I am ordering a 2007 C2 and love the S 19' wheels. Will these hurt the performance or ride of my car or will they perform the same? I LOVE the look of them but don't want to mess up a good thing.

thanks

 

The 19' rims come with a lower profile tire so the overall size of the wheel/tire will be pretty close to the standard C2 with 18's.

 

So will the lower profile tires = bumpier ride and if so will it be very noticable in the cabin?

 

Well I was explaining the rim/tire size comp as I thought you were worried about acceleration differences with the larger rims; the ride in the S with 19's is pretty tame. There should also be some C2's at the dealer with 19's you can test.

 

thanks. Sounds like it's a safe upgrade either way.

 

I'd definitely drive one on 19's first. The ride on the S is OK thanks to PASM, which makes up for the teeny tiny sidewalls on the tyres. The 19's DO look better (thank you Porsche for making the wheel wells so damn big that anything smaller than 19's look small and encourage us all to spend ££ on bigger wheels), but they won't do the ride or handling any favours.

 

I attended PDE last May after picking up my new C4S. During a discussion with the instructors, the question was asked why they did not put 19's on the C2 PDE vehicles. (They have a few C2S with 19's)

We were told that the C2 had stability issues with the 19" wheels. I don't remember exactly what the issue was, but it had something to do with the suspension not being properly matched with the 19's. According to our instructors, PDE students wrecked 10 cars during the 05 season with the 19's, which prompted a return to the standard wheels for this season's cars.

 

I, too, love the 997S 19s, and bought a set to put on my base 997. They're sitting in the garage; I'll probably get to swapping them later this week or next. If you haven't made a decision by then, I'd be happy to give you my back-to-back impressions.

I'm predicting a slightly harsher ride over sharp bumps and a bit more understeer at the limit given the wider, lower profile rear tires. (No doubt PASM takes care of some of this on the S models.)

Regarding handling on a racetrack, I'm keeping the 18s for that. As mentioned by somebody else, the base car ultimately handles better with 18s. That's what the suspension was developed for.

 

Mine rides like a champ w/ 19" Carrera Classic wheels....no issues here. As a matter o' fact, IMO, the car turns better and is more responsive w/ 19 than 18. Only my personal opinion though.


Guido

 

there is a video, I think the board member "coochas" has it on his site - of side by side tests in Japan of the C2/C2S on the track, where they talk about the handling characteristics of the 19s.

 

No chance a C2 had stability issues. The overall diam is similar so it cant make that much difference other than ride firmness with a smaller sidewall. it has little, if no effect on suspension geometry to explain wrecks.

 

I drove my C2 (standard suspension) for a couple of weeks with the standard 18" wheels and tires, before switching out for a set of Carrera S 19"s. If anything, it seemed that the ride got better with the 19"s (although I suspect that maybe the dealer had the 18"s pumped up to too high an air pressure). I'm keeping the 18"s for use with winter tires. Anyway, I think the ride with the 19"s on a standard suspension C2 is perfecly fine.

Nigel