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I tried at least 7 sets of rims to come away with my favorite choice the cup II wheel in standard staggered set up but plus tire fit 235/45/17 front 255/40/17 rear gave me the best of all situations great tire choices too
the stocks offered best ride 18s the worst
mike
Last edited by EVOMMM; 07-05-2019 at 09:06 AM.
Reason: Error
I love the way 18s look on my car and they perform really nicely on smooth pavement. They are heavier though. The 16's and 17's are a nice balance between performance and compliance over city roads: still have to be careful though. The biggest problem with 16's is there is almost no street tire selection of 245 width anymore.
I love the way 18s look on my car and they perform really nicely on smooth pavement. They are heavier though. The 16's and 17's are a nice balance between performance and compliance over city roads: still have to be careful though. The biggest problem with 16's is there is almost no street tire selection of 245 width anymore.
That's definitely a factor for me. But lately I've been asking myself, how many options do I need? I'm only going to buy one set or tires, and they're going to last for quite a while. So as long as there's one decent option, I'm not sure how much of an advantage it is to have more options. Right now, Tirerack has 4 street or streetable tires, one of which is around $128 per tire (Toyo Proxes T1R). The others are much more expensive. So I'm tempted to just put 16x9 CS wheels on the front, buy 4 T1Rs, and call it good for the next 5 years. I have a set of 5mm spacers coming today so I can try my rear wheels on the front again and see how they fit. Of course, I don't know if those tires are any good, so I'll have to look into that, but I'll have that problem with 17" tires too.
Interestingly, this is about 4 times as many choices as there were the last time I bought tires for this car, back in 2013. Back then the Bridgestone Potenza was the only street tire that Tirerack had for 245/45/16. Now there are 3 street tires and 1 streetable track tire.
Well I swapped the front and rears using 5mm spacers and the rear 9" wheels fit the front quite nicely. I actually think they look fine too. I never realized it before but the stock rims are recessed a lot inside the wheel well, so even with 9" wheels and 5mm spacers, they just barely stick out:
Of course the 7s look weird on the rear as you'd expect.
Driving wise, I was surprised at how little difference it makes. The steering is noticeably heavier at low speeds. There's a bit more tramlining effect from defects on the road. Other than that, not much difference. Going around corners (as fast as I think is safe on public roads) if there's any difference it's very subtle. Maybe you need to really be at the limit to notice any difference?
You can always get some 8” sewer lid rims and cut them to match what Porsche did with the 928 cs rims. They look like this. This photo was before I owned this car.