Wheel size help/reassurance

Hi guys, My new alloys turned up yesterday so I have just been test fitting them and I'm a bit concerned I have messed up? They came as a recommended size by the supplier and I know they will fit but will they look ok? I'm going from 10" x 18" ET65 rears to 9.5" x 19" ET45 resulting in a 13.7mm further poke out at the rear which will work fine. The front however is going from 7.5" x 18" ET50 to 8.5" x 19" ET45 resulting in a further poke out of 17.7mm. It looks ok but they are slightly proud of the arch! It's caught me out as I had managed to convince myself that the fronts were 8" wide so it was only going to be 1/2" with a 5mm reduction in offset.

You could consider introducing some more negative camber or having the front arches rolled to make the fronts fit. However, a lot of people use 15mm spacers with the stock wheels, so at 17mm, your poke might not be that big of an issue.

Cheers Martin. I put the original wheel back on and dropped it back onto the ground to check where it sits and this has put my mind at rest somewhat. As it happens my front arches have been rolled by a previous owner which should help.

I run 15mm spacers up the front and could probably even run to 20mm so you may well be ok. As Martin says though maybe dialling in a bit more negative camber may help (Mine is running about 1.5 degrees) though I imagine if you running those wheels I'm guessing you're looking at a suspension drop too. So I'd expect your front wheels will likely fit. If it was me though my main concern would be the effect on balance and handling of going quite a lot wider on the front wheels and quite a lot narrower on the rear than standard. It might be ok though. I guess you're about to find out. Those are lovely looking wheels though...

...for me the question is not will they fit; but the fact that 19 inch wheels will ruin the ride and handling balance of a 996 but each to their own I guess... From someone running the superlight original 10 spoke 17s...look weedy but offer a sublime ride and handling balance...

I use 17" 10-spokes too, and for the same reasons, but I wasn't going to point out the downsides of crazy-big wheels to the OP as he's already bought them. Still it's nice to know I'm now in a club of at least three users of 17" lightweight wheels on the 996. The other is ELA, builder of the extraordinary 996 CLR.

Thanks for the feedback guys. I knew going to 19's would be a contentious choice but as it only makes it out of the garage on nice days there's an element of style over substance going on here :lol: I'm only loosing 5% of the aspect ratio over the Porsche wheels on the car so it will be interesting to see the difference.

My concern would be regarding the 19" diameter as well. Not just due to ride and weight but that the overall diameter of the wheel and tyre will be slightly larger than most 18s and therefor it will stick out more than a standard 18" wheel with a 15mm spacer. What suspension set up are you running as well? The front arch gap in the photo looks about standard.

EDITED TO CORRECT MISTAKE: 996.2 gt3 wheels which fit fine in a stock 996 - they are 18" 8.5J ET40. The front arch is rolled from factory, but what you might find is that on full lock you rub the plastic arch liners. Tyres with a rounded (rather than square) shoulder profile will help here It's the rear arch that isn't rolled (at least on the early 996), but again the 996.2 GT3 11" wheels fit no problem - 11J et63 I put a lot of investigation into 996 wheels before i had some custom made - this video i made of the results might help you https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyZIx9Z2r-I&t=624s

Did you just place them on the car without lowering it? If so the wheels will camber in when the cars weight is on the suspension. I think you will be fine width wise but the overall RR will be the thing to watch as I believe you will probably have slightly bigger diameter overall.

Aren't the 996.2 GT3 wheels 18"?

Yes sir 18; i should have used a colon if it wasn't clear! However you made me realise my mistake that the offsets are 5mm different - my bad.

Having just run your new and old wheels through www.willtheyfit.com I think you will probably be ok as long as you're not a Carrera 4? I think maybe the rolling circumferences might be a bit tricky for 4wd but I've just made assumptions on tyre sizes. At the rear if you were to fit 265/30R19 tyres you'll in theory have about 14mm more poke than you have now. And a diameter fractionally smaller. I run 15mm spacers on my car (Adding 15mm more poke to the standard wheels) and they fit fine. At the front if you were to fit 235/35R19 tyres (Which might be a bit stretched on the 8.5s... you'll need to confirm) but tyre wise you'll have about 18mm more poke than your factory wheels. Again I run 15mm spacers on the front of mine with no issues and probably room for a little bit more. I notice on my wheel arch liners there is a patch of 'Cleaner" plastic where I think my tyres are JUST touching them on full lock but not noticeable when driving. I suspect yours might touch a little bit more. This would give you a rolling circumference of 2033mm at the front and 2016mm rear which seems pretty close, seemingly closer than the factory wheels front to rear. One area that may be an issue is that the new wheel inset will be about 8mm more and might get close to the strut inboard but I'm afraid I don't know how much space is in there from the factory. Quickly bolting the wheels onto the car will answer that one though. Please check and confirm all this for yourself though; I can't provide and definitive answers. Do please post some pictures when fitted though, as I said before I love the look of the wheels.

Wheels fitted today and I'm really pleased with them 8) If I'm honest I would have preferred the fronts to be a touch narrower but I'm happy enough. Test drive was good, runs perfectly straight and the road noise is also greatly reduced.