Ryan V

Being new with Rennlist, I am still struggling with this format. I have just bought a 1988 944S to drive at DE's. It is all stock with the stock 15" Phone dials. I wanted to upgrade and started looking at well-known Porsche wheel websites. They told me Boxster or 996 wheels would fit. Through a friend of a friend I wound up with a set of 18" chrome 993 turbo look wheels for very cheap. This guy had sold his 996 a few months ago and kept them to sell later. They bolted right up with no problems or rubbing (have not been to a DE yet with them). The car felt like it was on rails! 15" to 18" was a huge difference!

Now, I am wondering if I should have checked into this wheel idea more. Do I need spacers or something else to keep the suspension geometry correct?

Here are the numbers from the back of them:
Back - 993.362.140
Front - 993.362.134

Any help someone can give is greatly appreciated.

PS-The chrome is a bit much for me. What are your thoughts on having them blasted and painted gunmetal gray or black? Will the blasting process weaken the wheel?

Danno

Give us the offset numbers near the wheel-size markings. ETxx will tell us if you need spacers or not. Also what size are the wheels?

tifosiman

One thing that you should do is upgrade the caster blocks on the rear of your a-arms to the 968 units. There was a tech bulletin released on this several years back regarding the use of 17" wheels on 944 models (which all had 15" or 16" wheels from the factory), and Porsche stated that you need to upgrade to the 968 caster blocks (that are beefier with less rubber and more metal) in order to help with tramlining issues. Although Porsche never did say they approved the use of 18" wheels on the 944 series cars, you should probably be OK with the caster upgrade.

Ryan V

Thanks guys,
I will get the offset numbers and get back with you. I believe the wheels are 18" x 10" and 18" x 8". The tires currently on it are 265/35/18 amd 225/40/18. The back tires actually look a little small on the rim to me, but I am no expert.

Ryan V

Here are the castings in the back of the wheels. They were somewhat hard to read but here goes:

Front: 7.5Jx18-ET50
Back: 10Jx18-ET65 (hard to read)

Back to the original question now. Can I safely use these on my car for DE? Or should I get spacers or the upgraded caster blocks as mentioned above. Does Rennlist have a place that has the acceptable offsets listed per model?

If they are absolutely bad for my 944S, will they work for my '04 Boxster?
Thanks for all the help,
Ryan

Bill L Seifert

Ryan,

I doubt there is any problem with them, and yes they will fit your Boxster. If you want a real expert opinion, try emailing Jim Pasha, you will notice he writes an article in Excellence every month, drives a 968, and knows the 944's and Boxsters like the back of his hand. His email address is JAPasha@aol.com

He always answers, and you can take is opinions to the bank

Bill Seifert

1987 944S Race Car