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With cold weather coming, I just replaced my summer tires with winter rubber fitted onto 19" OEM Porsche five spoke wheels. Consequently, I would like to acquire a separate set of wheels dedicated to summer tires. Is there a big or noticeable difference in handling / ride 20" versus 19" wheels? I don't have any experience on 20" wheels. These would go on a '09 C4S Cab. The car is driven in a spirited manner on twisty rural blacktop with heavy second-third-fourth gear 4,000+ RPM action and but not necessarily high speed. Thanks in advance for any thoughts or opinions.
If you care about Porsche recommendations (requirements?), Porsche owner's manual, no 20 inch are spec'd at all. I use 18" in winter. When you select wheel size in the Porsche computer, what do you select for 20"?
I’m running 20” Champion forged wheels on my 997. Looks much better than stock. The ride is fine. My 20s with PS4s ride smoother than the factory 19s with Dunlops. Tire selection has a lot to do with ride quality but of course, given the same tire model, the one with more sidewall will ride smoother.
Keep in mind that when you go up a size in wheels you also go down a size in aspect ratio so the overall wheel (Rim plus tire) diameter stays the same. Not sure what people mean when they say “20s are too big for a 997”. They are the same size as 19s overall.
I’m running 20” Champion forged wheels on my 997. Looks much better than stock. The ride is fine. My 20s with PS4s ride smoother than the factory 19s with Dunlops. Tire selection has a lot to do with ride quality but of course, given the same tire model, the one with more sidewall will ride smoother.
Keep in mind that when you go up a size in wheels you also go down a size in aspect ratio so the overall wheel (Rim plus tire) diameter stays the same. Not sure what people mean when they say “20s are too big for a 997”. They are the same size as 19s overall.
They mean that visually they look too large on the 997 body due to the wheel arch shape.
Also, there's not a single wheel made where the 20" version of the same wheel is lighter than the 19" version so going to 20s increases unsprung weight negatively effecting vehicle dynamics.
My opinion - 19s are the right size on a 997, both visually and from a performance standpoint.
All of these are 19s. The forged, polished Champion rs171s are currently for sale in the Marketplace if you're looking for a strong and light wheel for your summer set. Rears are 11.5" so hold a wider 305/30 better than the standard 11" wide wheel.
Around here, you are kidding yourself if you think you can have 20" wheels with our road conditions and Porsche suspension. I have driven in Minneapolis and the roads are better, but not by much.
Obviously looks are subjective. I have a Turbo so maybe it’s the additional body work but to me the 20s visually fill out the wheel wells much better. I certainly don’t claim that they provide any performance advantage. I also can’t say there is any performance penalty. I certainly don’t feel any but then again this is my street missile and not a track toy.
Obviously looks are subjective. I have a Turbo so maybe it’s the additional body work but to me the 20s visually fill out the wheel wells much better. I certainly don’t claim that they provide any performance advantage. I also can’t say there is any performance penalty. I certainly don’t feel any but then again this is my street missile and not a track toy.
Certainly, if you like the look of the 20s on your car, more power to you. There are plenty of wheel choices and designs so everyone can make their car look the way they want it to. The only performance advantage to a larger wheel is the ability to fit larger brakes, but since even 6-piston PCCBs fit inside a 19" wheel, there's no performance benefit to running a 20" wheel over a 19" wheel and the heavier weight (compared to the same wheel in a 19" size) does have a performance penalty in unsprung weight and angular momentum, whether you can feel that penalty when you're driving the car or not. The heaviest portion of most wheels is the barrel as that's where most of the material is and the further you move weight away from the rotational center, the harder it is to stop that weight from rotating (deceleration) and to start that weight rotating (acceleration). Now in a turbo that's never lacking for acceleration and with Porsche brakes being so good, on a street driven car only, you probably don't feel it, even if it's there and in your case the look of the car with the larger wheels may trump any performance benefit that going with a smaller wheel would provide, which is also fine. Every mod usually has a compromise, whether that's in performance or sometimes just price.
When I built my widebody cayenne, I had planned to use the OEM 21" wheels which I liked the look of quite a bit for that car, but with the wider bodywork, the car completely dwarfed the wheels. Since I had to change the wheels I also decided to install 410 mm PCCBs as part of the project so moved up to 22s that provide the right visual balance and clearance for the brakes. So wider and more aggressive bodywork, like the Turbo has over the regular Carrera models probably helps the 20s to look better. Got pics?
8Lug - you're right in that it's a nice looking setup on your car with that wheel style in that color and the forged Champion wheels are excellent. I put them right up there with Forgeline, HRE, etc as far as lightness, strength, and quality go. Incidentally, the only other 997 I saw that I liked with 20s on it was also running Champion wheels, and they may have even been the exact same wheel you're running.
I think this setup looks awesome! I can't stop looking at it -
Guys, I have HR wheels 20's 9 front 11.5 rears, I was concern the ride would be horrible, consider I am 57yrs and only owned 911 I was overally concern because they have always been my DD for winter, I use my old Jeep - anyway - the ride is not bad, mind you I also have the PS9 setup - with the roads in NJ, I thought it would be really hard, not at all - again, all things being relative :-) hope this helps
10-15-2019, 11:58 AM
19" vs 20" summer wheels?
