grwoolf

I'm actively searching for a 96-98 993 and prefer the look of the stock 18" turbo twist wheels. Some of the cars I'm looking at have them already, some do not. I'm looking at both narrow bodied and wide body cars.

Most of the wide bodies seem to have the turbo twists as original equipment.

On the narrow bodied cars, most of the cars have the 17" cup wheels, some have had the turbo twist 18's added, and some appear to have had the 18's from the factory (option 408, if I understand it correctly).

My perference is to find a car that had the TT 18's from the factory or a car that has had them added. If I find the right car without the 18's, I want to figure in the cost to upgrade the wheels/tires once I get it. I've tried to do some research and there seems to be 18" TT wheels all over the place and price range. I would like the wheels that would have originally come on the year and model I am looking at (96-98 coupe).

What should I be looking for and how much should I expect to pay (without road rash)? Are the wheels on the wide bodied cars the same ones as the narrow bodied cars, just with spacers? Am I looking for 8" fronts and 10" rears (I've seen some 11" rears also). Is there a certain offset I need to look for? Any help would be greatly appreciated as I am new to the Porsche world and trying to learn enough make an informed purchase.

AOW162435

Welcome to the madness! For a narrow-body 993, the correct offsets are 52 front and 65 rear (8" & 10", 18" wheels). Wide-body cars use a 45 rear offset (I think). This was the first upgrade I did on my '95 993 - purchased three years ago. I ordered factory-new Turbo twist wheels and tires as a package from Wheel Enhancement. If my fading memory serves me, the cost was a bit over $3,000.

Here is a pic showing the result:





Andreas

Texas993

You can find used wheels/tires for $800-$1500 for wide and narrow body cars. Some of the wheels are hollow spoke and sell for more.

grwoolf

Thanks for the replys. I called Wheel Enhancement and the price for new solid spokes with Sport Pilots was ~ $4,500 (w/shipping, balance, etc.). Wheels alone were over $3k. Ouch. I guess the best route is to find a car that already has them or plan to find a nice used set. One more question - does the tire diameter stay the same with the 18's so that the gearing and speedometer will be unaffected?

David in LA

It's actually pretty simple...firstly there are two (2) types of the 18 turbo twist wheels - the "Technology" wheels aka "hollow-spokes" and the normal "Turbo Twists" which are solid wheels. Both versions were 10" wide and available in wide-body and narrow-body rear offsets of ET45 and ET65, respectively. The front offsets of these style wheels for wide-body and narrow-body are identical...ET52...but they were available in two widths - 7.5" and 8"...if I'm not mistaken all front Technology Wheels are 8" but Turbo Twists can be either 7.5" or 8". Only on the Turbo was the Technology wheels standard equipment (with 8" fronts)...IIRC for all other 993 models Technology wheels were an available option (my narrow body cab had Technology Wheels). For non-Turbo models, IIRC only the C4S had Turbo Twists (ie "solid spokes") as standard equipment, but they were available as an option for all other 993 models. Also for narrow-body cars with factory optioned Technology Wheels or Turbo Twists, the rear tire width was 265 whereas on the Turbo (and I think C2s and C4S) it is 285.

Also note that the 993 turbo turbo twist wheels were also available on early 996 models. And there are no 11" wide 993 turbo twists...you are referring to 996 turbo twists, which are a little more angular with slightly sharper lines.

Pretty clear, eh? BTW market value of a clean set of Technology Wheels are $1000-1300/pair and Turbo Twists seem to be $800-1100/pair. There doesn't seem to be a price difference whether the front width are 7.5" or 8"...probably b/c a lot of people aren't aware there are two sizes.

simpateko

you can just buy my car, wheels are included.
jeff

Bull

The offset for the rear widebody cars with the TT Technology wheels is 40mm, not 45mm.

The Hollow Spoke wheels are approx. 6lbs lighter for the rears (widebody), and 5.5lbs lighter for the fronts than the solid spoke wheels.

steve g

Technology (hollow spoke) 'turbo twist' wheels are available in 7.5 inch fronts with the correct offset for narrow body 993 cars. I am running a set of 7.5 and 10.0 x 18s on my narrow body 993. Mine were purchased from a fellow Rennlister who had them on his narrow body 996.

Leucadia

^ Agree with Steve ^
You didn't say if you have a NarrowBody or an S, but i assume its a narrow body.
You should take your time and pick up a used pair of hollowspoke technology twists which are 7.5" front and 10" rear. I think they were originally factory options for the narrow body C2's but im not sure. Anyway, I got mine for the cost of shipping and my old 17" cups.

Part numbers are : 993.362.134.05 & 993.362.140.01

You don't need spacers for these wheels.

IamSMC

grwoolf:

FYI

Though the spokes look the same from the front side of the wheel,

The backs of the Technology hollow spokes are smooth (1st pic).

The backs of the Turbo Twists spokes have cast ridges (2nd pic).

steve g

If you purchase a 1995 car - make sure that your car is equpped with a steering rack brace.
IIRC the 1996 and later cars this is standard equipment but it wouldnt hurt to check.

Steering rack brace: 993-347-131-02
Bolts (need 2): 999-218-103-09

This is a relatively inexpensive part <$50.

cgfen

i recommend that you broaden your search
wheel enhancement will NOT be the place to look for anything resembling a bargain in my experience.

they alienated me very early in the porsche ownership process.

cheers

Craig

grwoolf

Thanks for all the great information. I didn't even realize there was a hollow vs. solid spoke.

Jeff - your car looks great, but I am really looking for a 96-98 with black interior (or possibly grey).

-Grant

Bull

The narrow body factory wheels for the hollow spokes were the same 8" in the front as the wide body cars used from my experience, which makes sense since the front of the cars are the same on both NB and WB cars.

Leucadia

Why was there production of the 7.5" factory version of the hollow spoke twist front wheels in addition to the 8"?