fapena

In a few weeks I'll get my 997 GT3. It will be my first Porsche I am plannig to do as many DEs as I can this coming season.

I am trying to figure out what 18' wheels will fit on the car with steel rotors. I have been lurking around the forum for close to 5 months and I am aware of several threads where "potential" wheels were mentioned, but as far as I can tell none where actually purchased and mounted, at least I am not aware of any follow on that.

I am considering Forgeline, Champion and even 996 GT3 wheels (although I assume they will be significantly heavier than the other two). Has anybody physically fit any of those wheels in a 997? And if so, what model of what brand name?

The second part of the thread is the set up to be at the track. Is the one on the owners manual good enough or we should/could extrapolate some data from the "professionals" (the Cup car boys)

Thanks all in advance for the help and the past very informative months.

Fernando

BobbyC

Why 18" wheels? Why any other setup other than Porsche recommended? What makes you think "your" setup is superior to what the engineers at Zuffenhausen have spent countless testing and trials to perfect? And this is your first Posrche, right?

fapena

The idea of 18' wheels is to have a lighter set of wheels than the factory ones and more variety of rubber to play with than the 19s'.

I never implied I know or I'll find out something better than the Germans have done so far, I am just trying to get the setting as close as we can to "it" from the begining. What I was probably trying to ask is if we should be prepared to avoid the difficulties that the 996 GT3 had with the factory set up or if we should go by the manual and life will be good.

My level of humbleness with this car is at its maximum, trust me.

Thanks

BobbyC

I'm gonna be sticking with how Porsche intended it...for a long, long time till I know any better.

GT3 Nut

I have ordered a set of Fikse 18" wheels for my incoming 997 GT3. I am going with 18" for the availabilty of tires and the weight savings as well.

Welcome to Porsche ownership! You will thoroughly enjoy the car. Don't let others jumping to conclusions ruin your enthusiasm.
I will say that the stock wheels and tires should be pretty good for most people. But I don't see 19's on Cup cars.
As far as set-up goes, I plan on setting the alignment similar to what I had on my 996 GT3. Now if I could only find those notes....

fapena

Thank you for your support and information.

What model of Fikse are you getting if you don't mind me asking?

Thanks again.

GT3 Nut

Profil 5S in satin black.

jrgordonsenior

It's been discussed before, But I think Porsche went with 19's to attract those of us here in So Cal who care about such things... Good choice, you'll find a much better selection in 18's....

Carrera GT

The three brands you mention are all good. Of them, the factory GT3 wheel is the heaviest and all but negates the "saving" in staying with 18's.

For my solution, I've contacted Forgeline with my specs (to create the maximum rim width front and rear without spacers, to widen the track to RS spec and run 19's around PCCBs) and I'll wait for them to deliver product. For the interim, I plan on buying a set of factory 997 GT3 wheels, paint the centres black and use those as an alternative look for the car to run on the street while the silver wheels do duty on the track. Not that I'll do many more track days this year, but I do see myself going to track rubber rather than the second gen Sport Cups, just because I can put the dollars to better purpose than paying close to $2K to travel 2K miles just in rubber. : ) Of course, that's a pretty flimsy economy since the real saving is only the delta versus the capital outlay etc.

Anyway, my only thought is to keep the rpm (revolutions per mile) close to the same or be sure to adjust the speedo and odometer as well as compensating with ride height for the lower stance of the car if you run 18's with a "996" overall rolling radius.

All that said, of course, you might also consider BBS, Fikse, Kinesis, etc. In terms of design, I like Champion. In terms of bulletproof Monk, I like BBS. For best of the best, the Forgeline ZX3R with Ti fasteners is my pick.

AgingRacefully

One thing has become very clear to me since purchasing my first new porsche in 1970,and that is that even Porsche compromises. The 19's are great for the street, but the 18's are better suited to the track for sedveral reasons--the first, as noted by several members is tire selection, the second is vulnerability of short-sidewals to rumble strips or the occassional "off". While I don't plan to track my GT-3 since I have several dedicated Porsche race cars, I would immediately grab a set of Fikse or Kenesis wheels with some Hoosiers (or Dunlops) and some protective film if I were heading to the track.

Important-- if you are going to get the most out of the GT-3, get a good race shop to put an agressive allignment on it. You won't believe the improvement over the stock settings (again, a compromise by the factory to make the car more street friendly)

Have fun, Rick

lawjdc

I think your choice of Fikse wheels is a good one, but I do not understand your remark about the availability of tires. I don't know of any 305's being made in R compound rubber other than the 305/30 X 19 MPSC tire. Are you planning on running a width other than 305 in the rear?

(For the record, I would much rather run 18's, but with PCCB's that will be problematic)

jimhuber

Yes Hoosier R 6 for Porsche. Look at the web site.

Racerron

The OZ Superleggera III works very well on the 996 GT3 with 5mm spacers in front. I see no reason that they should not work on a 997 GT3. It's a high quality wheel and would be going on my new RS when it arrives except for the rears are 11" and not 12".
The reason for staying with 18's is the larger choice of good rubber.

NJ-GT

You could use the 997 GT3 Cup and 997 GT3 RSR as a guideline, take advantage of what Porsche has already done, I went this path with my car.

The narrow body race car uses a more aggressive offset than the street 997 GT3 RS, with a much wider track front and rear, but still within the narrow body fenders. The Cup brakes are as big as the PCCB on the 997 GT3, but the Cup still uses 18".

The 18" wheels with shorter sidewall tires front and rear, and wider contact patch tires to compensate for load ratings, will provide faster lap times. Final gear could be close to 3.6 instead of the long stock 3.44, just by changing rear tire diameters, with proportional front changes to keep the balance.

My narrow body 996 runs 10"/12", the wider street 997 GT3 could run 10"/12.5" on 18" and the RS 10"/13" on 18". The new RSR runs 11"/13" on 18".

GT3 Nut

First off, I also have PCCB's and there are Fikse and BBS wheels in 18" sizes that WILL fit. I previously thought it was going to be a problem but after some checking I found out otherwise.

As far as tire sizes go, I am not 100% sure of what tires I will use.
Some possibilties:
Hoosier R6 245/40-18 front and 315/30-18 rear
Pirelli slicks 245/645-18 front and 305/660-18 rear
Michelin SX slicks 24/64-18 front and 27/65-18 rear.
Toyo RA1 245/40-18 front and 305/35-18 rear