Rick

I've not heard that...if that were the case, how are we permitted to run Forgeline, Fikse, Kinesis, etc? Below are the portions of the PCA Club Racing rulebook that pertain to wheels. It would be interesting to know if/how some of the replicas do or do not meet 'factory safety specifications.' I would never think of running some of the off-brand replicas anyway.

Edward

As Oddjob said, crack happens ...ok so he didn't quite say it that way
But it's true. It may not happen to everyone, but cracks occur more regularly than never. My point is this should be expected, and wheels are a consumable cost like tires and brakes. BUT, that's one hell of a consumable expense! So if your budget includes wheel replacement, go for the lightweight forged options. I'm a hack, myself, and just want to go out and have fun out there, and minimizing my costs IS very much part of the fun. This is one of the reasons that I've always chosen OEM Porsche wheels for track work ...proven strength, reasonable cost, and arguably the best performance/$ ratio out there, IMHO anyway.

Edward

Z-man

Actually, I've found some great deals on Porsche OEM wheels. I have typically paid $100 per 16" wheel, and the wheels I've bought include: 968 5-spokes, Design-90's, and 944 Turbo cup (forged alloy) wheels. All for around $100 a corner.

For DE, there really is no reason to go with a lighter, less durable wheel, unless the ego requires it. Then again, there's also no need for R-compounds and modified cars - if we all took this DE stuff seriously, we'd be learning to drive in rear swing-axle 356 coupes!

My $0.42,
-Z.

JimB

I'm a very satisfied Jongebloed customer. I've had them on my 996 race car for 4 years.

Oddjob

Never been a rule that I have come across at any PCA event (various regions). Not saying that there isnt a region or two with this rule, but it certainly is not common. You see a lot of Fuchs replicas, the Mille Miglia and a couple other brands of the 964 Cup I's, 993 Cup II's, and some 18" 993 Turbo Twist replicas all over at track events. They are not dangerous, but they are softer and more prone to bending if you hit a good pot hole or run over rumble strips hard.

Oddjob

Absolutely there are good deals on OEM porsche wheels on the used market, and they are very good for street/track/autocross use. I ran 8x16 phone dials for years, DEs and club racing. Had 4 sets of them and the only one that was ever damaged was actually bent when I bought the car that came with it.

The current aftermarket copies in 17" and 18" are cheaper than the OEM wheels, if comparing new to new, or used to used. Yes, you can probably get a set of used OEM wheels for the same or even slightly less than a set of new replicas.

Since the orig. question was for a 997, Im guessing he is probably going to look for 18". I dont know the 997 rear track width, and what offset wheels they use - so I dont know if the 993 Turbo and 996 Turbo rears will fit (around et 40mm). So he may be limited to the narrow body wheels, but there would still be several options available in OEM wheels (narrow body 993 Twists, Sport Design, Sport Classic, etc...). Would guess that the entry level price for these wheels (good condition used) would be around a $1k and well upward.

Bull

In the past few years, I have seen two replica wheels, one Cup I and one Cup II, where the center section has broken completely away from the rim......not just craked, but where the rim and tire are GONE and the car is traveling on the "spokes" of what is remaining of the wheel. Looked dangerous to me.

38D

Also saw this happen at the Glen a few years ago with a replica Fuch (in fact, I have it on video...)

f1rocks

I bet that really screwed up the braking points.

Bull

Tuff on the track surface too! Looked a bit like something out of the old, original Ben Hur movie........

richard glickel.

Forgeline, Fikse, BBS, et al., are not manufacturing "replica" Porsche wheels, i.e., wheels constructed to appear like, but are not, factory wheels (primarily Fuchs replicas). No, this language is not in the PCA club racing rules (maybe the club figures racers know better than to try and run on crappy wheels). Now, I'm fairly certain I read this "rule" for at least one PCA region's D.E. guidelines (it wasn't a suggestion as I recall), and I tend to retain what I read.

Anyway, rules (or no rule) aside, regardless of what you're riding on, check those wheels & tires for wear and defects before and after (and, depending upon what transpires on the track - during) each event.

Richard

10 GT3

I too ordered a set of CCW's for my 996. I wanted an extra inch of wheel width, 18x9.0" front and 18x11.0" rear. Used GT3 wheels come close, but are over $2K a set if you can find them. As soon as you start looking at BBS, Fikse, Forgelines, Iforged and HRE'; the price is around $1K per wheel. Even Volk TE37s in 18"s are over $500 a wheel and good luck getting them in a 5x130 bolt pattern with the right offsets. In 5x4.5" they are pretty common, be hard to get at anything over a 10" wide wheel.

Complete Custom Wheel was the answer for me. John at CCW has geared his buiness for racers. In fact, most of his customers come from referrals form other racers. Just look at any SCCA national event and you will see them all over the place. Classic 3-piece race wheels are $2K a set for any width or about half the price of those other brands.

You can't beat their service either. I have a friend who had a set of 2-piece welded Forgelines made for his Supra. They were leaking air at the welds twice. Each time, it took Forgeline 6 weeks to 2 months to fix and send them back. When he switched to CCW's and had a driver induced incident on the street with a curb. John had the wheel rebuilt and back to him in a week. I ordered mine a couple of weeks ago and John had clear annodized (light gray) centers and the outer halves in stock to build them. They were put together and shipped in 2 days.

Last, I would recommend going to Michelin Sport Cups over RA1s. The first issue is that Toyo has very few and not the right sizes in 18"s. They only have a choice of 275/35's or 305/35's for the rear. I had them for a Miata I used to own and they are a good tire, they just aren't as fast as the Michelins and tend to loose their grip when they get really hot. I am running GT3 sized Sport Cups on my CCWs. For a 997, I suspect John can do a set of 18x9.0"/18x12.0" and you should be able to run 235/40 and 315/30 Sport Cups on that setup.

JCP911S

Typically, "Replica" wheels are cast not forged... for equal strength, cast wheels are MUCH heavier than forged wheels... cheap cast wheels are not safe

Reducing rotational mass offers significant improvements in accelleration and braking as well as reducing unsprung weight... light wheels are definately a high priority performance issue

karlooz

too bad they don't carry anything wider than 10". i would like 18x10" and 18x12" for the track

bruinbro

I understand they now make an 11" TE37 for Porsches. I have the 10.5" rim.

Bro