Opinions on Wheels - 996 Cab Polar Silver

Hey! I have 2002 996 Cabriolet in Polar Silver with Metropol Blue interior and blue top. When I purchased the car, it came with terrible aftermarket rims. I replaced them with Carrera IV's since they're decently light and in great shape, but am wondering if I will "retain" value better with period correct rims. I'm also considering the Sport Classic II's and the MY02 5 spoke rims. What do you think works best with this color? 1) Carrera IV 2) Carrera Sport Classic II 3) Carerra Sport Classic II painted GREY (not sure I want to spend the $ on this..... figure it will be expensive in Los Angeles to paint them) 4) MY02 5 Spokes

MY 02, the correct spacers, and a little drop will look sharp.

My neighbour had a 996.2 with GT3 wheels, this could be a nice period correct option. Otherwise I�d say either sport classic II or stock wheels.

These all look good, but I think the gray Sport Classics would be best. Sport Classics are a great match for cabs - a little more classy and luxurious than some of the racier styles that fit better on coupes. Gray is a nice choice for silver cars. It gives you some contrast against the silver bodywork but still let�s you see the details that get lost with black rims.

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What spacers are correct?

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15mm all around fit well.

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For my C2 996.1 on 17s, I used 15mm rear and 7mm front, because that seemed to be the standard. Stock wheels both had +55 offset. I do think the fronts could have been a little further out, but don't go too crazy, you will get too much debris thrown up on your body... You can always use some ppf I suppose.

Thx. The ones I have on there required no spacers on rear to be flush. i went with 7mm on front and feel like it's not out far enough.... more money wasted.

Yeah, it all depends on the wheels you run and the tires sizes. Per WDBs question and Diddys point, the OP has a 996.2 and if he chooses to run the MY02 wheels (carerra 2) he can easily run 15mm spacers front and rear. I have an 20O2 and run the same. 225x40x18 front and 285x30x18 rear. You should also be able to run 235x40x18 front and 295x30x18 rear with 15 mm spacers without a problem as well, if you want a meatier look. OP, you may also want to take a look at APEX wheels. Provides a pretty cool modern look that works very well with the timeless 996 design. I have 2 sets of MY02 wheels that I run, one for street and one for track, but will eventually pick up a set of Apex wheels to update the look of the car. Depending on the sizes you choose, you won't need spacers.

Thanks. Looks like nobody loves the Carrera IV's on my MY02. I can pick up a set of MY02 5 spokes for $700 which need conditioning, or a set of Sport Classic II's where only 2 of the wheels need a little love. I'm loathe to spend $ to paint the wheels, since it's an extra expense (and I've got plenty else to do) plus it makes the wheels non-original, though I LOVE the color (and wonder how it would work with my car since it has the blue tint to the silver). Current wheels and tires are 225/40 tire on 18x8 57 offset wheel front, 295/30 tire on 18x10.5 60 offset rear. Tires are brand new. From what I understand, both sizes should fit either of the Sport Classic II or MY02 5 Spokes, even if both of those are in 18x7.5 and 18x10 configurations. LMK if I'm wrong? - Thx I realize that these fronts are a little narrow at 7.5 instead of 8, but I should be OK for my tires, and for aesthetics? Thoughts on spacers on this set?

Sport Classic wheels are the bomb 😀 Rich

OP - How about gloss black 5 spoke? Gotta get ‘em resprayed anyway. But , the IVs look great two-tone with lips silver and v spokes gloss black.

Black wheels on anything but a race car never made any sense to me. Love the sport classics!

MY02 with 15mm spacers all around. I run the same on my car. If you really wanna be hot sh*t you could do sport classics but instead of grey, color match the centers to polar silver

Mine came with 18" 997 Carrera Classic Wheels (I have since gone back to Twists). It looked really good with them, also a Silver Cab. Third pic current twists.

MY02 for the win. So clean and simple and therefore simple to clean. Plus the open design lets you see the inner barrel of the wheel like no other. Light and Airy kind of like a cabriolet. get the TENS for the rear. Furthermore they are easily the lightest of the bunch, so quicker, better acceleration and braking. also better action for your suspension. A fraction of the cost of hollow twists. If you are running 295s in the rear you may only need a 10 millimeter rear spacer.

Those look GREAT with that yellow color! wow

Believe your older wheels were Carrera III's, if i'm not mistaken

Not sure what your long term plans for the car are, since you've mentioned retaining value, but I think most OEM Porsche wheels will look pretty good. If that's in scope, I'd consider some sport springs to slightly lower the car and throw some 10-15mm spacers all around. If will give your car a more aesthetically pleasing stance and look. If you have clearance issues than disregard. I think the MY02 5 spokes are hard to beat for their look and weight.

Thanks. I think I'll keep it a few years, and then possibly upgrade to something else. Wouldn't lowering spings lower the value to many buyers since it's a hard to change, non-original thing? Feels like no love for these Carerra IV rims.... I just want to make any changes to my car now and never deal with it again. I will likely be re-doing the suspension, but figured I'd just put in new bits like bushings and new B8's, but keep the original springs.

Go with RoW M030 springs if you want maintain Porsche-ness. Factory option.

Thx. Do these work well with B8's, or have to match with a B6? Got the part #'s? Do I need to replace springs, or not so much. Hear both ways....they last forever and retain strength.... or time ages.

First love for the IV's. It seems like most people don't like em, and I'm just thinking if I have to switch rims to make it more sellable later, may as well do it now. I'm leaning towards those Sport Classic II's

OP here.......here's a pic of my car poorly photoshopped with the Sport Classic II's I think I'm leaning into....

One vote for Turbo Twists

Lol. I like them, but they feel a little bit too "OG" to me. Also, if they're not the hollow ones, they weight quite a bit! I have the opportunity to buy a set right now cheaply, and was considering, but have just ruled them out, I think

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I'd talk to a Bilstein shop about which to use. I used Koni Yellows. You'll want shorter bump stops, which most people fail to change when they install lowering springs and therefore bang against the longer ones too soon. The part numbers are going to vary based on the model of vehicle. I bought my stuff from @Gert at Carnewal. He was extremely knowledgeable, helpful, and shipped very quickly. Recommended.

When I bought my car six years ago, it had twists which I don't care for at all. I wanted BBS RS-GT but they were on indefinite backorder so I found a set of Sport Classics which were my second choice. After a few months running the Sport Classics, I had a call from Wheel Enhancement in L.A. who were one of the places I had contacted about the BBS wheels. They said there was a batch getting ready to leave Japan on a container ship but I had to commit right then as Tire Rack wanted as many sets as possible. I gave them a credit card number and then I got to watch the ship's progress on a ship traffic website. It stopped in L.A. and then sailed right past San Diego, through the Panama Canal and they eventually ended up at BBS in Georgia. Once the container was emptied, they shipped back across the country to San Diego. BTW, Wheel Enhancement was great to deal with. The guy that handled my order was 'Dave Martin'.

Love my black powder coated 997 18� Carrera 3 wheels - I use those for my winter setup but for the rest of the year I love the stock turbo twists:

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You can run 5, 7, 10, 15mm spacers. And a combination of any for front and rear. All depends on what you like. 7mm with 10mm is pretty common. Some people run 15mm square or 7mm square. You can just use a tape measure and get an idea of where you want your wheel to be. Just don't forget about longer lug bolts. I have Bilstein B6 with H&R sport springs. B8s are designed for lowering springs. When I contacted Bilstein, they said I could run either, and I had the B6 already, so that's what I did. It rides pretty well overall. Last pic before the coil overs go on.

I'd go ROW M030 but am afraid it would adversely affect the ride quality and not be fun if I did end up for a period with this car as a daily driver. I also think Im going to go Koni Active for shocks, so a lowering spring is not adviseable

Gt3. No Spacers Needed

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I went from worn out US standard suspension to RoW M030 springs and Koni Yellows. Ride quality is just fine; very supple. I was going to get Actives but it was during the pandemic malaise and they were on back order and I figured I'd have to wait a year, so I got Yellows. No regrets. My point being that Actives should work with RoW M030 springs.

Hear you, but the whole point of actives is that they're supposed to require more travel and you dont get the mechanical benefits if they're compressed by lowering springs

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This is not entirely correct. Koni actives offer flatter cornering (less roll) for a given spring stiffness as a result of the special valve inside the shock absorber. With this valve the setting of the bottom valve as well as the shim stack on the piston can be tuned without needing to keep body roll in check which results in improved ride quality for that same given spring stiffness. Choosing a stiffer spring, one which lowers the car at that will still offer improved ride quality compared to a non Koni active shock but not as good as the softer spring. So what I'm saying is that you can indeed combine the koni active with any spring offered for the vehicle in question. However, I agree with you that the benefit of koni actives is most apparent when combined with standard spring stiffness (which mustn't necessarily be the US spec stock springs perhaps the RoW stock springs are) but having more spring travel is not a requirement by koni actives per se.