18 vs 19 inch wheels

It turns out my 02 4S has after market 19 inch wheels. I find this very annoying since it seems to be much harder to find replacement rear tires. Also, I have heard that the 19inch wheels don't ride or handle as well as the 18 inch. Is it true that the 19th inch wheels don't ride and handle as well and if so is the difference enough to justify switching out the wheels? If anyone has a set of OEM 18 inch wide body 996 wheels and has been dreaming of going to 19s, I would be receptive to a trade.

In order to keep your speedo accurate, you must reduce the tire sidewall height by an amount that corresponds to the increasing wheel size (you want the circumference of the mounted tire to be the same, regardless of whether the wheel in the middle is 18" or 19"). Reducing the sidewall height by half an inch can drastically affect the ride quality. It can also affect how "twitchy" your PSM feels, since bouncy tires spend more time off the ground than compliant, taller tires that can absorb impact without bouncing completely off the road surface. Whether it's worth going back to 18's depends on how awesome your car looks with 19's. Mine looks fantastic (in my opinion, of course), so I'm not willing to go to the smaller wheel in order to get a more compliant ride. I did, however, adjust my shocks to increase the ride height by about half an inch when I purchased my car - the very low stance left the car too tightly sprung for my taste. Giving the shocks an extra half inch of travel was enough difference for me to be willing to keep the 19's and not jiggle my kidneys into jelly.

Thanks. Frankly, I am not a fan of the wheels. It is the one thing on the car i don't like. I bought the car because it fit the bill in every other area and in spite of the wheels. The problem is that replacing them is going to cost a fortune and I am not confident I can quickly sell the ones I have to get my money back. But, my car rides rough. All things being equal, I would rather go back to the 18s.

If your suspension has been upgraded, you may be able to adjust the preload / ride height to make the ride more comfortable. You may be surprised at how much you can sell used 19" wheels for - it may be worth posting up a "gauging interest" thread to see if anyone's willing to buy/trade.

Yeah, I should take some pictures and put up a thread here and on Pelican parts and see if someone makes me an offer. They are in perfect condition. They are just not my cup of tea. If I could get a decent price for them, I could then afford to get new 18s.

And they will fit on both the 996 and 997 Turbos and 4S models. So I could drop it here, and on the 997 and Turbo boards.

The car I bought came with 19s and I have zero issues with ride quality/handling. And did not realize it then but REALLY like how my car looks with 19s (yes, flame suit is on )

Kromdom, It is not that they are 19s. It is just I don't like these wheels that much. They could be 18s and I still wouldn't like them. And I haven't driven my car with 18s. Maybe they don't make a difference. A lot of people seem to think they do.

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Pics needed. Maybe someone may wanna trade with you as well.

Do you have any pictures of these wheel that you hate? Inquiring minds want to see them!

I do devious trap and will put them up tonight. And yes, a would be amenable to a trade.

My car came w/ 19's and the suspension has been dropped a bit. I'm not a fan of the wheels (style or size). I'm going to 18' Sport Design wheels as soon as I can find the correct set.

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I'm right there with you - 996's can look AWESOME with 19's - but apparently OP's 19's aren't as sweet as ours.

not affiliated, maybe some RL'ers can comment http://www.wheelcollision.com/por2.htm

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If those are f14's I know someone willing to trade you for Sport Designs.

[QUOTE=5CHN3LL;11622401]I'm right there with you - 996's can look AWESOME with 19's - but apparently OP's 19's aren't as sweet as ours. what the hey, here's a pic of the rims on my car (no idea what brand they are...already tried searching)

Just because...lol OP, show us the 19's you dont like..

I started a thread on this a few months ago. My car had 19" wheels when I purchased it and it was lowered (below the GT3 spec) with Techart coilovers. I raised it a little so that I could make it over bumps without slowing to a crawl. I still wasn't happy with the ride quality. Biggest issues were dips in the highway at speed and going over train tracks. I bought a set of 18" OE sport techno's (used) with Hankook V12s and tried them out. After running them for about a month I ended up putting my 19" wheels back on. My conclusions were - I could definitely handle bumps at higher speeds with the 18" wheels - ride was noticeably softer on 18"s but the difference wasn't as great as I was expecting/hoping. Changing the ride height may have a bigger impact. - speedometer was reading high by almost 5km/h with the 18" (factory settings). With the 19" it is almost perfect - I didn't notice any significant change in acceleration or braking other than the change in feeling due to the different tires - I would definitely prefer 18s for ride quality although the difference was quite subtle and less than I had expected - I wasn't impressed with the (worn) Hankook V12s compared to (worn) Michelin PSS. The Hankooks were very noisy and the rear traction was noticeably worse. But the rear Hankooks were at the wear bars so it wasn't a fair comparison. In the end I decided to prioritize the 'show' over the 'go'. The 18" sport techno rims looked pretty boring on the car compared with my 19" Anterras. The 19" wheels fill out the wheel well a little more and make the car look a little more aggressive (IMO). I have looked into refreshing the sport techno's to make them a little more flashy (ie polish/chrome/power coat etc) but I haven't had any luck. They need refinishing anyway due to some curb rash. When I'm up for new tires I may investigate buying some aftermarket 18" if I can find some that I like. But I'm not hopeful. Pictures are below. Unfortunately the lighting isn't the same on the pics so it isn't really a fair comparison.

^^^I prefer the Techno's on your car. Just sayin'

From the pictures above I'd tend to agree. But unfortunately the pictures don't really "do justice" to the Anterra rims. The biggest difference is likely that the Anterra rims are polished and very shiny (which I really like but obviously a personal opinion) and they have a huge lip in the rear. The Anterra's stand out from the car due to the finish but the Sport Technos have the same finish as the paint. Plus with the Anterra's the brakes are clearly visible but they are pretty hidden with Sport Technos. I was considering stripping & polishing the Sport Techno's the same way but it isn't feasible since they don't have any hard lines. And the local shops that can repaint them don't think they would be able to get them much brighter than they are now.