Magnesium...
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http://www.gasburner.net
History:
The "gas-burners" or "5- bolt Mahle" wheels come from the Porsche 914-6's, 3300 of these Porsches were built in the years 70 to 72. The "gas-burners" was a factory option, so the wheel is quite rare. The firm MAHLE in Germany produced these wheel's on orders from Porsche. The wheel's were forged in magnesium and weigh about 7 lbs. They where the lightest wheels ever factory fitted from Porsche.
Mahle is still around to day and manufacture high quality engine parts, but the wheel production has since been sold to BBS Kraftfahrzeugtechnik AG in Schiltach, Germany.
Tech:
Being used on a high powered Porsche requires a five bolt application, so the gas burners have the same bolt pattern as all five bolt Porsches, 5 x 130. The dimensions of the wheel is 5,5 x 15 inches and the offset is 35. The wheels was delivered from Porsche painted in silver, however the VW enthusiasts likes the polished approach to these wheels.
Usually the wheels are painted in a semi-gloss black paint and the high-rised areas is polished to a high lustre finish.
Because of the high amount of magnesium in these wheels the unprotected polished part turn into a light grey surface within a week or two. To keep the wheels to a high standard requires a good polish once a week. The senter caps on these wheels are the same as for the old type of Fuchs, with three prongs. These can be hard to get, but some Porsche dealers still have some NOS ones in stock. The nick name "gas-burners" derive form the wheels resemblance to the
burners of a gas stove.
Look-a-likes:
There is a similar wheel for the 914 with four bolts. These wheels are made from aluminium and are heavier than the "gas-burners", and therefore not that sought after. The four bolt version has the same bolt pattern as VW, 4 x 130.
These wheels are called "Mahles". There is also another wheel for the four bolt cars called Pedrinis, with a similar appearance , but these wheels were not made by Mahle.
