Lightest rims available for 996?

I like to know what are the lightest rims available for the 996 and how much weight difference compared to the stock 18 inch rims. I plan to use 225 front and 285 rears and keep it at 18's. How much would a new set run for the liteweight rims? Regards. Mike

BBS Magnesium racing wheels.

Wwest-how much do they costs and how much do they weigh and you got any scans or links to these rims? Thanks. Mike

The BBS magnesium wheels are not suitable for street use. Here's a table that shows their weights: <a href="http://www.stashtea.co.jp/garage/prosit/GTII/porsche.html" target="_blank">Porsche Application Chart</a> In contrast, the newest Porsche 18" Carrera wheels weigh 9.3 Kg (20.5 lb) and 10.3 Kg (22.7 lb) respectively.

Here is a shot of 18 inch BBS mags on my 996 and a close-up of the 11 inch rear with 285/30 Hoosiers. Note that they are light but not street legal.

Out of curiousity, why are those BBS racing wheels not legal for street driving? I can see why the tires in the picture aren't, but why the wheels. Also, what size front wheels are you running if you have 11 rears. Are you using 9 inch fronts like they pair with the 11 rears on the 2002 cup cars? (although I believe on them, they put 245/305 combo)

[quote]Originally posted by NYandrew: <strong>Out of curiousity, why are those BBS racing wheels not legal for street driving?</strong><hr></blockquote> I don't think it's a legality issue. They are not suitable for street because they are too soft and would damage too easily.

Well that's strange. I would think the track would put more stress on a wheel and there would be more chance of damaging it there than on the street. Well, maybe not if you consider potholes found on most of today's roads. Cheers, Ken

Actually the tires are street legal. DOT approved R compound Hoosiers. You wouldn't want to use them on the street though. I think Viken is right about the legality of the wheels. It is probably BBS saying not to use them on the street. The Magnesium centers are very soft and mark up very easily. I'm guessing they wouldn't do real well with pot holes. The fronts are 8.5 inch. I am in the process of rebuilding a set of Kinesis K28s I have as 9 inch for the fronts and I'll probably do the same with these BBS wheels next winter. I use 245/35/18-285/30/18 Hoosiers for the most part although I also have a set of 225/40/18-285/30/18 Michelin Pilot Sport Cups on my original turbo looks. Jim

I went with a set of the Carrera II wheels for the track. As Viken indicates they are quite light and are half the price of the BBS race wheels. Got them from Wheel Enhancement. I had them put a set of Kumho's (so much for worrying about the weight as these are very heavy tires.) Btw, the C II wheels are BBS wheels. Each has the BBS logo embossed on the back side of the center.

I've been considering options for my new car. The BBS wheels are not that much lighter to justify the cost and succeptibility to damage. Fiske and Kinesis have close to the same weight street wheels.

Ed, I have both Kinesis K28s and BBS mag wheels. You are right about the weight. The BBS wheels are lighter but not much. However, the K28s are clearly street wheels that work fine on the track. The BBSs are clearly track wheels. I'm not sure what you mean by suseptibility to damage. It is easy to scratch the magnesium but beyond that the wheels appear to be indestructable at the track. I would recommend them to anyone for track (not street)use. Are they worth the money? Who knows. I bought mine slightly used. Jim

What kind of price do the BBS wheels go for? Is the LM a aluminum street version? How exactly are these wheels so seceptible to damage? Is it from impact or scratches. I plan to do 80% of my driving on the track, but basically want to keep one set of wheels ont he car most times. Kumho V700 on some sort of lightweight wheel. Maybe I should look at the BBS magnesiums?

I spoke with BBS this morning about rebuilding my wheels and got answers to a couple of the questions in this thread. 1) The list price for a set of 18x9/18x11 BBS mag wheels is just under $5k. You can buy them direct from BBS for just under $4K. 2) They are very different from the LM. 3) There is no US standard for wheels so they are street legal but BBS does not recommend it. This has to do with two factors. The magnesium centers are not as corrosion resistant as street wheels and the wheel halves are not designed for potholes and such. FWIW, they are 10x stronger than the European (TUV?) standard. When I asked about other "light" street wheels I got the impression that BBS was not overly impressed with the pothole resistance of those wheels either. I guess I can back that up. I'm in the process of having one of my K28s repaired after a run in with a chunk of asphalt. Hope this helps. Jim

Sounds interesting to me... my car does not see much pothole action and never see any rain (except at a race) or snow so I'm not too worried. Jim Fiske just sent me som info on his new wheels and his 18's are about 20lbs for the rear and about 19 for the front. Compreable weight. I'll have to think about these as another option. Maybe I'll make these a real race set with Hoosiers and keep Kuhmos on the factory wheels for the street and as rain tires.

NO three piece wheel for street or track can withstand a common pothole as well as any heavier OEM one piece wheel. The rim halves are rolled aluminum and are very soft - they BEND easily .We shouldn't confuse lateral strength of the center forged spider/wheel half ( important at the track) with rolling strenghth ( vs. potholes ). The Fikse, HRE, Kinesis , BBS wheels are talking about lateral g-force strenghth only in their ads. Some manufactures have 1 piece forged wheels ( like OEM on the 2001 Z06 ) - that would seem like the way to go for both street and track, but I'm not aware of any aftermarket for Porsche .

I'll chime in here quickly. I have two set of the BBS race wheels(as pictured by Jim) and they have withstood two off-track excursions during PCA racing, one at the Glen at over 100mph through some pretty nasty stuff. NO problem. Also, I know that some research has been done on this with BBS but I know that "racers" recommend having these wheel magnafluxed every year or two because the Magnesium is prone to fatigue. As far a weight goes, I previously had a sets of both Kinesis and Fikse and of all three the Fikse FM5 was the lightest, not by much but lighter. Dont like that look on a 996 though. Overall, if you were going to run the car 10/10ths and you think a pound or two on each corner is going to make you king of the hill, go for it. Remember if you decide on the BBS race version that center caps do not fit them and you need to go with the "fake" center lock caps(I hate fake representations of real stuff, sorry. Good luck PS: I got my BBS from the racers group for under $4K.