adding 19's on 03 c4s

Need feedback on putting 19" rims on my car. I like the black techart formulas. Keeping the car at stock height because of concern about being to low, but would like to fill out the fenders and go with wider wheels and tires for F/R. What do you recommend for wheel size and tires. I really drive the car hard on the wkends in tight roads, so does this even make any sense to get 19's tx in advance ps who sells techart wheels at good prices?

It might look awkward if you upgrade the size of the wheel and tire w/out lowering the ride height. I think there is a guy on 6 speed selling a set of Techarts right now.

Changing from 18" to 19" will not fill out the fender well that much more, because you will probably end up with a narrower sidewall height on teh tire. If you went from 285/35/R18 for a 295/30/R19, the side wall hight drops from 99.6mm to 88.4mm. This change offsets a lot of the 1" gain in wheel diameter. The over all change in diameter of the wheel and tire is only +2.8mm. Check out the link below for easy comparisons of various wheel/tire sizes. http://www.1010tires.com/TireSizeCalculator.asp? I am not trying to talk you out of doing the cahnge, but I didn't want you to think that simply going to the 19" wheels would make your fender wells look "stuffed", because they won't. Most of the pics you have probably seen of 19" wheels on 996 P-cars, the guys have also lowered the car. While there is a smaller gap between the tire and the fender, it is due primarily to the lowering, not the 19" wheel.

I personally think 19's look good and there are some considerations... To the above point, filling out the wheel wells will be achieved by lowering the car. If you are going to consider lowering in the future, your wheel width choice now is a factor. Lowering brings the wheels, suspension parts and body closer together. So if you go too wide in wheel width now, you may get some rubbing if you lower the car in the future. The Tech Arts are not known for being light wheels. Unless you spend a fair amount of money on 19" wheels, you will be adding rolling mass and un-sprung weight. In other words, your suspension has to work harder on shock and rebound to deal with the added weight, as well as it takes a little more power to get that added mass rolling. All in all this is really not a big deal, but you may feel your car is a little more sluggish. Lastly, for what it's worth, 19" rubber is roughly a 100.00 more per tire. Just something else to consider from an "operational" cost. Maybe you should try giving Wheel Enhancement a call and discuss some options. I've heard they're a good bunch of guys to deal with and I'm sure they could help. Good luck with your project and post pics when your done.

Tx for all the advice, are your experiences to simply leave all alone and go with same rims and tires, what I'd like to get is more rubber on the gound as I am pushing like a cow in tight corners. I might consider lowering the car, but would like to avoid all problems that come with a lowered car. I like the techart formulas gt/gts looks, but weight is a concern. Any advice on black wheels that are not to flashy and light? Tx

It's fine as long as you understand you would be making the change for looks (the techarts look awesome) not performance. The Techart formula's are heavy!! I can't remember the specific weights (call www.wheelenhancement.com they have them), but when I looked at them I discovered that they weighed a ton.

If your reason for new wheels is to reduce push (understeer), there are better ways. My C4S understeers initially on turn in but as more throttle is applied the understeer goes away. Try adjusting tire pressure first. Another thing that helps is to enter the turn a little slower and come out of it faster with more throttle.

Perhaps new tires would help. I had old (5-year old) Dunlops and the understeer was horrible. New tires make the car feel totally different

It's not necessary to simply leave well enough alone... It is key to understand the factors at play and make an informed decision. To start... The greatest amount of space available to add wheel / tire width on a C4S is in the rear. However, increasing rear tire width out of proportion from the front will just increase the understeer. In addition, the car is setup from the factory to be understeer centric. This keeps "everybody" happy, as understeer is easier to control for the average driver than oversteer. Said another way, a lot of rear contact patch will overcome the front grip and hence cause understeer. When driving, some of this can be overcome by planting the front tires firmly (braking heavily) before the turn. In the end though... You still have to deal with greater traction of a wider contact patch in the rear when coming out of the turn. As Mike said... play with the tire pressures and drive the turns slow in - fast out. Lowering the tire pressure will also increase your grip to a point. Lowering too much causes the tire to cup and thus decreases grip. Try lowering the front a pound or two at a time and see how it goes.

You guys are great. since I like spirited driving in the mountain roads of San Diego, I wanted to get different wheels than stock, not only for looks but to minimize unsprung weight. Any suggestion on wheel brand and what size to use to get balance between looks and handling? If I do decide to lower the car, what is the best cost effective way. I have a lowered 06 E55 and have to use the airmatic for driveways and other situations. I have the stock pirellis and have to say they push like crazy, I will try the lowering of the air pressure, and maybe get an adjustable camber plate if one exists. Right now I'm trashing the tires so that I can replace them, thinking michelin ps. or yokos, or bridgestone. Tx

Look for Forged wheels from reputable manufacturers. I would suggest starting with, BBS, Fikse, Champion, and Kinesis (this is not an all inclusive list of good wheels). If you shop around you can find 18's (fronts and rears) that weigh less than 20 lbs each. Wheels this light (and strong) provide a great improvement over the stock wheels.

go for 19s and slam it all this talk about 19s being too big and reducing performance.... it's all rubbish unless you actually track your car and make $ off it

A stickier tire may help over the pirelli's. Before getting camber plates, have the alignment checked. There is adjustability built in. You may just need a little more negative camber. When I bought mine used, I found POSITIVE camber at all 4 corners. Dialing in negative helped the handling greatly. If you want lightweight wheels, the names above are good. Obviously,the same wheel in a 19 will still be heavier than in 18. The look will be more agressive lowered with 18 than stock height with 19s. I'm not saying this to discourage 19s. It's just that the increased diameter alone won't change the look or handling much as noted above.