Did you consider going 265/35/19 instead for the front?

 

I did, because Supreme Power did this with their 991S setup:

BBS Motorsport E88
19 x 9.5 w 265/35 19 Pirelli Trofeo
19 x 11.5 w 325/30 19 Pirelli Trofeo

I ended up not doing this because I really needed a tire that could do double duty as a track tire and daily driver, including safety on rainy highways. The Trofeo Rs clearly don't fit this description, and the tires I was interested in didn't come in the above sizes. So instead I went with 255/35-19 and 305/30-19, which other people have used successfully. (Also, matching a 265/35-19 front with 305/30-19 rear wouldn't be ideal because the fronts would end up having a taller diameter than the rears.)

 

Gotcha, I was actually thinking of going 265/35 and 305/30 AD08Rs, but didn't realize the fronts would be taller.

 

Finally got the Forgelines on today. The weather is starting to warm up a bit (low 40s!) and I got the MSI wheel stud kit yesterday.

Mounting them on the car took a while, since I installed the studs as well. I also took my Dremel with a sanding bit to the three center flanges on each wheel hub to clean up the rust. Normally I wouldn't bother to do this since this area is covered by the center wheel caps, but the Forgelines don't have center caps. I'll probably look into having the wheel hubs painted with a thin coat of rust-proof black.

Initial thoughts:

• I was excited to use my new Jackpoint jack stands--I got them specifically for this car. Unfortunately, the car sits so low that, even with the low-profile jack pad in place on my jack, the assembly is a couple of cm too tall to get under the car. Possible solutions would include driving the car up on wood planks first, or raising the car a bit using the other jacking point on that side first. Alternatively, I could look for another jack with a lower saddle height than the one on my standard aluminum "racing" jack. In any case, I'm a bit disappointed that it wasn't a plug-n-play solution, since the concept behind the Jackpoint stands is so clever.
• There is good clearance between these 19" wheels and the rear lower control arms. I was hoping this would be the case. Probably 1cm or so of clearance.
• Between the 9" front and 11" rear widths of the Forgelines, and their offsets, they sit nicely close to the fenders, without being so close as to cause concerns about rubbing under compression. No spacers needed.
• The 19" wheels help to ameliorate the "brake rotors floating in a sea of nothingness" look of the OEM 20" wheel setup. The slightly larger GiroDisc rotors also help.
• The wheel-to-fender gap is slightly larger now, since the 255/35-19 and 305/30-19 tires have an overall diameter of about 0.8" less than the OEM 20s, but it still looks fine IMO.

Here are some updated pics. Looking forward to gaining experience with this car on track in the coming weeks.

 

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Looking good, I'm sure it will be a great dual set up.

Ordering some GA1Rs myself.

 

[QUOTE=paradocs98;11212992]Finally got the Forgelines on today. The weather is starting to warm up a bit (low 40s!) and I got the MSI wheel stud kit yesterday.

Mounting them on the car took a while, since I installed the studs as well. I also took my Dremel with a sanding bit to the three center flanges on each wheel hub to clean up the rust. Normally I wouldn't bother to do this since this area is covered by the center wheel caps, but the Forgelines don't have center caps. I'll probably look into having the wheel hubs painted with a thin coat of rust-proof black.

Initial thoughts:
[LIST][*]I was excited to use my new Jackpoint jack stands--I got them specifically for this car. Unfortunately, the car sits so low that, even with the low-profile jack pad in place on my jack, the assembly is a couple of cm too tall to get under the car. Possible solutions would include driving the car up on wood planks first, or raising the car a bit using the other jacking point on that side first. Alternatively, I could look for another jack with a lower saddle height than the one on my standard aluminum "racing" jack. In any case, I'm a bit disappointed that it wasn't a plug-n-play solution, since the concept behind the Jackpoint stands is so clever.
[*

Sorry about the clearance issue. On lowered cars and Cup cars our solution has been to lift the first corner with just the jack on the factory lift point. When the tire comes off the ground slide a short piece of 2x4 under the tire and let the car down. Now you should have room for the pad and the jack. That should only be needed on the first corner. This saves you from climbing in and out of the car (especially a caged car) and feathering the clutch to get the car on blocks, or needing another jack. There are some jacks out there that go down to 2.5" or 2.75" that simplify the process. Unfortunately the industry standard for "low profile" jacks is 3.5" minimum pickup height.
The original low profile pad was shorter. On the new tool we raised the riser to provide more clearance for the rocker covers on GT3's and Turbos. A tough compromise. We still have some of the NOS low profile pads that are 3/8" shorter that we keep for matching the original pads (for 1 pad lost at the track, etc).

 

Looks great!

 

Looks awesome!

 

Good choice. Forgelines are a fantastic-quality wheel. So many GrandAm teams run them. I think the GA1R was used on the Hennessey Venom GT that just ran 270mph. Pretty good endorsement.

 

Thanks for the reply and explanation. I can see why a lower-profile pad could cause interference with extended rocker covers. Would you be willing to sell me a couple of the original NOS low profile pads?

 

An interesting detail. I weighed the wheels/tires prior to putting them on the car. The weights are with the tires mounted, but by using the TireRack database of tire weights and doing some math, I can get a rough estimate of the Forgeline weights vs. the OEM Carrera S wheels.

20x8.5" OEM BBS Carrera S wheel with 245/35-20 Pirelli Sottozero Serie II tire (24 lbs): 46.6 lbs total
20x11" OEM BBS Carrera S wheel with 295/30-20 Pirelli Sottozero Serie II tire (29 lbs): 57.4 lbs total

19x9" Forgeline GZ3R wheel with 255/35-19 Yokohama AD08R tire (28 lbs): 51.0 lbs total
19x11" Forgeline GZ3R wheel with 305/30-19 Yokohama AD08R tire (31 lbs): 56.3 lbs total

----------------

20x8.5" OEM front: 22.6 lbs
20x11" OEM rear: 28.4 lbs

19x9" Forgeline front: 23.0 lbs
19x11" Forgeline rear: 25.3 lbs

So a very decent weight savings on the rear, and a half pound heavier on the fronts. The Forgeline fronts are likely heavier because, despite being 1" smaller in diameter, they're 0.5" wider.

I must say that I'm impressed with the relatively low weights of the OEM wheels, given that they're 20" big boys. It's great that Porsche uses a top-quality OEM supplier in BBS. There is probably relative weight savings due to wheel design details and the fact that they're one-piece forged wheels, rather than a multi-piece design. It certainly makes you think twice about dumping the high-quality, lightweight BBS OEM wheels for poor-quality, heavy aftermarket wheels just for the "bling."

The Yokohamas are relatively heavy, kind of like the Bridgestone RE11s. Their 28/31 lb front/rear weights compare to 24/30 lbs for Michelin Pilot Super Sports in the same sizes. But the Yokohamas' weight is probably a function of a stiffer sidewall.

I'll report back when track season begins.

 

Send me an email at john@jackpoint.us. We can set it up.

 

Just sent. Thanks, John.