What size wheels did the 250 GTOs leave the factory with? Those cars today, do they have Borranis? Did they race with "spoke" wheels? Were they fragile? Someone please give me a quick lesson on this please.
1962/3 250 GTO S1. 15 x 6L Borrani RW3711 Front. 15 x 6.5L Borrani RW 3715 Rear. 1964 250 GTO S2. 15 x 6.5L Borrani RW3715 Front. 15 x 7.5L Borrani RW3806 Rear. All spoked.
Interesting. Thank you. There was confusion regarding a Daytona with "GTO" wheels that I saw. This clears it up
Other sources state the rear wheels of the 1964 S2 250 GTO were actually 15 x 7.5L Borrani RW 3808, NOT RW 3806.
The Borrani website states the wheels for 250 GTO 1962-1964 are: 6.00 x 15 RW 3690. 6.00 x 15 RW 3711. 6.50 x 15 RW 3715. 6.50 x 15 RW 3801. 7.50 x 15 RW 3808. The site is very confusing. It does not specify if they have painted or polished aluminium rims, although it shows a picture of a RW 3812 7.00 x 15 wheel, which is not for a 250 GTO, with a polished rim, for all sizes.
The Bluemel/Pourret 250 GTO book states that as original equipment all 250 GTOs had Borrani wire wheels with 42mm Rudge hubs, with steel spokes and aluminium rims painted silver which featured chrome plated triple ear knock off retaining nuts.
Steve: The Borrani website has so much stuff wrong! Please do not use it as a "fact" source. No GTO was ever built with either RW3690 or RW3801 wheels. Remember, the Borrani company of today is NOT the same company of the 1950-70 era. While they do try, they do not fully understand what they have of the old archives. If you think they have problems sorting out the older Ferrari's, just try them with the Maserati race cars!
I appreciate you chiming in, Dyke, as I know others do, and not just to this thread, so thank you for your experienced contributions. I did wonder about the accuracy of the information on the Borrani web site, particularly the RW3690 and RW3801 references. As far as you are aware, Dyke, is the following info correct? 1962/3 250 GTO S1. 15 x 6L Borrani RW3711 Front. 15 x 6.5L Borrani RW 3715 Rear. 1964 250 GTO S2. 15 x 6.5L Borrani RW3715 Front. 15 x 7.5L Borrani RW3808 Rear. Also, I do see 250 GTOs with polished rims, so are they actually correct, or, as the Bluemel and Pourret book says, is it the case that they were all supplied as OE with silver painted aluminium rims?
Steve: Your wheel information in Post #8 is correct. This is actually not an easy question to answer, as the Factory Build Sheets for GTO's do NOT list wheel size or RW number. They only list the Dunlop tire sizes. I actually had to go look at the cars to make sure. My belief is the Series 1 cars were all built with the same wheels and the Series 2 cars were built with the later spec wheels, but these were race cars, and as soon as something new was available that made the car go faster, most GTO's would have been upgraded to the later wheel combination. As for finish, the wheels were painted from new, not polished. They were aluminum rims.
Armen: Over time, tire and wheel manufacturers have established a series of tire bead and rim shapes that have been standardized throughout the industry. These rim shapes are listed by "letter". A "L" shaped rim is of a certain set of dimensions and curves. Some of our GTO wheels are also "K" wheels. I think you can google rim shapes to find more detail on these various wheel rim shapes.
Here is our Borrani page about these cars https://www.borrani.com/ferrari-wheels/250-gto.html If you want any more specific deetail about cars contact us t hrough that web site and we can clarify detail
Dougal, please see post 7 above by Dyke regarding the 250 GTO never being built with RW3690 and RW3801 wheels.
...and they look completely different. Correct Borranis on a 250 GTO are painted. Rear wheel on 1962 250 GTO 3869 which has been upsized to the 7.5L rim width Borrani RW3808. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Daytona used Borrani RW 4075 below. Image Unavailable, Please Login
Here is 1962 250 GTO #3445GT fitted with 6.5L X 15 Borrani RW 3801 wheels on the front. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
15 x 6.5L RW 3715 wheel on 250 GTO 3387GT (when for sale at Talacrest). Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Ok, To high jack my own thread, Where can I find 4 correct Daytona Borranis preferably in the USA? Would you recommend 15x7.5 all the way around or prefer 15x8 in the back?
Having to adjust spokes on motorcycles I couldn't imagine the pain in doing so on a car. Probably not of concern to the actual owner of one of these specimens though.