SDGuy

There is an 86 951 up for sale that supposedly has 19" wheels - (owner describes 3 piece wheels which were made for the car by Axis Sport tuning in Santa Fe Springs, CA. He says they are fit to the car using solid bolt-on adapters by RUF). Can this be an acceptable setup? I though 17's were iffy on an 86. But they sure look nice. See this pic:

jmporsche944

Dont know about the setup, but they sure do look good.

WesM951

I think with the correct offset and low pro tires this would be possible. They don't look that big thou, if i had to guess i'd say 17".. maybe 18"s at the most.

SamGrant951

those are definatly larger than 17" - Sami had 19's on his 951- do a search for Sami951 and see if any pics come up. After running 19's for awhile he traded them for 18's and is still using those. Lots of us run 18's...

Legoland951

Stupid thing to do in my opinion. Hit a bump and bend the wheel. All looks and not practical.

streckfu's

I can't see going bigger than 17" on the street on our cars. Too rough on the suspension. Your choice though.

SDGuy

The car is up for sale on ebay. It was the 24K mileage that caught my eye. As nice as the wheels are, it sure looks like the wheels would rub and probably give a pretty rough ride. He says there are no problems with the fitment, but then again, he only put 400 mles on the car in the 4 years he's owned it

streckfu's

It not only the fitment. Did he upgrade the ball joints?

Porsche-O-Phile

All bling, no zing.

Friendan

I think Sami found too much of a trade off with the 19s; anything over 18" on these cars and all practicality is lost. You HAVE to beef up your suspension and steering related parts to compensate for the stress the weight of wheels puts on your car. They are indeed completely for bling.

Sami951

Looks like those could well be 19's ... here are my old pics for comparison:







Yes, the ride was pretty crappy and the car felt heavy. Not much fun really. It can be done, sure, but I for one won't recommend it.

Mark944na86

Porsche doesn't approve going over 17" on these cars, and even at 17" it specifies the suspension should be upgraded with at least the 968-style caster blocks.

-Mark

ptk

My friend when he changed the oryginal 16" on the 18" on his 944 Turbo Cabrio broked 2 trannys
He has about 300hp with racing clutch and 265 tire in the back so there was to much grip and to much power in one time
He sold that car on those rims and next owner broke the stearing pump because those rims was to heavy. And offcourse they was scratching the fenders.
Putting there larger than 17" rims for daily driving it is not very god idea

Legoland951

These power steering pumps break spontaneously anyways without any help from bigger wheels because we have some of the worst PS systems of just about any car I have driven. The bigger wheels will actually DECREASE traction so you are more likely to break the tranny from a smaller wheel given the same width tire. The higher the profile of tire, the more "stretch" of tire to create contact patch as in the case of dragsters (tiny diameter wheels compared to the sidewall height). You will get a very small decrease of sidewall flex, but the chassis flex will more than make up for the minimal decrease from 0.1 degree flex on a 1/4 inch difference in sidewall from a 17 to a 19 inch wheel. All in all, it makes as much sense to put chrome spinners on a 944 as a set of 19s in my opinion.

Tom R.

All bling no zing. Me wonders why no purists are up in arms over this "bastardization" of the great marque.

and now for your viewing pleasure from mr mullet himself