Fitting 11' Carrera S Wheels

After reading all the posts I could on wheels - sizes, widths, etc. I have looked at www.wheelenhancement.com wanting a wider wheel and tire (maybe a 295), mostly for a more aggressive look and more tire on the pavement. I would like to stay as OEM as possible and keep the same Carrera S wheels for the rear. They offer the 9.5 (that I have currently) and the 11. Will the 11' be too wide? Even with 15mm rear spacers? I would like anyone's opinion before I move on or trip and fall. If anyone has put 911/Carrera rims on the rear of their cayman, please let me know or post a pic! Thanks for everyone's help, really enjoy the forum.

Call Wheel Enhancement in the morning and they will tell you how wide you can go and what modifications you would need to accommodate the wider wheels. Note that unless you plan to dramatically increase the horse power on the Cayman S , this car already has more rear end grip than it can use.

I know you can put 19x11 rear on the Cayman so I think the answer is yes.I have a Caymans S in the workshop and I will test fit a pair in the morning. Neil

i got 20x11 and 15MM spacers and its perfect!

You also might want to seriously consider adding more (as in wider) rubber to the front also. The cars understeer quite a bit already, and adding that much more rubber to the rear, without adding some to the front will greatly exacerbate that problem. Unless you like a car that pushes like a bulldozer, that is... brad

yogi thanks for your feedback. You had said something about the car shaking at higher speeds - I wonder if its worth going wider on the back if it causes this to happen. What do you think? Neil, let me know what you find out! I appreciate everyone's help!

the shaking is from unbalanced wheels. its hard to balance 20' wheels. youl have to rebalance several times to stabalize it.

if you have them balanced on a hunter machine by a knowledgeable mechanic it shouldnt be hard to get them balanced one time around. something to note however, is that the lower the profile your tire is the more shake you are going to notice in the steering wheel. also, the tires need to 'warm up' if you will. right out of the gate if the car has been sedentary, you are going to feel a little shackiness for a few miles. you can also get that feel if you have a bad tire or wheel that isnt just right. best advice is to go to a shop with a hunter machine and have a road force balancing...you wont regret it.

thanx i already plan on having that done. car goes in in 2-3 weeks for some 9ff stuff and im getting re balanced and im also looking for a good pasm compatible coil over, sway bars and strut braces.

Just a followup on wanting a wider tire on the pavement for the back. I did install 15mm spacers on the back, and 6mm on the front. That seemed to calm the urge down, it looks fantastic. It really gave the cayman the appearance of a wider stance, the wheels dont look so buried under the wheel well. It is surprising so little makes so much difference. While I like the factory look, I still want more tire on the ground for the rear.

To arbx: I was reading your post about wanting wider tires at rear. I too have Carerra S wheels. I was hoping you could offer some more info: You said you installed 15mm spacers at rear and 6mm in front. You said it made a big [positive] difference, did you keep the same Carerra S wheels you had (9.5) or did you buy the wider 11 inchers?

C-man & Arbx, do either of you have the offset dimension for the 11' Carrera Wheels you are fitting? FWIW, the Porsche 'Tequipment Accessories for the Cayman S ' lists the following Porsche fitments Front Rear 1. Carrera Sport 19' 8.5J x 19' ET 55 10.0 x 19 ET 42 2. SprotDesign 19' 8.0J x 19' ET 57 9.5 x 19 ET 46 3. Carrera Classic 19' same 4. Carrera S 19' same 5. Cayman base 18' 8.0J x 18' ET 57 9.0J x 18' ET 43 ****** 6. RAH-43002 & 04 8.5J x 18' ET 52 10.0J x 18' ET 40 From the above, it looks like for every additional 1/2' of rim width (12.7mm) Wheel offset increases from a low of +2 (fronts) to @ +3 to +4mm in the rear. This is not quite half, 6.35mm, the actual rim width increase. FWIW, I wanted to order a set of the BBS RK wheels for the car from either Wheel Exchange or TireRack, but ... for the cost I wanted at least 10' rears to possibly accomodate285 or 295 rear tires. Wheel Enhancements tells me the BBS RS- GTs to fit the Caymen are not available in a 10' or greater width. To get 10' or wider rears, I was told I'd have to order custom wheels which would, at a minimum not be available for less than at least $3k a set, . As an interim solution, for track and winter tire use if needed, I've ordered a set of RH Wheels ( www.RH-Wheels.com ) Porsche turbo look 'knock offs' which can be had in 10' rears. RH's shipping invoice lists the fitments as 6. RAH-43002 & 04 8.5J x 18' ET 52 10.0J x 18' ET 40 Which slightly exceeds the ET42 used on the 10' OEM 19' Carrera Sport Wheels. I think it would be nice to have some kind of wheel 'fitment' thread on the Board - or maybe one already exists? I'd like to avoid the use of wheel spacers if I can. I also don't want to be 'penny wise, pound foolish' when it comes to track wheel choices. I'll be watching the RH's pretty closely. I don't know much about their construction etc. but I doubt they are a forged wheel. Anyway, HTH some one with their wheel choices. FWIW, I also considered the OZ Superleggerra III's which TireRacks fitment guide suggests are available in 10' rears to fit the Cayman.

I already have Carerra S's (19 x 10) in the rear and (19 x 8.5) front with no spacers. When I first bought my Cayman dealer was going to install 19 x11 rear from a new 911 , using spacers the wheels still rubbed the suspension pieces as I was shown when they had the car up on the lift. I inquired today at the Porsche Center regarding spacers as I just wanted a more aggressive look. The service and parts managers both said Porsche officially only recommends the 3/8 inch or roughly 5mm spacers. Porsche says anything more than this and vehicle handling dynamics are compromised. At any rate I also checked with Porsche North America and they confirmed the same thing the POrsche Center told me, they said you can add the wider spacers but they could not say how the suspension pieces would wear and how the car would handle in an emergency situation 9handling dynamics compromised). Anyway, I've decided that for now I am going to stay with the steup I have. I think it looks good the way it is.

Thanks C-man. While my car came wtih the optional 19' wheels in the same style you have, albeit in 8.0' fronts and 9.5' rears, compared with your 8.5/10' setup, at the moment I need (& I think want) to stick with 18' for track tires and snows. Seem's like off the shelf choices in 10' wide 18's are some what limited. Nice looking car. What size tires then are you runing with the 8.5' x 10' wheel widths?

Thanks, I'm running 235/35 ZR 19 (F) and 265/35ZR 19 (R)

Check out Iforge group buy on 6speed... [ Link Deleted - cannot advertise non-sponsor group buys on this site - thanks! ] (BTW, that info you provided is enough for a saavy person to find it anyway so I'll allow the post as informational, but not a direct link to someone else's group buy who isn't a sponsor since that is one of the privileges that sponsors enjoy here, the ability to host/run group buys) - Thanks for your understanding! dw

C-man I went with the 15mm (rear) and 6mm (front) on my oem 9.5 Carrera S rear wheels. I would have to go with a 24mm spacer if I chose to go with a 11' Carrera S rim. 24mm may be too much for my taste. Having the 15/6mm combination, I am really happy with the look. You would not believe the small differences in how it brings the wheels out a little bit, more even with the wheel well. I have not noticed any problems/differences in handling - even on the track. I was relunctant as well, I am not a big mod guy but I wanted a beefer look, I thought a wider wheel in back was the answer until now. The stock look is beautiful in its own right but I just felt the wheels were buried too much up under the wheel well. My girlfriend noticed the difference without her even knowing I bought spacers. I am happy with what I did - if it changes I just take them off.

arbx thanks for the information. I think I am exactly in the same boat as you. I am seriously considering adding the spacers just like you did. Do you think you could provide some photos so I can get an idea of what it looks like? Also, where did you get your spacers and how much? Did your ride quality change after you installed the spacers? Any info you can provide would be very helpful as I want the same beefy, aggressive look you described. Thanks!

So arbrx, do you know what your front and rear offset went from ~ to with the spacers? How close, if at all are you to needing new, longer lug bolts, or do you still have plenty of registration with the stock bolts/nuts? I've gone with 8.5' wheels that claim a 52mm offset front, and 10' wheels with a 40mm offset rear. According to the UPS tracking service they should be here Monday, along with a set of Pagid Orange pads, hopefully all in time to be set up for the Porsche Club DE next weekend.

mlpor, No one should add any spacer to your Cayman without using longer bolts. You lose too much thread length to be safe in my opinion.

Fitting 11" Carrera S Wheels Did you ever get 11" wheels for your Cayman? If so, how did it work out? I am curious as to how it affected the handling and what it looks like? Any pictures?

i have 19x11's in the rear with 17mm spacers. with the h and r springs, its perfect for my tastes.

Not sure what the wheel width is on this one, but I love fat tires!

We can place the wheels anywhere you want them. We have about 15 sizes of spacers and adapters from 4mm to 3 inches. We make 4mm, 5mm, 6mm, and customers have asked for 10mm spacers which we will have tomorrow. We keep on going with 15mm, 18mm, 21mm, 25mm and on up to 3 inches All are in stock and ready to ship.