are they going to be available with a center-spline too?
frank, those are actually the 5 holes where the center lock spline bolts up to. the wheels pictured are center lock.
there is a guy that is using group 4 wheels on his 76 930 turbo. a picture of the car w/ wheels is posted in the "930 turbo carrera" thread in the porsche section. the wheels look quite nice and i suspect the quality is quite high. i will seriously consider the wheels for my boxer. speer will keep us updated on the group 4 progress. best, peter
THe splined hub bolts into the wheel...that's why you can see five holes. Don't worry...my original Ferrari BB512i wheels were use as templates....all is OK
Pirelli do both 225/55/17 and 245/17/50, fronts directional and rear assymetrics. Willing to listen to anyone else's ideas though.....Les
Here are some thoughts from Les Arrowsmith about having Group 4 build the non-metric wheels in 17" sizes rather than 16": Hi James....I've been giving some thought to your comments....persdonally I don't think there would be anything to worry about. I would forget 16" wheels because the rolling diameter of yourv Boxer wheel is quite big...at least 1" bigger than the TRX tyres I had on my Mondial which also had 55/240 section but were on 390 metric rims...by reducing the diameter youd be looking at a very old-fashioned 60 aspect tyre which are only fitted to people carriers and all-terrain type vehicles...a Boxer on camper tyres! I wouldn't be concerned about your diff...after the early 365BB failures Ferrari really beefed up the casing and the mechanics. My Mondial after 60,000 miles had so much slack on the inner flanges I thought it was ready to fall apart...spoke to a very respected Ferrari shop and they told me that they are all like that because of the flatter section TRX tyres on the same diff casing as a 308 series car....they got slack but didn't fail. Better news is that Pirelli suggest assymetric tyres on the back for the best of dry and wet surface grip with directional tyres on the front. I've found that 255/50/17, the closest to the TRX rolling diameter, is not an easy size to locate suggesting that they will soon be impossible to find. I wouldnt think a 245/50/17 on a 10" rim would make a lot of difference. If you've ever noticed the arches on a BB512i look a bit empty and that is because the TRX tyre was smaller diameter than the old 225/70/15s of the 365 and carb 512s. I'm thinking of tyre sizes that don't look like bobbins inside an already fairly airy wheel arch. Happy Easter...I'll be in the Lone Star State for a little vacation by Monday...Happy USA!...Les ________________________________________
And here are some comments from Jonathan at Group 4 over the same subject of 17" wheels rather than 16": Hi James, The reason why we chose 17" is purely down to tyre availability, 16s were always an odd size with limited availability and I believe will go the same way as 15s, perhaps even more so. We were also swayed by the positive response from a 3 piece 17" that is currently on the market. The recommended width for the 10" is 255. Regards, Jonathan Jonathan Sage, Group 4 Wheels Ltd +44 (0)1225 430 502 or +44 (0)7971 988 735 [email protected] group4wheels.com facebook.com/group4wheels Registered in England No: 8250560 Registered address: 141 Englishcombe Lane, Bath BA2 2EL VAT No: GB144346814
Just wanted to add that I did the same thing on my TR wheels, but not sure exactly which Mercedes silver it is (there are labels from the refinisher on the wheels under the tires, but I didn't think to write it down). It's much more silver than the stock F something-101 (IIRC) -- which is too much of a dull, dowdy, dark gray IMO . Looks more stock than stock IMO, and you can get a single or set of (Aluminum) wheel(s) re-refinished, if necessary, without so much hassle by the commercial wheel refinshers and at a better price.
I think 8-8.5 front 17s with 11x17 rears would increase the handling potential even further with modern tires around 26 inch in diameter. Around 26 inch diameter is what is out there that will work on 17s If you consider the stock 26.6 by deleting 0.6 of an inch in total diameter and divide by two for fender to tire difference is only about a quarter of an inch and if you adjust your rear end height to stock Ferrari specs you will drop down more than that..... Running 50 per cent profile tires is silly on a sports car today.....they run 55 per cent profiles on sporty trucks today! As far as look goes since it seems to be the most important subject here why not install some adjustable perches on two of your four rear stock shocks and adjust the rear end of the BB with the rear a arms parallel to the ground as the factory manual calls for. If you do so you need to do the front ones out of the group of four not the rears. Not only looks better but it lets the camber change operate more as engineered by the factory and your car will look better than stock with 26 inch 17s Mario
Yeah, I'm sorta in the same boat. Is it easy to transfer the splines between wheels? I wouldn't want it to be a federal case any time I wished to go to concours.....
There is a trick to making the job easier and i forget what it was. I build my 17s in 1993 and I forget. It is a federal case regardless and best would be to leave the ones you got on the original rims and get new ones for what you buy......if you can find any....... Worse part is the chrome little plates that go over the spline....you need new ones every time you bolt the splines on since they are almost impossible to take of with out any minor damage. They are pressed on fit so they go on with out a problem but taking them off is another story. Mario
I purchased a set pf spline for my 17" .it makes it easy when installaing the originals for a gathering.
I asked before & nobody responded, maybe nobody knows the answer? Are the actual spline drives that go in the wheels the same as those for a TR?
I think they are different. The Daytona splines and BB splines are the same. Figure $400 per wheel for new splines. In reality you can use your old splines just fine. I have not put my old wheels on the car in about 6 years, but then I never do concors or whatever.
