Dukerdog

I have Cup II wheels on my 993 coupe and will probably keep these but I'm just curious about Speedline wheels. These things are gorgeous and from what I can tell quite expensive. Is Speedline the name of the actual manufacturer? Were they made for certain time period? Are they exclusively for Porsche? Are there different types? Do they come in 17" as well as 18"? Any info would be appreciated.

johzev

Michael:

I have a set of speedlines. Mine are 18's. Speedline is the manufacturer I believe and my wheels are marked "speedline for porsche" on the wheel. I bought them because I like the look. I think they were OEM on one of the limited production versions of the 993. But honestly, when I'm going on a road trip I switch back to my cup II's because the car rides and behaves much better on 17 inch wheels. I think speedlines where made in a 17 inch version for maybe an older model 911.

There are a number of people here with way more expertise on the subject than I.

CorrdoBrit

There are original RS Speedlines (thats the manufacturer) and a variety of pretenders that look similar. Kinesis Supercups were the best of the wannabe designs. Speedline Alessio's aren't bad but are not as good looking as the original RS's. Besides cost $4K+, the biggest problem is the weight. The 10" rears weigh in around 28lbs if I'm not mistaken.

Martin S.

Speedline wheels, everybody wants them, except me. They are beautiful, but they are heavy. And in addition, expect to pay $4,000 a set, maybe more. They were seen on the 993 RS car and the 993 RS Club Sport car, cars never exported to the US.

I believe Speedline is an Italian company, that oem'd these wheels for Porsche. They are not an "official" US wheel offering for the 993, at least I don't see them in my wheel Technical Bulletin.

I am now on the OZ wheels band wagon, very light 17.8 Lbs front and 19.0 Lbs rear in 18", and in the proper narrow body offsets. Tire Rack is selling the wheels for about $1,660 a set. I have a set coming in the month, the sooner the better.

Dukerdog

That's interesting your car rides and behaves better with the Cup II's. When looking for mine I test drove a 993 with Speedlines and the car didn't seem to handle all that well. It never occured to me that it could have been the wheels. I keep hearing over and over again that the car performs better with 17" wheels, so why does everyone seem to have 18" wheels? Is it just an aesthetic thing?

David in LA

My understanding from reading somewhere years ago is that there are actually two different "Speedline" wheel manufacturers (Can anyone confirm? One I think is called Speedline Corse but not sure of the other), and at least one of which manufacturers under their own brand. In addition, Speedline makes wheels for a number of manufacturers as well as some of the older OEM Porsche wheels. For example, the Gemballa Competition wheel is labeled "Speedline Corse" if I recall correctly.


IMHO the Supercup II would have been the best looking "RS Cup" type wheels if you were looking for a more modern look...18" with reverse lip

x50type

This is an 18" Speedline wheel but not Speedline by Porsche!

I have found it impossible to get the center caps.

ABCar

Heavy man, real heavy.

ryano

heavy but awesome. they were avail on the 993RS but Speedline isnt a Porsche only wheel. They made wheels for Ferrari as well in the 90's.

CorrdoBrit

And my VR6 Corrado

CorrdoBrit

Double Lightweight and look the mutz nutz. What a shame that project died a death.

x50type

Dukerdog

The center cap is upside down!

CalvinC4S

Speedline makes two OEM 993 wheels. One set for the targa in 17" and the other set for the RS in 18".

The RS wheels where good enough for the Supercup, but a little heavy for the Starbucks cup.


Ps. Yeah, if you are running the greatest Porsche wheel in history, have the decency to clock the cap to the valve stem. Half a point of redemption due to the lock being on the correct stud

Martin S.

It is all about the side wall and the resulting ride. The stock tire size on the 17" wheels:
205/55/17 front
255/40/17 rear
Note the % profile of the front and rear tires, 55% and 40%, that is, the height of the side wall in percent, in relation to the width of the tire in mm.

When you get to 18", as an example on the 993 Turbo, with 225/40 fronts and 285/30 rears, the fronts being 40% and the rears 30%, those are pretty low profile tires. The lower the profile, the rougher the ride. In addition, if you were to hit a pothole at 65 mph on low profile tires, ouch, that hurt! On 17" wheels, it will hurt too, but not so much. On the higher profile tires the probability
of bending a wheel are reduced as well.

Now when it comes to esthetics, I will concede that the 18" low profile set up looks mean and manly. I would love to have a set of Speedlines for Porsche on my 993, if it were a street car...but it is 95% track, and for that, I am going the OZ 18" route, cheap and light, two things the Speedline wheels are not.

DB_NC_95C2

I love mine, I know they are expensive boat anchors but tomorrow I swap to the Cup IIs for the track that I bought from Martin.

I just had to have these when I decided to go with RS splitters and fixed wing. (saved the original engine lid with moveable wing and basket handle, bought a spare to have RS-ized).

I had Speedline wheels on my Alfa 164. They make nice stuff.

This morning I just swapped from black crests back to the RS center caps, and I cannot decide what to do about the rear lid, keep it debadged, or silver Carrera, or silver RS, or silver Carrera RS.... I guess RS look aero (I don't like the side skirts so didn't get them) and Speedline wheels with RS caps makes me enough of a poseur so for now the rear lid will probably stay debadged.