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Can I just point out that 924srr27l is from the UK where there is a great tradition of manufacturing light and nimble sports cars, plus UK roads are a joke, on the other hand most folk who like big fat wheels and tyres come from the good ol US of A (or Aus) where there tradition is for big muscle cars.
Maybe the same starting point (944,924,968 etc) but different direction when it comes to modifications
Everyone is entitled to their opinion, that is the point of these forums.
Repeating it a dozen times in a single thread is beyond unnecessary. I don't necessarily disagree with him, he made a good point. The key is to stop and allow others to express their views without getting beaten down, repeatedly.
I recently acquired my first Porsche 944 (an '88 'S' model) and promptly swapped the 15" phone dials for 18" OZ 996 5-spoke wheels - 8" front and 10" rear. It really looks nice with the new wheels - really nice.
I put a couple hundred miles on the 15" phonies before the swap and the car really drives beautifully - like a touring car. It's quiet and smooth, but with some spirited handling too.
When I swapped the wheels/tires, I weighed the new front wheels on my bathroom scale. The 8x18 wheel with 225/40 Pirelli winter tires weigh about 50lbs on my very inaccurate scale. The stock 7x15 phonies with General all-season 215/60 tires weighed in at about 40lbs on the same scale. Assuming the rear 10x18" wheels/tires (i didn't actually weight the rears) weigh about 5lbs more, there's 50lb total increase in weight with the 18" wheels tires.
That 50lbs is all extra unspung weight and rotating mass, so it's definitely a negative to both handling and acceleration, but they do look really nice
I did read the Porsche tech pub and upgraded the castor blocks and bolts to the 968 hardware.
Regarding the handling and ride, there's no question the car now has more grip, but at the expense of ride quality. IMO, it's not awful, but it's definitely poor compared to stock on typical local roads. It's loud and rough and pulls when the road is uneven - sometimes dramatically. I'd rate it 'good' on very smooth roads, but those are the exception.
Now I don't plan to take long trips through the mountains on weekends. I bought the car for occasional local driving, but mostly auto cross and HPDE - maybe Chump one day. I think I can live with the big wheels because they really look great, but if my use case was as a daily driver, I would definitely go back to the stock wheels - definitely. I may look for 16s and performance tires as a compromise.
I'm planning to buy performance tires for the stock wheels and use them for auto cross this spring.
Like a lot of things in life, it's a compromise. At least we have a lot more choice now than when they were first released onto market. I would still surmise that the majority of people buying a cheap Porsche sports car are younger guys who are prepared to sacrifice ultimate ride quality for higher levels of grip and looks (subjective). However, if you want to run 18" you won't immediately be struck by lightning and fall down a sink hole to hell.
Like a lot of things in life, it's a compromise. At least we have a lot more choice now than when they were first released onto market. I would still surmise that the majority of people buying a cheap Porsche sports car are younger guys who are prepared to sacrifice ultimate ride quality for higher levels of grip and looks (subjective). However, if you want to run 18" you won't immediately be struck by lightning and fall down a sink hole to hell.
That's your opinion, nothing more. The sooner you realize this and stop berating everyone who doesn't agree, the longer your stay will be around here.
Your constant ranting of "facts" is beyond annoying and has taken a simple question and de-railed this thread into oblivion.
Unless you have some substantiated facts to answer the OP's question about safety, any continued posts in this thread will be considered trolling.
This is your only warning.
It's the opinion of several other members too, don't be picking on me specifically and I've never mentioned the word fact.
The opinions look to be 50/50 unyet many times in the past before the same specific members are berating me, which stopps the Op and anybody else attempting to reply but this is ok right?
Can I just point out that 924srr27l is from the UK where there is a great tradition of manufacturing light and nimble sports cars, plus UK roads are a joke, on the other hand most folk who like big fat wheels and tyres come from the good ol US of A (or Aus) where there tradition is for big muscle cars.
Maybe the same starting point (944,924,968 etc) but different direction when it comes to modifications
That's a very good point, for sure the mentality is very different (USA v UK)
As are our roads, they are not smooth at all!
And yes we have an immense reputation for Vehicle handling (LOTUS) and amazing automotive engineering, and Racing history F1, WRC, Le mans car's etc..
Also much more emphasis on performance (Handling) and not Looks (Muscle cars)
I love the look of 18" wheels on 944s, but I've read the Porsche warning about running anything larger than 17". Even still, there seems to be a lot of people who have 18" wheels, and not a lot (I cant find any) evidence (posts) about any sort of failures like Porsche warns about. So what's the story? Is it safe to run 18" wheels?
You may of found this already?
Porsche 18" Wheels Not Approved
ATTENTION:
Service Manager/Service Technician
Models Affected:
All
Concern:
Retrofitting 18" wheels on Porsche vehicles which do not have 18" wheels as original equipment is NOT ALLOWED.
General Information:
Endurance tests have shown that equipping certain Porsche vehicles with 18" wheels in an application not already approved by Porsche Cars, N.A. may result in loosened bolts and/or threaded connections on the front wheel carriers. This, in turn, may cause fractures in these components. Fractures may also occur in the front strut mounts and in the body in the area of the rear suspension as a result of the installation of 18" wheels not already approved for installation for this specific application.
Such damage can occur without warning and the vehicle may become very hard to control or steer as a result of this improper installation.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So only you can decide if your happy to make sure the above components are checked regular and that your happy to take the risks that you may have a failure one day, and you may not.
Sure many pieces of advice are like this in life, it's just a point of warning.
I fully accept the risks with wheels on my car that have been machined and drilled to lighten them.
Your logic is awesome. 18's are bad but machining wheels to save weight is good? If you crash with machined wheels and god forbid cause fatalities, they'll put you away for good. There is a reason why wheels must pass tests before they are homologated.
I totally understand the appeal of 18" wheels. The selection of 15s is like nothing and 16s are very slim.
My solution is to run the new 10.2" wide (255mm) Toyo tires on 8"x16" phone dials in a square set up. I think I will do this this summer. Pumped!
The larger wheel also changes the roll center of the car, because the suspension isn't designed for it. Changing the roll center of the car, especially higher, can be very detrimental to the occupants..Ask anyone with about a 1990-19905 chevy blazer..the little one, not the big one..as they were often upside down...hence the tire pressure monitoring system that we have now..Thanks, Mr. Clinton.
03-09-2017, 12:07 AM
