PedalFaster

The 8" F, 10" R combo was never demonstrated to be a factory-available option for the 986. The combo being listed in the owner's manual probably wouldn't be sufficient to hold up against a protest -- an ordering guide would be better. For that reason, I'm not aware of anyone having run those sizes on a Stock 986 at a national-level event.

If you have proof that it was a factory option, you'll want to bring that to the first big event that you run in that configuration, not to mention sharing it here since others could benefit from it.

Edit: A bunch of us spent a bunch of time trying to more conclusively establish the legality (or illegality) of the 8" F, 10" R combo here: http://boxcar-racing.com/forum/index.php?topic=313.0.

sjfehr

Has anyone ever been protested for this in the 6 years since that thread was posted? Even if we can't prove they were literally installed at the factory, the wheels are Porsche OEM parts that were optional on the car brochure, reflected in the owner's manual, and seems well within the spirit of the rule to permit.

Moot for me as I'm deep in the hunt for a unicorn SS 987.2S PDK and don't plan on further developing my 986S. Not even using the 18" oz wheels I already have since I can't get BFG or ZII in the appropriate sizes for them.

e: Has anyone asked their local Porsche dealership if cars with special wheels show up on the cars or if they have to swap them out before delivery? They might not remember what happened 10 years ago, but what they do now will at least help us with the present generation of cars.

PedalFaster

To my knowledge no one's shown up to a national-level event in a Boxster with that wheel configuration ever, so as far as I'm aware, the conversation hasn't progressed since that old thread.

Were the wheels listed in the main Boxster brochure or an accessories brochure? If the latter, they're probably not legal. Consider as an analogy the performance parts offered by TRD, GMPP, etc. I know TRD had brochures listing stiffer springs for several models, and GMPP sold chips for turbo Solstices that gave them a lot more power. None of those are legal in Stock.

Not necessarily:

Bolding is mine.

Just to be clear -- when that thread happened, I owned a Boxster S and did a *lot* of research trying to prove that 8" fronts were legal, but came up with nothing. Since it's been a while, I just went back and looked at the 2003 and 2004 order guides for the 986, 986S, and the 50th Anniversary Edition. None of them list 8" front wheels as an orderable option.

sjfehr

Well, let this thread be a record that on Aug 25th, 2013, you can go to the Porsche website and order a 981 Boxster S with these wheels:
19" Boxster S wheels
19" Cayman S wheels
20" Carerra S wheels
20" Carerra Classic wheels
20" SportTechno wheels

981 Boxster can be optioned with these wheels:
18" Boxster wheels
18" Cayman wheels
19" Boxster S wheels
19" Cayman S wheels
20" Carerra S wheels
20" Carerra Classic wheels
20" SportTechno wheels

Within the website order form, you can also choose european delivery with whichever of these wheels you want. Which you pick up at the factory. Which means these wheels are all available as factory-installed items.

Actually, wasn't the same true of 986 and 987? Pretty sure I saw the whole array of factory wheels on the website last year, too.

Edit: actually, found my copy of the "Preliminary 2004 Boxster S" order guide. That the same one you have? There are 5 option codes for wheels:
#411: 18" Lt Alloy Carerra Wheels 7.5x18 / 9x18
#415: 18" Turbo Look II Wheels 7.5x18 / 9x18
#XRA: 17" Sport Classic Wheels 7x17 / 8.5x17
#XRB: 18" Sport Classic Wheels 7.5x18 / 9x18
#XRL: 18" Sport Design Wheels 7.5x18 / 9x18

So we could get 7.5x17 & 9x17" under the new allowance, but not 8/10s, unless it changed after the preliminary ordering guide was drafted. We'd need a copy of that ordering guide to prove it, though.

Per the 2009 Boxster Order Guide,
2009 Boxster/S Could be optioned with:
#399 17" Cayman II Wheel (no size listed; Boxster option only, not available on S)
#404 19" Turbo Wheel (8x19 / 11x19)
#405 19" Carrera Classic Wheel (8x19 / 11x19)
#407 19" Sport Design Wheel (8x19 / 11x19)
#408 18" Boxster S II Wheel (no size listed)
#409 18" Cayman S II Wheel (no size listed)
#419 19" Carrera S wheel (no size listed)

PedalFaster

Wheel name isn't enough -- in the 996 / 986 era, Porsche made identically named but dimensionally different wheels available on both the 911 and Boxster. Picking two examples semi-randomly: the Sport Design and Carrera wheels were both available in 7.5" F / 9" R form on the Boxster, and 8" F / 10" R form on the 911.

Porsche apparently made some mention of fitting 911-sized wheels on Boxsters, but again, you'll want to be able to prove it was a factory (or potentially port) orderable configuration.

Earlydays

It's not worth the worry unless you're killing all the competition...then you'll be protested....otherwise you'll be ignored.

sjfehr

I don't pretend to be a national champion quality driver, but I do have aspirations of maybe winning a trophy at nats. Would hate to finally make the trip and by some miracle do well, only to get protested because of a technicality over a half inch of wheel width.

knfeparty

Ditto. I wish that the euro gt3 seats had been available for order in the US but I put my original one back in for this reason.

PedalFaster

With all due respect, when several people put a bunch of effort into investigating whether a wider wheel's legal or not and conclude that it's not, if you show up with that wheel anyway despite full knowledge of the investigation, if you get protested it's not "because of a technicality".

In my opinion it's not worth showing up with the wider wheels unless you're really sure you're protest-proof (i.e. you find some documentation that the rest of us couldn't). If you're not a trophy-caliber driver, a half inch of wheel isn't going to get you there; conversely, if you are a trophy-caliber driver, you're not going to need that half inch.

sjfehr

Was that the takeaway? It sounded to me like after all that research, it was still inconclusive, and though most sizes appear to meet all of SCCA's requirements, the community has been unable to prove it beyond all doubt. I'd never drive a wheel I thought to be illegal.

abqautoxer

It is not a technicality at all, it is a rule and you would be consciously cheating since you just were told it's probably not legally and did it anyway, not a technicality. It's racing, there are rules, follow them. I'll never understand those that choose to ignore some. If there wasn't a potential for a competitive advantage, their wouldn't be a rule for it.

PedalFaster

The community was unable to find any documentation that suggested that the 8" front wheels would be legal. Maybe in your mind that's "still inconclusive", but in my mind a protest committee would likely find them to be noncompliant. How much effort needs to be put into finding something before reasonable people conclude that that thing doesn't exist?

Again, you mentioned that "the wheels were optional on the car brochure". If you have a North American Boxster sales brochure that actually lists them as an option, then you're onto something. Conversely, if they're listed as an Tequipment accessory, even in the main Boxster sales brochure, that isn't proof of legality.

I going to stop debating this with you at this point. I would have loved to have had 8" front wheels when I had my Boxster, but I gave up on them after doing a bunch of research. You seem intent on running them, and are more optimistic about how they'd fare in a protest than I am. I've contributed all of the context that I have, so it's your call at this point. Do let the rest of us know how that goes (seriously), because it would really help everyone else if 8" front wheels were found legal.

sjfehr

Huh? Nah, thought I was clear - I'm not looking to buy new giant 986 wheels (the 8x18/10x18" are dubious at best and not something I'd risk running). Nobody is making 18" tires in the right sizes right now so it's a completely moot point anyhow. I'm using my stock Porsche 17" wheels this season, and plan to do so until I can find that unicorn 987.2 I'm on the hunt for.

I was asking more with regards to 987.2 wheel sizes for next year. Are 8x19" / 11x19" legal for 2009-10 987.2S? They're listed in the 2009 ordering guide- is that a definite yes?

If I wasn't clear already: I have no intention of using a wheel I'm not at least 99.99% certain is 100% legal.

knfeparty

It's totally legal to run 8x18 and 10x18s...on a 996 (:

I got rained out in Orlando yesterday and did 3 very wet runs on my street tires. Fun but not fast. Hope the weather cooperates in Lincoln.
Part of me wants to drop some cash on a new set of hoosiers, but it's my first time to nats so I think my BFG R1-S will hold out for a few more runs.

edfishjr

So, I've been wondering about a 2009 Cayman in AStreet next year. Everyone seems to think I'm crazy. But, taking a hint from this thread, I found the 2009 order guide and low and behold, you could order a 2009 Cayman with 8.5/11 wide wheels.

Option XRR, 19" Carrera Sport wheel, 8.5J x 19, 11J x 19.

Also, you could order 5mm spacers.

This significantly increases the grip factor when I rate this car against the others in AStreet.
This wheel option is also listed in the 2009 Boxster order guide.

When I go to the Automobile magazine website, they list 3 different wheels options at 8 and 11 for the 2009 Cayman, and 1 option called a 19" Turbo at 8.5 and 11. Personally, the Automobile data appears a little wacky.