What to look for when buying used wheels?

My 996 came with the base 17" C4 wheels, a unique but kind of weird design that I'm not a huge fan of, and BF Goodrich g-Force Sport Comp 2s, which I've found to be grippy enough but annoyingly loud at highway speeds. My initial plan was to replace them with Pilot Sport All-Seasons and get different 17" wheels - the OEM 996.2 17" 10 spokes look awesome on 996.1s, as seen here: But I just came across a set of 18" Sport Design wheels (same aesthetic as the 996.1 GT3 wheels), with new-ish MPSS for $1200 on Craigslist [ link ]. This seems pretty tempting, since it'd let me jump to 18s and nice tires for less than what it would cost to replace both my wheels and tires at 17". But it brought me to my next question - how does one check things like straightness and bending on wheels before buying them? I guess that goes for tires as well - evenness, other things to look for. Are there any good rules of thumb? I've got a whole host of other concerns - ride quality, unsprung mass, tire sizing and overall diameter - but that's all secondary for now.

Ask if he will guarantee them straight then go get them balanced. It's like a PPI for wheels. Do you know wheel and tire sizes and offsets? Also, there will be a date code on the tires. It's a 4 digit number signifying week and year. So 5014 is December 2014. Anything over 5 years is trash. The PSS is my favorite street tire and GT3 wheel work very nicely on narrow body 996s IMO.

The Craigslist ad was reasonably informative. This set came off a Boxster, so I guess the rears are narrower than the 996 Sport Design wheels (9" instead of 10")? Diameter seems pretty close, 1.1% higher on the rears, and almost negligible delta on the fronts. It looks like the tires are from 2012, they've apparently been in storage for a couple of years.

Used tires for a Porsche really? What's next slightly used oil?

Great contribution to post. PSSs are new tires and likely be within 5 years of manufacture. Do you throw babies out with bath water often? OP, the rears are a bit too narrow for 18" 996s in case you want more rubber for the rears next change over. I would look for 10" wide rears so 285 or 295s remain options. Here is a good thread for reference. 993NBs share the same offsets as 996NBs. https://rennlist.com/forums/993-foru...y-993-a-3.html

The rears are too narrow as someone said. It can physically fit but it will be less than optimal. Stay away from Boxster wheels and get appropriate 911 wheels. Majority of aftermarket wheels I bought were used and I generally look for ads that have a straight high def shot of each individual wheel. I also request shots of the back sides as the back usually bends more easily than the front. I specifically ask if the rims have ever been repaired and if the barrels are straight. This is important as rim repair places won't or can't fix bent barrels.

I may chime in. I've bought and sold few wheel sets, but just by looking at the ad you've posted, I've never seen anyone go to that much extent documenting a set of wheels. Thread depth is something to look for on rear wheels, 911s ate them right through so usually you're looking at a set of 4 wheels with only 2 usable tires. Another thing to look out in a used set of wheels is whether they were repainted or not. I've walked away from a few sets after seeing them up close even though the photos looked great.

I saw an ad for a used set of 18” Carrera II’s to install rain tires on. The ad was posted on my Indy’s bulletin board in the office and stated they were in very good condition and showed photos of the wheels which seemed to look good although photos were small. I made an offer through my indy and the seller accepted. He delivered the wheels wrapped in trash bags to my indy for me to pick up at a later time. I stopped by the shop a week later, paid my indy the $800, and loaded the covered wheels into my truck. Cool, I’ve got a spare set of wheels. A month passes and I finally get new tires to mount on the spare wheels. I FINALLY remove the wheel from the bags and see they have been repainted and there are a few runs. Oh well, they’re track wheels, no biggie. Drop them off w/new tires at my tires guys shop and tell him to mount them up and I’ll swing by in a few days to get them. Later that day, I get a call from Ryan, my tire guy. He typically spins them w/o tires before mounting just to check they are straight. “ Sorry man, but all are bent pretty bad”. OK, I’ll just call the seller and explain to him it took me a while to get them mounted, found they are bad and how does he want to proceed, take them back for a full refund or pay to have them straightened... Seller was a DOUCHE. He told me ‘that’s the risk I took buying used wheels at a good price’. I stated his ad said they were in VG condition and he said they seemed straight when he took them off. He also said he had to have used wheels he’s purchased straightened so it’s a normal occurrence. I was pissed but kept my cool. After I asked him to do the right thing 2 times the ***-hat hung up on me. I did end up paying another $225 to have all 4 wheels straightened. My reasoning was I'd rather have a used set of usable wheels for $1025 than $800 pop-up canopy anchors. So, moral of the story is get the wheels checked out for straightness before handing over money or get the seller to agree he’ll refund you if they aren’t.

roll bare wheels on smooth concrete and see if theres any warped or wobbeling edges, if tires are on, you have to spin balance them and see if they are true look for any scuffs or dents , if they are dirty and scummy its a extra bad sign, otherwise its always a risk buying used unless you take them to a shop and spin them

Ideally meet the seller at a shop with a wheel/tire balancer & have them spun up on the balancer while you observe from the side so you can see how smoothly it spins. Look for up & down or side to side movement.