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Offset to clear front caliper on 2004 Alfa GT

427 Views 11 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  Pud237
4
When I bought my 2004 Alfa GT these aftermarket wheels were mounted. They show a ET35, and today I discovered they have a 8mm spacer, 58.1mm center.


I bought a set of wheels I believe were Alfa OEM, refurbished, painted black, "7x17 5x98 Alfa Romeo 147 156 Gt 164 Gtv Gta" - I'm sure I've seen these, or something very similar on other Alfa GTs. The 8mm spacers from the other wheels don't fit. Without the spacer, the spokes hit the massive front disc caliper. The outer face of the tire is also recessed back within the wheel well.




As I don't speak Polish, I had difficulty communicating with the mechanics at the tire place. They want me to get 4 offset spacers, maybe 15mm.

My questions for the community:
1) do you recognize these rims? Are they not OEM? If they are, what did they come on or what spacer did Alfa use?
2) any recommendations on whether I should get 10mm or 15mm? What size is the hub?

The rears are on without spacers right now. The other rims are in the back of my truck, so I can't read the offset now. I'll check it tomorrow. When they measured from the rear face of mounted tire to inside flat of wheel hub, the depth was the same for the new rims without the spacer and the old rims with the spacer. So, apparently the depth of the spokes is more with the old rims.

Also, the wheel hub centers are different from front to rear.

Any help is greatly appreciated.
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Seller wrote back. The wheels came from a 147.
They are Ti wheels, so they were fitted to 147 Ti and 156 Ti. They are only 7J width, so not the correct width for a 3.2 and not ideal for fitting 225/45 tyres on, although they will go on. I believe the Ti wheels were ET40, so as well as being 12.5mm narrower the centre line is 5mm further in to the hub. So 12mm spacers would bring the outer face of the wheel to roughly where it should be, but I don't know what the spoke clearance is on the back of these wheels so 15mm could be a better bet if you want to guarantee that they'll fit.
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Today I could take pics of the other wheels (below).

The old spacer is ID 58.1, OD 68, 8mm depth.
Old wheel Ronal 8J x 17H2, ET35
New wheel Toora/Alfa OEM 7J x 17, ET40.5

So, 5.5mm difference on the offset, plus 8mm of the old spacer, but do I also need to allow some portion on the reduced rim width?

For the new lug bolts length it should just be the spacer width plus 22mm of the original lug bolt, right?
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They are Ti wheels, so they were fitted to 147 Ti and 156 Ti. They are only 7J width, so not the correct width for a 3.2 and not ideal for fitting 225/45 tyres on, although they will go on.
[snip]
Thanks much!

The tires are 215/45s (They were free from a co-worker, un-used).

Live and learn. At some point I'll try to find the same design, but from GTA or maybe even back to 8" wide. All three sets of tires are from 2018. So, maybe next year I'll buy new tires with a more appropriate set of rims, and turn these into winter rims.

Thanks for reply. I found some 13mm spacers, but I think 15mm is better.
The spacers and 36mm bolts arrived today. I will try to have them mounted tomorrow and see if that is enough. They look really nice. I test fit them on the inside of one rim, so they fit nice and snug. These are just made in Poland by a machinist. The work looks very good, very professional.
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so not the correct width for a 3.2 and not ideal for fitting 225/45 tyres on, although they will go on.
What were the original wheels, both in look and size, sold on the GT 3.2L V6?

The manual I have, from the UK (my model is left-hand drive, originally sold in Switzerland) is "7 1/2" [7 is in a superscript, like a footnote, but no such footnote is present], and then "J x 17" in a line below - which I think is supposed to be "7 1/2J x 17" in one line.

Another row below is "Fittings on Request - Rims:" and lists "7 1/2J x 17" and "8J x 17"

I am just curious what the rims looked like. I will get a second set of rims at some point. I'd rather go wide than go big (so 8J instead of 18").
What were the original wheels, both in look and size, sold on the GT 3.2L V6?

The manual I have, from the UK (my model is left-hand drive, originally sold in Switzerland) is "7 1/2" [7 is in a superscript, like a footnote, but no such footnote is present], and then "J x 17" in a line below - which I think is supposed to be "7 1/2J x 17" in one line.

Another row below is "Fittings on Request - Rims:" and lists "7 1/2J x 17" and "8J x 17"

I am just curious what the rims looked like. I will get a second set of rims at some point. I'd rather go wide than go big (so 8J instead of 18").
According to my research a 215/45-17 tire will work with a 7.5J17 ET45(43-47mm) wheel. I didn't keep a reference to the source of the info, but it listed 17-19" wheels. My 3.2L car with 225/40 ZR18" tires are on 8Jx18 ET 43 factory wheels.
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[snip]
My 3.2L car with 225/40 ZR18" tires are on 8Jx18 ET 43 factory wheels.
This was a GT? I didn't think Canada had any GTs. Or a GTV?

Is there a pic here of the rims?

8Jx18 seems very big, especially with a 43 offset.

At some point, a previous owner appears to have tried some wheel/tire combination that was too big. It's possible it was something else they wrapped around a tire (I think at one point a deer was hit), but the damage only unfolded the edge around the wheel well lip.
This was a GT? I didn't think Canada had any GTs. Or a GTV?

Is there a pic here of the rims?

8Jx18 seems very big, especially with a 43 offset.
It's a 2004 Alfa GT 3.2L(937), which was not imported to Canada new. Mine was imported from Japan under our '15 year old' rule. I have seen a number of 916 GTV and Spiders here as well.

8Jx18 ET43 is what the car came with.


They seem to be called Jetfin wheels, that were apparently available in both 17 & 18 inch, with a 2mm difference in offset. My car had no spacers, either. My reference said a 8Jx19 ET38 was available as well, but I don't know what those looked like.
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I picked up the car today (after oil change and troubleshooting ABS/VDC sensor). They finished mounting the wheels with the 15mm spacer. Wow...very very tight clearance.

They loaded in reverse order. That is a tightly compressed sponge 1.4mm thick. The most I cane compress it with a caliper is 1.32mm. It fits very loosely in gap, but it will hold. So, I figure the clearance is around 1.35 to 1.40mm. That seems very very tight.





Here is the final product:


Not a great pic. Here is an earlier pic with aftermarket wheels:

I couldn't see the brake calipers hardly.

Now I can see them so well, they need to be painted/refinished.

In terms actual work, there are some minor leaks to fix (reseal or replace P/S pump) and the air conditioning.
My next priority needs to be dealing with very start of rust on rocker and just behind front wheels. Unfortunately, they use salt on the roads here. The valance and left front fender have an issue too - I might just replace them, well have them replaced.

Once all of that is done, I want to refinish door handles in black to match wheels.

The Jetfins look nice. I think 15 spokes is the most I'd like; certainly 18 is too many. I also want to be able to clearly see caliper and disc. I doubt I'd find any original jetfins here. Thanks for the pic though, I appreciate it.
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For a GT 2.0 JTS / 1.9 JTDM the 17" wheel was 7J ET35 and used 215/45 tyres. On the GT 3.2 the 17" wheel was 7.5J ET35, but they were also made with more spoke clearance for the Brembo brakes and they used 225/45 tyres.

An Alfa 156/147 17" wheel (non-GTA) would be 7J ET40, so sitting 5mm further in than the equivalent, often identical GT version of the wheel.
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