JoeW

You don't say your tire brand and model, Bill, nor what you might be using in the larger size -- to me these factors have a major impact on the tire's behavior. My car is stock with 17". With the Bridgestone S-02s I had, there was little if any tramlining. Recently I had to switch and put on a set of Toyo T1/S -- the tramlining was awful ... then I checked the air pressure. The tech had put 32# in each tire, though I specifically asked for 36 all round. I 4# to each and now these are behaving as well as the S-02s! FWIW. Joe

Jacks911

Ade, I switched to 993 Cup II's with the same tires you have (prior 16's where S-02's). Now my 964 is a C 2 and I have had just the opposite reaction - No tramlining now and used to have it all the time with the 16's ??? In Washington State we allow drivers to use studded tires on our road ways in winter. This creates significant ruts on the major freeways. With the old 16's, changing lanes was scary, like switching "rail tracks". Thats all but disappeared now with the 17's & Contis. And as to the ride, with the much lower rear tire pressure I think it now rides better than my Audi A6 over road imperfections ??? So how much difference is from tires (brand and/or size) - or pressure - or the roads you drive on (lousy ones in my area)?
But You gota love the looks of those wheels!

darth

Joe - I'm running BF Goodrich - I know not the best tire - The only compaint I have with these tires is the effect I mentioned above in that on hard cornering sometimes I have the feeling the tires are curling under the rim due to the lateral force on the rear end of the car. I'm thinking of getting Sumitomo's on 17 inch turbo cups - hoping the stonger side walls will eliminate this problem and hopefully not have any tramling.

Bill
90C2

Christer

I have 18" wheels - 8.5 and 10 inches wide. The front tyre is 225/40 and I must admit that I do not get any more tramlining now than I did with the 17's....

craig001

While I can't speak for my 964, when I tried out a set of 17" Cup 1's with Sumitomo HTRZ-II's on my 944 I had them on less than a month before I put the 16's back on. The tramlining was just awful and the car's steering felt heavy. I was running 245's up front vs. the 205's so that may have had some influence on the handling. I ended up selling the 17" up to a 928 owner. It's an expensive way to find out if you like the ride. Maybe you could find someone with 17's on theie car and take it out for a spin.

I have a set of 16" 5 spokes on my Targa now with Potenza RE-950's instead of the D-90's and like the ride. My current delimna now, other than being cash poor is whether to get a set of 17" Targa Wheels, GT3 seats, or a Cup Suspension. I think that the 17"'s would fill the wheel wells a lot better than the 16's without playing with my suspension. Also I don't know if my butt would fit into a GT3 seat comfortably. I've heard that they are a bit narrow.

Just mu $.02

joey bagadonuts

So how do you like the Toyo's? (don't feel compelled to say nice things, even though I gave them the big thumbs up).

I switched back to my Toyo's last night after a long track weekend and just fell in love with them all over again. Compared to R compounds, the Toyo's make the car feel a lot lighter. The steering is communicative and the the chassis seems even more responsive ... more agile. And it does all this without feeling too harsh (hey what'd you expect, a cushy, high performance tire?).

I'm not sure how much their lightness contributes to the nice feel but they sure seem to wake up my car.

As to the original question, when I traded up to 17's I felt a noticeable but not dramatic difference. They ride a little firmer and provide a bit more feedback through the steering wheel. I think they add some sportiness to the ride.