Aftermarket or Genuine Porsche wheels. How can you tell?
 

Hi,

Is there anyway of telling whether a wheel is an aftermarket make or a genuine Porsche article (approved by Porsche included). I've noticed in ads and websites that wheel centre caps with Porsche crests are available, making it easy to make an aftermarket look like the real thing.

cheers
Tony 90 C2

I might be wrong here, but I do seem to recall that the "real things" have got stamped on them the Porsche part number.

I guess for Cup1 alloys this would be something like 964.....

I would guess then that Cup2 alloys would have 993....

Of course, I might be wrong here.

High,
Every factory part has an upside down triangle with a "P" in the middle of it, if that symbol is on the inside of the rim(look carefully,it's kinda a funny looking "P", another upside down triangle with a half circle next to it,then you have a factory rim. Happy hunting!

One reason to go with Porsche wheels rather than some of the aftermarket ones is that the Porsche wheels tend to be lighter and stronger. (However, this doesn't apply to all aftermarket wheels like BBS, HRE, etc.)

Wheels are an important place to save weight.

As far as how to tell if they are Porsche or aftermarket, I honestly don't know.

-- Melissa

Jon, I am jealous. Your car makes mine look like a piece of s___t! I especially am impressed with the paint job!I usually win 1st in concour with mine, BUT- From the description, yours beats it. Anyhow I have the same wheels on the shelf, am waiting to wear down the SO2s I have on my series 90 16s. SO2s are great. Your description of the Italian Cup wheels is encouraging. Thanks, Horst90 C4

When talking about the 16 inch 964 cup wheels the easiest way to tell is, Porsche Cup wheels have an offset of 52.3mm marked by the air valve. The speedline versions in the USA have an offset of 55mm and I believe all other aftermarket versions approved by Porsche in some way or another are 55mm. There are only two types of 964 cup wheels. The 1990 design and the 1992 design. The 1994 cup wheels are actually 993 wheels.
The only genuine 17 inch wheels for the 964 are the 964 Turbo wheels. There are two ways to tell the difference here. One is the offset and the second one is that the genuine Porsche wheels have hollow spokes. The aftermarket ones even from Speedline have solid spokes.
There was no standard 964 series of 17 inch Cup wheels except for the Turbo. The only 964 to come standard with 17 inch wheels was the Turbo. Some special editions or models did come with 17 inch wheels but only in certain markets. The two I refer to are the 911 Anniversary C4 and the 1994 USA only C4.
There was also a very special edition of 17 inch Targa wheels. I have only ever seen one picture of these wheels. These came out in 1993 model year I think. They have a thinner spoke. A similar design carried over onto the 993 Targa. It may have been the same design and only offered on the 1994 range of 964s. It is hard to be sure from the available data.
Ciao,
Adrian.
911C4

PS: 993 wheels are a different story again. The first 993s had 16 inch wheels as standard with a front offset of 50mm and rear offset of 70mm. The first 17 inch wheels for the 993 were the same offset. Later, I believe in the 1996 model year this changed to 55mm offset front and rear.

Adrian,

I am slightly confused by your statement:

How about the 964 RS, introduced in 1992? Also, I was of the understanding that all 964s from model year 1992 on had the 17" Cups standard. Is this not so?

I was also wondering what the difference is between 1990 and 1992 design cups.

Regards

THANKS HORST! You made my day.

jon

Jon, allow me to make your day too! You little sh@#! I am in love w/the Amazon Green 964s...I had quite the link to one in San Diego, but lost it due to the buyer of my SC taking his sweet time w/the funds...then got another hot link on one in Oregon, again, lost out to someone else w/green in hand.

I have ALWAYS wanted a white 911, but fell in love w/the one in SD on the internet...it was a month long romance, online every night, drooling over the 11 to 12 pics available via the owner's website, ah. It was track prepped w/a full cage, racing seats, stiffer springs/sway bars...exactly what I wanted.

Okay, so I settled for a showroom condition Grand Prix White '91, located 3hrs away in Charlottesville, Va. I am thrilled w/the purchase and have had a permanent sh@# eating grin ever since.

You Amazon Green people need to stay away from me! Ah! You make me so damned envious...okay, enough of the tirades...take care of that beauty, 'cause if you don't...I will! ;) :D

Great website, glad to finally see some pics of a 964 w/Cup IIs on it. I have a set of new '99 Boxster wheels I use for the street and a set of '95 16" 993 wheels for the track, I originally intended to get the Cup IIs but accidentally purchased the wrong wheels online...I'll live w/my mistake for now, as it cost me considerably less.

Be good. :)

Dear Riccardo,
The 964 RS is a special edition for Europe only. The even rarer RSA was for the USA only but we have found one here in Switzerland. They are not standard kinds of 911.
Look at a photo of stock standard 964 from 1989 or 1990 and you will see the 1990 Cup Design whgeels. Look at a photo of a 1992 model with standard wheels and you will see the 1992 16 inch cup wheels which were offered with the option to paint them the same colour as the body.
17 inch wheels on all but the Turbos of the 964 range were an option or special addition (still an option by the way).
17 inch wheels on a 964 was always an option and just for your info the largest approved 17 inch wheels for the 964s were
7Jx17 front and 8JX17 rear. The standard version data on the 964 has been heavily corrupted in recent years and myths and legends have yet again been converted into fact. I guess that I have all the Official Porsche 964 model press release brochures in my house kind of helps me, plus a few other references,
Ciao,
Adrian
911C4

Thanks Jeff- I appreciate the kind words. Have you page up where we can view your's?

jon

Actually, I am working on getting my url secured...more on that later.

At present I am busy writing a tech article for the 964UK website.

When I do get my website fired up, I plan to basically highlight what I have done to my car and include some handy track info, etc.

The ONLY way to tell if the wheels on your car are genuine porsche, is that they have numbers stamped on either side of the valve hole on the outside of the wheel rim. I promise.

Also, 17-inch carrera cup wheels were optional on the C2/4 (at least after 1992), certainly in the UK. So no problem having those.

Lastly but most definately not leastly, be very careful that the cups you buy have 7 and not 7.5 inch on the front. Pirelli P-Zeros were designed for the car, and they simply don't fit correctly on the replicas. Wear them at your own risk.

In my experience, replicas are heavier, weaker, and if they are 7.5s, noticably alter the handling (and I don't mean for the better)

If you can't afford the real wheels, you shouldn't be driving such a car. Gearknobs and dashboards don't matter, but wheels do. You can get real ones reconditioned at a very reasonable cost, and when done well they are as good as new. Secondhand will be cheaper. Beware dealers advertising 17" cups, check the numbers printed by the valve. If not you are definately better off with the original style 16"ers.