Best single upgrade for a 308

If you don't have 16" wheels I'd get them, no question. The repop Michelin XWX tires- now made by Coker, I understand- are well over $400 each, and are summer only tires. On the other hand, new Michelin high-performance 16" tires, 7" front, 8" rear, are all-season, and cost a bit over $125 or so each. big difference, but the 16" tires are currently available from a number of manufacturers, not just one, at reasonable prices! Other upgrades are nice, and many recommended items are really maintenance items more than true upgrades. Keep the 14.5" rims (if you have them) but use the 16" ones. One set of tires will save enough to buy the later rims. Get the earlier flat ones, not the later dished ones for '88-'89 328's, as offsets are very different for the ABS system cars.

Keep in mind I'm only passing on what I've read- my particular car is an '86 328 GTS, which came with the 16" rims, so I hope I've got it all straight!

Cheers,
Rich

 

Hey Chris,

Can you elaborate on this a bit?

I'm having some "roughness" when I press and release the clutch pedal. The pedal has always been heavy, but recently I've felt the roughness. At first I thought that the cable might be fraying inside the housing, but that does not seem to be the case now. I put a little oil down the cable, but no change. Sitting in the car in the garage (not running), it almost sounds like dry rubber rubbing on something.

 

i went with the 16" Gold Superformance wheels and I love them.

 

Hi Henry,

I bought my car in Santa Barbara... Anyway, The throwout bearing is operated by a fork that the cable pulls on. To keep the bearing centered on the pressureplate fingers, there is a guide tube on the transmission that the throw out bearing holder slides on. It is concentric with both the presureplate fingers and the transmission input shaft.

After a lot of sitting around, (which seems to happen to our cars , the grease that is supposed to lubricate the throwout bearing operation, reverts to its primordial components - oil and clay - which do a lousy job letting the TO brng engage the clutch. Without lubrication, the metal of both parts start to gaul, which makes further operation more difficult, (higher effort) as the parts try to slip past each other.

Having a lot of VW and Porsche experience, I thought it was the cable, so replaced it - with no improvement, so pulled the bell housing and found the problem.

Maybe the dry rubber sound is the cable trying to slide in the housing??

hth,
chris

 

Thanks Chris. Would I be able to lube guide tube and/or bearing without too much trouble? BTW, we had a 308 gathering down here in So Cal a few weeks ago...would you go to one in Nor Cal if they set something up? I'd love to check out your car.

 

Hi Henry,

You would need to pull the bell housing to get to the TO bearing and guide tube. I am inclined to think that the clutch disc wear "dust" would likely stick to the guide tube lube. It seems like a lot of work to pull the bell housing and transfer gears just to do a bit of lube "maintenance". but in my case this really helped.

Northern Cal, usually means the bay area, (SF) - a five hour drive - which then means an overnighter, but yeah, I would do the drive to visit with some compadres and do a little bench racing

with malice aforethought,
I remain, your most humble and obedient servant,
chris - (hell, it's Friday afternoon and I am on my second IPA )

 

I want to see a picture of that !!

 

I finally got off the schneide and put the 16s on the Dino. Big improvement. Wheels from superperformance and tires from Hankook. Smooth up to 90+ . I didn't install those 2 plastic spacers that come with the wheels. I am not sure why I only received 2 but I guess they are not needed. Next Autocross we will find out if it is the driver or the rubber
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They are required on the fronts only and make the wheels concentric with the hubs. The front hubs are a little smaller. Centering on the wheel bolts isn't that accurate without these hub centric rings.

 

Thanks Crowndog. After searching around a bit on Hub-Centric vs. Lug-Centric Wheels I found out that even though it runs smooth now being lug-centric if I hit a big bump it may shift. I will put the spacers on here soon. Thanks!

 

No problem and you have a very sharp looking car there. I love the color combo.

 

I have upgraded my 75 308gt4 to 16" superperformance wheels with 205/55 tires on the front which rub at close to full lock - has anyone else had this problem and what is the fix?

 

A contemporary road test mentioned that they rubbed with the original wheels and tires so I don't know that there is a fix.

 

I know nothing bout any of this but I really love the look of your ride! Love the red between the grey and black. Nice car man!