I know i know - you've been here a lot longer than i have so i give that up to you.

but the whole "bling bling" phobia with you and the majority of others on this forum is what keeps me coming back. you always point to side markers... good i got them... i always point to aerokit, wheels, adjustable coilvers... way more money, but if you can pull it off, it DO IT. if u can't, stay stock and enjoy the drive.

and going from 18s to 19s on the 996 has been done time and again. the dude is already rollin' on pss9s so he has additional adjustability to go softer if he wishes. i ran the stock c4s 18s for a bit when i first picked up the car in San Fran and it rides no worse or better than the 19s i have on today. the point i'mt rying to make is it's hairsplitting. did it on the M3 going from stock 18s to 19". minimal diff.

for what you "give up" from going to a narrower profile tire, you are making up magnitudes more in the looks dept which makes the ownership experience SO much better.

if a dude is rolling a gt3 and is an avid track guy, i'd never say get some 19s. there are better people to dole out such advice. again, being a man of vanity due to my insecurities , i say go big or go home.

the guy doesn't sound like he's splitting hairs over $ either. spacers suck. the visual enhancement is minimal. no one else will notice. with the 19s the car rides great, you'll have more tread to the ground and he may in fact prefer the feel on the 19s v the 18s. let's hope he shods them with some quality tires (e.g. ps2s). let me state again. it's going to LOOK MAGNITUDES better and if he gets tired of them, you can get a decent amount of your $ back by selling them.

 

No, your Sport Design wheels are not goofy rims. Personally I like the Sport Design wheels even better thatn the Turbo II wheels I have. What are the widths and offsets of your wheels, front and rear? If they are Porsche OEM wheels the width in inches and offset in mm will be stamped on either side of the valve stem, something like 8 || 50 (where || is the valve stem).

 

Ben, just to clarify a point, I do not have "bling bling" phobia. My point is that there are more things to consider than just the appearance of 19" wheels.

Going to 19" wheels does not, in and of itself, guarantee that you will have more tread on the ground. If you go with wider wheels, either 18's or 19's, you can get more tread on the ground. If someone who didn't know squat about wheels and tires read your post, they could come away thinking that by going with 19" wheels they would automatically get more tread on the ground, and that is just not true. I could replace my 10" wide 18's rear wheels with 9" wide 19" wheels and end up with less tread on the ground.

My point in this post and my previous post is that more often than not you offer only half the story, and it is usually the "appearance" side of the story. You rarely include the "functional" side of the story, good or bad. The "appearance" part is purely subjective. What someone else likes you may hate, and vice versa. But that's OK, because if we all had the same taste, we would all be driving Silver Porsches. Yuck! (I chose Silver as the example because 1) it is the most common color and 2) it is also the color of your car. Just wanted to give you one of these Now back to our subject).

However, the true "functional" side of things is not subjective, It is based upon fact, not conjecture or personal preference. Fact: 19" wheels will cause the car to ride harsher than 18" wheels because there is less tire and air between the wheel and the street.

I'll give you one more example and then I'm finished. When someone goes to a 19" wheel that is 11" wide on the rear, you chide them because they didn't go 12" wide, 'cuz 12's look better (Subjective). Fact: going to 12" wide tires in the rear will increase the understeer in these cars. You can't put a 10" wide tire in the front to counter balance the 2" wider rear tires, so the understeer in increased. (Functional).

Are you seeing the point here? I have nothing against appearance (bling bling) but there is more to the story than just appearance, there is also function. There are usually very good reasons why "form follows function" and not the other way around!

 

19's for the street

18's for the track

So get 2 sets of wheels...1 of each size and be done with it.

 

too much stuff to put down here for me to want to begin to type it all out.

-i recommended a specific wheel (champions)

-he is lowered on pss9s

and this has got to be the first time my car's been criticized for its color which is artic silver which tells me you are reaching... way reaching. and the whole form follows function.. people it's a damn street car. the 911... breaking news... is designed for the STREET. there are federal LAWS forcing it to be just that for our safety and compatibility with public roads. so yes, form is following function.

speed summed it up well.

 

Steven,
If You saw post #13, Not sure if you would of responded that way???
Two new sets of wheels is not an option.
Just trying to figure out what to do in-regards to wheels,

1) New track wheels..keep these as DD (with spacers)
2) new DD wheels 19"....keep these as DE (with or with out spacers)

I will keep the 18 for sure, so I need to space them out? ( maybe, or run them at the track with or without ) and if I order 19 I dont know what to order in-regards to offsets

Thanks All,

Tim, I was not referring to the look as goofy but instead of the offset being goofy. So do they seem stock for a C4 and would u run 7mm and 15mm

So looking at the rim thanks Tim
Front 8-52
Rear 10-65

Spacer size

Front ???
Rear ???

New 19" (Non RV Look)

Front ???
Rears ???

So the only thing that would change all this is if 18" wider is better for the track???? If so then i would run my 18 with spacers and get new 18 for the track....Tim you make a good point about under steer....
9x18 11x18

 

Ben, I was not cirticizing your car, I was just taking a friendly (which is why I included the smiley) "jab" at you to get under your skin a little. Similar to your "jab" at me for having supple leather seats, which is OK with me because that is personal preference.

 

Yes, your Sport Designs are stock wheel sizes. If it were me, I would do 7mm front and 15mm rear. If you don't think that 7mm is enough on the front then you could try this. Buy 1 pair of 15mm spacers and install one on the rear and one on the front to see how it looks and check out if there will be rubbing issues on the front. If no issues with 15mm on the front, then get a second pair for the other side. If there is a problem with teh 15mm on the front, then order a 7mm pair and you are good to go.

9x18 & 11x18 would work, it the offsets are correct. Or 9x19 & 11x19 would also work but you want to be a lottle more careful with the offsets on these because your car is lowered.

If you go 9" wide and 11" wide, you will want to stay reasonably close to the offsets of your current wheels. If the offsets are identical to your current (52mm front & 65mm rear), the wheels will extend an additional 13mm compared to your current wheel and you will also have 13mm less clearence in the inside. This should not be a problem.

Here is the process I would use to determine which wheels to get:
1) 18" or 19" - I think this decision needs to be made first.
2) what wheel widths do you want
- front 8" or 8.5" or 9"
- rear 10" or 10.5" or 11" (12" will probably not fit properly on a N/B car)
3) determine correct/desired offsets which will not cause rubbing issues inside or outside
4) select wheel design/brand

Hope this helps.

 

but the diff is supple leather actually sux whereas artic silver... is officially the best color on the 911.

 

Yup.

A lot of people don't realize that tire sidewall compliance is assumed into your suspension design. Remove that compliance without somehow creating much more sensitivity in the suspension, and you get a car that has a harder time putting power down and keeping wheels from unweighting slightly over every little bump.

19s are completely about looks and, yes, they will cost you some handling performance above 7 or 8/10ths. If that's not a concern, then I agree, they look hawt.

 

and i've love to see how many of you 19" detractors/18" faithfuls actually have the *****/skills/oppty to go even 6/10ths of the 911's performance. really. whatever the heck 7-8.5 tenths thousandths means.

this one looks damn good (makes me almost think a non aerokitted c4s lowered on nice 19s looks better than mine - sike) and i'm sure wouldn't have any issues keeping up with your 18" superlightweightsupermanspiderman wheels.

 

Tim thanks this will help, at least I have enough info to figure this out. i kept reading past post and seeing 7mm front and 15mm rear, but not knowing what the had as space, and when I looked at my car seeing so much space up front ( I did not think about the turning issue)

BruceP... I never was going to run 19 at the track, Thanks for the input.

 

Hey, I admit it: My car does not get pushed to anywhere near its limits. But the psychic benefit you get from your car looking good is the same as the psychic benefit I get from knowing what my car COULD do if I wanted it to. Lots of toys are like that. Chacun a son gout.

I agree with you about the OP's cab, though. Just beautiful.

 

Ironically, what I'm talking about is actually more relevant to spirited driving on real, imperfect roads than it is to a nice, smooth track.

Anyhoo, your car is stunning.

 

Jerry,

actually I did read post 13 but there was no mention in that post or previous posts that your wheels are currently 18's (I cannot determine wheel size from a picture as I have tried that in the past but was wrong), there was just a mention of new 19's for DD.

So my response was what I recommend you do as that is what I am doing. But if you have already decided that 2 sets is not an option then you do have a dilemma that 2 sets would correct...IMHO

So use your current 18's for the track and street, just put spacers on them and forget about 19's for now.

Good luck with your decision.

BTW...contact Damon at the Tire Rack in regards to spacing if you still feel that the input from Tim and others has confused you in anyway. Damon hooked me up with my OZ's, but they are not cheap but are custom made to the car