rennlistfan

I'm undecided whether I should go for 20" or 21" wheels on the S. Is 20" a "safer" bet for everyday use? I'm concerned by the very low profile tire on the 21" and the associated risks. Any thoughts? FYI, I'm in SoCal. Thanks!

nh4

It theory a smaller sized wheel with a tire that has a larger sidewall should give you a bit more ride comfort, but depending on which suspension you get, I question whether you'd notice much of a difference between 20" and 21". In SoCal you don't really need to worry about snow, and I imagine your roads are in pretty good shape (that's an assumption on my part I guess!). The 20" plus extra sidewall on the tire would also serve as more cushion if you drive through a massive pothole or over something big and solid enough to potentially damage the wheel.

Overall, without knowing your situation, it's hard to know what the right answer is. I personally think the 20" wheels look pretty good, so I'd likely pick that, but if you really like the 21" and you have PASM / air suspension, I doubt 21" wheels would compromise the ride all that much.

The best answer might really be to try and find a dealer near you that has Macans in stock with 20" and 21" and the same suspension type, and go find a route with a bunch of different road types to drive them on back-to-back.

-nh4.

kiya

A lot happens between a 20" and 21" wheel. The difference is larger than between a 18 and 19, or 19 and 20. The ride becomes stiffer, but mainly the chances of damaging your rims due to a pot-hole become much greater. Not to mention that you'll have far fewer (and more expensive) tire choices when that time comes. I was even recommended by my dealer to not get the 21's, and to stick to 20" for a variety of reasons.

cviles

You will have to judge for yourself if the 21" wheels change the ride quality too much for you and your suspension choice.

One thing I can say, though, is that these are very strong wheels. About a month ago, I hit the mother of all potholes at about 40 mph one night. This thing looked like someone had cut a chunk of the pavement out of the road and left the jagged edges. It destroyed both tires on the left side of my car and one of my rims had a few nicks from the experience and was repainted. Other than that and two new tires, no damage to the car.

I'm not saying you can't bend one of these rims, but mine held up amazingly well.

Wheel Dynamics

Been riding 21" for over a year now, it' s a good middle ground on the Cayenne between 20" and 22".... I've rode both of those options as well.

The problem is that there are a limited amount of 21" models available on the 21" wheels when considering after-market selections.

Gabe here gabe@wheeldynamics.com has recently dedicated time to getting a decent amount of the 20" and 21" wheels for the Macan....

http://wheeldynamics.com/porsche_macan.html

cairo94507

Those are some darn nice looking wheels.

997xpress

I read that 21's wear a lot faster (Cayenne = 15K miles max?) - any truth to that?

cviles

Well, 21" wheels only come with Summer max-performance tires, so you could expect them to wear a bit faster than sizes that come with all-season tires. I think it's the composition of the tires more than the size that makes them wear faster.

gmgracing

no drawbacks for 21 inch on this lovely Macan .

roule

For daily driving, kiya said it best. Going larger than 20" just isn't worth it on the street IMHO. On the track, well that's a whole different ball game. But I suspect that most of us won't be taking our Macans on the track very often, if at all.

disden

Been having the same questions. Going to get the Macan Diesel later this year when they open up build slots. Gonna trade in the wife's Cayenne Diesel. She has 21s with air suspension and the ride is fine. I had a CD too but without air suspension; on only 20s it was quite a jarring and rough ride over even the smallest pebbles. So I would imagine the Macan would be similar, order the air suspension if you want 21s and not be beat to death.

Chris3963

Let's get some proper perspective here.

Only the rear tyres on the 21' Turbo wheels have an aspect ratio of 35. The fronts have 40.

That means that the sidewall height of the rear tyres are 103.5mm (4.06 inches). That is still quite a lot. The fronts tyres have a height of 106mm (4.17 inches).

Now compare that to the 20" wheels. The rear tyres are 295/45 which means the tyre height is 118mm (4.64) inches. That means there is only a difference of 0.58 inches in the height of the sidewall compared to the 21" wheels.

I have driven my Macan on 21" wheels for the last 12 months and have never had a problem with wheel damage, ride comfort, etc. And the roads in Belgium are the worst in Europe.