StanThePorscheFan

Some believe that following years of development by german engineers, it is unlikely one can make a Porsche better at anything by modifying it's original set up. I am one of those people. However, I never thought wheels and tires could be a part of that perfect balance.
My '10 C4S came ordered from the factory with 11.5" rear Carrera Sport wheels wearing Bridgestones RE050. I loved that tire. The car always felt glued at Mosport. 3-4 DE days and 37000km later I switched to MPSS and put them on newly acquired set of OEM Turbo II off a 997.2TT, 11" at the rear. Both, the new wheels and tires where lighter than the original set up. Lighter is good, right? Not in my case. The new set up made the car oversteer at medium speeds city corners. On the track the car lost some of that feeling of security. It took forever to get heat into the MPSS. They never got as sticky as the RE050s. Great in the rain though.
Anyway, I finally needed new tires and decided to go back to the original set up. Carrera Sport wheels with new Bridgestone Pole Positions. I could not believe it. I can feel the road again. The understeer is gone. The car feels planted. I love it. Again.

Have you ever changed anything on your car just to realize it "lost" something in the process?


P.S. Thanks again, Zook! Big props to Simply Tire. Simply Awesome!

Bacura

This is my 4th 911. On my first 2 and a bit on the third I did modify many things. Looking back I wasted a ton of money. I had many problems with modifications. At best they improved nothing.....was all in my head. Never again. Stock all the way. I ordered the options I wanted and that's it. I changed wheels/tires/shocks/exhausts/differentials/chip etc etc. The worst was when Heimrath put turbo wheels and tires on my 1992 C2. It drove like crap. Changed it back after 2 weeks. Anyone here that knows Heimrath can imagine how that went down. Even the partial RUF conversion was a waste. I hated my RUF steering wheel. Save your money. Those Porsche engineers are pretty smart.

Imo000

Shoehorning a supercharger into my 928 was the best thing for it.

Mark Lue

Stan thats interesting, it's great that you got it back to where you like it.

I recall an article I saw years ago in the Panorama or was it in theFixin the Porsche... any way it told a similar tale about an owner of a 70s model 911 that added suspension bits to get rid of some mild understeer but the parts he added made the car "evil" handling,.... to make a long story short he found a mechanic who fix the problem by putting everything back to factory and simply added an upgraded front clip that did wonders to balance the car.

Christien

Bilstein sport shocks are nice at the track but wincing at every crack in the road and all-out clenching at RR crossings gets old, fast. So yeah, should've gone for the regular when the original ones needed replacing.

The ducktail looks nice, and adds downforce (not that I've ever noticed it) but again, factory design.

Adding a front swaybar was the single biggest improvement I've ever made to the car. Night and day handling difference, and it cost all of $250 and took an hour to install. And again, it was available from the factory as an option. The original owner of the car should've opted for it. To think the car went some 35 years without one...

MSD ignition is one thing that wasn't factory that is probably a good upgrade. Better fuel economy and WAY more reliable than the original, especially the Mexican-built CD boxes.

So yeah, I'm with you! Generally, the original designers know best.

destro

MPSS are great but I read that the sidewalls are softer compared to RE050s. But you're getting great longevity 140 vs 300 tread depth. Also you're running wider tires now in the rear so you should have a more balanced car. But good to know will need to get new tires by next season.

Mark Lue

Stan, maybe you just need a camber adjustment for the MPSS tires to make 'em work.

StanThePorscheFan

In both cases the tires are 305 width, but the rim width is half inch difference.


Maybe. I know, its weird, but that is what my experience is. Wish I could explain it.

breakfast

they definitely have softer sidewalls.

Generally, there are always ways to make a street car better. But you can't just throw money at it and expect great results. All depends on what your goals are, what the condition of what you are replacing is in etc.


did you compare lap times between the two set ups?

Mark Lue

Prolly too late but I good check when in doubt is to put a bit of shoe polish on the sidewall/tread area to gage how much roll over you are getting. It could have been tell tale in the case of narrower wheels and/or tires with softer sidewalls; in the end it is all about the contact patch.

myw

any photos stan of the original (new) setup?

i never understood why porsche made the rear turbo II wheels smaller sized compared to the turbo I rears (and carerra sports) that were both 11.5".

a cost thing i am guessing re using a single mold for the 19 inch wheels since they used the turbo II wheel for 20" panamera and even 21" for cayenne.

StanThePorscheFan

I will post a pic when it stops snowing here. Perhaps they saw more benefit from the weight saving over the rim width.

993GT

friends don't let friends drive stock

jumper5836

For newer cars that are controller by electronics, suspension and wheel and tires setups will mess up what the Porsche test drivers have fine tuned from what their engineers equipped the cars with.
When you go and modify those areas you are not taken into account how the changes effect what the electronics are programed for.

StanThePorscheFan

Greg, that is what surprised me. Is it possible that the factory fine tunes the car based on the type of wheels (and tires?) that I order?