What car do you think these wheels were made for? | FerrariChat

What car do you think these wheels were made for?

Discussion in 'Technical Q&A' started by Kuma240, Sep 3, 2017.

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  1. Kuma240

    Kuma240 Rookie

    Sep 3, 2017
    4
    #1 Kuma240, Sep 3, 2017
    Hi, I've recently acquired some etoile 55B wheels. I'm confident that they were originally custom made for a Ferrari. I'm just having trouble finding which model would accommodate such weird specs. They had some old Dunlop tires on them. Possibly the only tires they've ever had. Judging by how they cracked and tread separated when dismounting, they could have been 25+years old. Now that I have the tires off, I was able to measure the specs before I break them down to finish polishing them. I was just curious what they might have gone on.

    Fronts: Had 205/50/16
    16x7.5 +33.34mm

    Rears: Had 245/45/16
    16x8.5 -4.76mm


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  2. Motob

    Motob Formula 3
    Professional Ferrari Technician

    Nov 11, 2003
    2,239
    Frederick, Maryland
    Full Name:
    Brian Brown
    #2 Motob, Sep 3, 2017
    Have you checked the diameter of of the center of the wheels to see what size hub they fit on, as well as the diameter of the wheel bolt hole circle? Also what are the DOT numbers on the tires, the last three digits will let you know when they were made.

    Given that most performance Ferrari's of the late 80's and early 90's: Daytona, 365/512 Boxer and early Testarossa all had Knock-off type wheels, and later Testarossa's came with 16" wheels that had larger tires than these, I would say that they are probably from a 308/328 GTB/GTS.
     
  3. willrace

    willrace Three Time F1 World Champ
    Owner Rossa Subscribed

    Oct 21, 2006
    32,908
    North Tay-has
    Full Name:
    Kurt
    #3 willrace, Sep 3, 2017
    Bolt pattern will further narrow down the possibilities.
     
  4. CarbBoxer

    CarbBoxer Formula Junior

    Oct 7, 2008
    841
    Houston
    Full Name:
    PW
    #4 CarbBoxer, Sep 3, 2017
    Sorry- likely not custom made. fit a variety of 308/mondial/944/RX-7 etc. Depends on the offset for if they fit ABS 328/Mondial.

    IIRC Etoile bought the Gotti company and kept making these.
     
  5. mike32

    mike32 F1 Veteran

    May 13, 2016
    5,835
    Isle of man- uk
    #5 mike32, Sep 3, 2017
    I have seen something like these before, are they off a 308 fibreglass body model ?
     
  6. Kuma240

    Kuma240 Rookie

    Sep 3, 2017
    4
    #6 Kuma240, Sep 3, 2017
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    First off, Thank you Motob. I didn't know you could check the date via the DOT numbers. That will be useful info for me in the future. Unfortunately, I've already disposed of the tires.

    I've read that etoile bought GOTTI in the late 80's, and I've also read that etoile bought the 55B design, but not the whole GOTTI company. I don't know what's true. I also read that until I find someone that speaks french, I shouldn't waste my time calling the current GOTTI wheel company in search of new lips and barrels. The current ones are fine, but I am thinking of widening them if I keep them. I mainly just refurbish wheels as a hobby when I don't have upholstery work... It's a lot easier on the back than restoring/building whole cars.

    I haven't measured the hubs yet, because I can't fit my measuring caliper inside the wheel, So I will be doing that when I separate the faces from the barrels. As for the lug bolt pattern, that is definitely 5x108.

    I measured the backspacing and came out to 5 9/16" fronts and 4 9/16" rears. Convert 9/16 to a fraction for .5625" Plug that into the backspace to offset converters and you get...
    Fronts: 16x7.5 +33.34mm
    Rears:16x8.5 -4.76mm

    Sooooo, in all of my searching I haven't found any other etoile/gottis in this offset, which lead me to believe that they are custom. That, and all the etoile/gotti wheels with Porsche emblems I've found seem to have been custom orders. I'll try to get the hub size tomorrow. I also discovered that these were originally gold instead of black. I thought it was suspect that there was black overspray on some of the hardware on the back of the wheel. Either way, the clear coat on a couple of the faces is failing, so they'll be getting stripped and repainted properly... Probably in black again, because I'm not too hip on gold.

    I didn't realize my img codes didn't work last night, I probably wouldn't click on links posted by new people. Hopefully my attachments work on this post so if anyone has some insight.
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  7. Kuma240

    Kuma240 Rookie

    Sep 3, 2017
    4
    #7 Kuma240, Sep 3, 2017
    I don't know. A client of mine is into real estate and bought a property where these were in the garage. He knew I liked wheels, so he asked if I wanted to buy them... I couldn't say no. Always been a sucker for 5 spokes/stars.
     
  8. Kuma240

    Kuma240 Rookie

    Sep 3, 2017
    4
    #8 Kuma240, Sep 4, 2017
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 7, 2017
    The hub center bore is 67mm. Someone on Facebook brought up a good point. They could have been bought for a kit car. That would explain the funky offsets. The faces don't look like they were made to clear very big brake calipers, and I don't know brake sizes on 80's Ferraris.

    Since they aren't desirable offsets for the Ferrari community I have decided I'm going to refinish them and put them on the current project. The fronts fit perfect with the 1" adapters. The rears poke a bit. I may have to get the rears redrilled to 5x114.3 if I want to fit a 255/50r16 tire on it... but we'll see after the the wide body fenders get here.


    Thanks for the help! Have a great day.
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