Cloud, below is the link to the set.

https://rennlist.com/forums/parts-ma...-sale-ccw.html

 

James,

Yes, Forgeline GA3R's are definitely on my wish (dream...) list. But they definitely are pricey. I find the 16 lb claim for a 17 x 9.5" a little hard to believe, but I'm sure they're light - I would easily believe 18 lb. or less. Between selling my Enkei's, and the long term savings in tires, I could talk myself into the Forgelines, and they definitely look the business. The up-front cost is a bit of an obstacle, though. But you're right - there's no such thing as light, strong, and cheap.

Also, I read in the current issue of Grassroots Motorsports that the Volk Racing TE37RT will soon be available "in 17" and 18" sizes for Porsches and other cars." This is also a very light wheel, and quite a but cheaper than the GA3R (if you can call north of $700/wheel cheap), but it appears to only be available at the moment in "burning red" - not my cup of tea - and it's overall not as nice looking as the GA3R.

http://www.rays-msc.com/wheels/index.cgi?d=160

Also, I can't find any indication of it being available in the Porsche bolt pattern at this time. I emailed the US distributor, but haven't heard back.

 

tha was going to be my other suggestion as I saw the same article

 

bbs ir's as well, but they are not in 17" though.

 

http://www.944racing.de/wheelweights.php

9x17 Cup 2's all around. Patience and a little trolling around on CL, Pelican, and RL will allow you to put together a fairly light wheel set at a reasonable cost.

 

As Gene said........ 17x9 Cup 2''s. great setup, easy to find and cheap, allows you to rotate tires of of the hot corner of your car. Spend a little time a the track when 944 Cup or a PCA race is near you, very popular setup.
Unless you are in the hunt for a set of BBS 18's magnesium race wheels, if so shoot me a pm, not cheap but uber sexy and light weight!!!!

 

Thanks for the replies, but you guys are hitting on the reasons for my paralysis-by-analysis-induced procrastination. According to the chart in Gene's link, 17 x 9" Cup2's weigh a whopping 22.3 lb! Blah! that's A LOT heavier than my current 18" wheels. But any wheels that are significantly lighter that actually fit our car's accursed oddball bolt pattern cost a fortune, defeating my whole purpose of saving money by being able to rotate less expensive tires. Not sure where I'm going to go on this - my current "solution" is to mix a lot of go-karting (at the same track) with my track days to preserve my tires, which I will continue to do until I decide on what to do, which at the present time involves waiting to see if the Volk Racing CE27RT's will become available in our bolt pattern in my desired 17 x 9" size, preferably in something other than burning red.

 

You might also want to look at Forgestar, which are the flow form cast design much like your current setup.

I had 18x10 +42 and it was a tad over 20 on the scale. I would assume a high offset 17x9 would put you down there but that is a guess.

Here's a link to what they look like, not the size though.

http://blog.modbargains.com/first-st...rbo-back-life/

 

Interesting - in all my hours of searching for wheels, I'd never heard of Forgestar. They're amazingly cheap compared to Forgeline, Volk Racing, Fikse, etc. I'll have to get in touch with them and find out how much 17 x 9's that would fit my car weigh.

 

Keep in mind they're cast flow form wheels which would explain the price. I had mine custom made (offset of your choice) took six weeks, just about any color you want. I did a few autoX with them on my last car... Here is what I had. Square setup weighed 46lbs a piece with a 285/30/18 on 18x10" wheel. I actually had 2 lbs less per wheel than the stock setup on my RX8 with this setup... Unsprung weight reductions,,, gotta love 'em.

 

James,

Thanks very much for your inputs - you've given me new hope! Those wheels actually look very sharp on your RX8 - I didn't think they looked all that great in the pictures on Forgestar's web site. And a total weight of 46 lb on an 18 x 10" wheel isn't too shabby - I have 18 x 10 Enkei NT03's on the back of my 968, and they weight a hernia-inducing 51 lb with the Hankook RS3's I have on them, so I would imagine a 17 x 9 wheel with a low profile tire (I'm thinking a 245/35 Toyo Proxes R1R) should shave of something in the neighborhood of 10 lb per wheel on the back.

Do you know anything about whether these wheels are commonly used in track applications? In other words, do you think they can take the abuse? Or is it one of those "Pay me now, or pay me later" scenarios where it's cheaper in the long run to go with a more expensive forged wheel that can be expected to last essentially forever?

 

Cloud9...68

First off, your complete usage I am not aware of. In my mind, if you are doing serious DE stuff and really getting out on a regular, I wouldn't think about it twice, get forged wheels. This would put you in the range of Fikse, and Volk being the more inexpensive options here. I don't know how you feel about this, but sometimes you can find wheels with the more common pcd of 114.3 and have them drilled... but that is a whole different route.

The low-pressure flow formed cast ones such as these are sufficient for random autocross and the occasional HPDE. Fortunately, I never had a "situation" where I had to test this out for strength.

Wheels that would fall under this category are your NT03's, Forgestar's, OZ Allegeritta HLT, and a few other's out there I'm sure.

Your biggest challenge is a pcd of 130mm and 17" wheels. 18" wheels your options increase substantially and opens up many new options especially in the forged wheel world.

Then there is cast which we won't speak of.

BTW, those RS3's are great aren't they? In the picture I had Hankook V12's but ran the RS3's for track. The weights above I mentioned were with RS3's.

Hope that helps.

 

Well, my car is primarily a track car (track days - no competitive racing yet). It has pretty much a full-race suspension set-up, with solid/spherical bushings everywhere, 700/1000 lb springs, Moton Clubsport shocks, etc. It corners like a Cheetah on a rubberized track. So, it sounds like the Forgestar F14's wouldn't be the best choice. Oh, well, back to the drawing board. Maybe I'll just stay with my staggered 18" set-up, and live with the higher tire cost.

I've never heard of anyone re-drilling wheels to work with a different bolt pattern. Sounds dangerous - can it actually be done safely? It would definitely open up a whole new world of wheel options. I've also thought about adapters, but the consensus on these is that they's not safe for a track application.

 

Forged is the only way to go with your setup. Have you ever looked at Advan wheels? They make a couple forged in 18" that are pretty light as well.

http://www.advanwheels.com.au/wheels/wheel.aspx?id=3

I think though if you were going to spend that money, I would go with CCW wheels, cause you can still get them in 17"... I think the CCW classics are a proven winner and strong and light as can be.

 

Well, I just looked through CCW's wheel selection on their web site, and they only have a couple of 17" wheels, and they don't look very track-oriented. Looks like 17" forged wheels are a dying breed. Great. If I'm going to change from what I have now to a square set-up, I really don't want to go with 18", as I see no benefit to it. My large calipers fit just fine under 17" wheels (which is what my car came with, as shown in my avatar), and the higher rotating mass around the periphery associated with a larger diameter wheel is something I want to avoid, and of course 18" tires are significantly more expensive than 17". This really makes me wonder why 18" and larger wheels ever caught on, as I see nothing but downside to them, unless you have monster brakes.

So, it looks like it comes down to spending a ton of money on a custom forged wheel from one of the few companies that still make a 17" in a 5x130 mm bolt pattern, or spend a ton of money burning through 18" tires I can't rotate front to back. Oh, well, like they say, you can't take it with you. Or I could go with the more affordable Cup 2's (if I can find them in the size I'm looking for) and live with the weight. As I said, I'm not racing competitively, anyway.

I really appreciate all the suggestions you've given me, and the options you've presented that I wasn't aware of previously. I don't mean to sound so depressed, but I am a little frustrated over the way our car's bolt pattern so severely limits our wheel selection.