who here cares whether the wheel well "looks filled? i don't!

i think that oversized tires and wheels that don't add to performance are foolish. my neighbor just put 19''rims on his 996 turbo and was surprised and disappointed that his ride quality suffered without improving his cornering. duh! where did this silly fad begin anyway? perhaps more important, when will it end?

basically what makes the world go 'round. while your neighbor's ride quality suffered, he probably picked up some points in the appearance category. no right or wrong, some are purists, some are creationists, just let them be, and be happy that they're driving a Porsche. regards

When I put the 17" rims on my car for the winter it totally changes the ride of the car, not for worse mind you, just different. Because of the ride change I can feel the car under me better and it makes for a fun ride... so I say buy 17" for winter, 19" for summer, and 18" for spring and fall

I do......and I think they look real cool Each to his own. BTW: my 996 handles perfectly now that I fitted Goodyear F1 GS-D3's

I guess if I bought the car to ONLY admire or to be admired in then 19s would be on it. They certainly do look good! My purpose for owning the car is to enjoy its performance envelope as best I can (on the track) as well as visually. For me, the joy i get from driving the car is far greater than the aesthetic appreciation I feel for the creation. Thus, 18s it is for me. If 19s didn't degraded the performance then I might consider them. The roads in DC however, are a little harsh for 19s. -KJ

well that validates ther results found in the turbo shootout. The main reason is that while the contact patch is bigger, the weight is enormously more and kills the equation. A big function of this is becasue they don't make pilot cups in 19's which would help, but unsprung weight not only kills some straight line performance, but definitaly makes the suspension slower to react. I just got a set of 18 bbs re's and it is night and day over my old 18 techno turbo twists - dropped what 30lbs + total!

to me 19's make no sense. they degrade the ride with no improvement in handling. they are also more fragile. "filled up" wheel wells are a dumb fad. like suv's, it will pass away when enough people discover the down side.

i hear ya on the "filled up" but 18's with the proper offset will "FILL OUT" the well, nicely. and that doesn't hurt anyone.

Do they make "SPINNERS" for 19's? : ). Regards. Mike. I wish I could afford three sets of rims 17/18/19 : ).

This same converation took place in the early 80s about going to 16s, then in the late 80s about 17s, in the mid-90s with 18s and will happen again in 3 years with the move to 20s. All wheel/tire combos are a compromise between ride, weight, traction, durability, etc. I seriously doubt that 18 is the magical perfect wheel diameter. It might be the better answer for a 996 right now but that will change with time. Just my 2 cents worth. Jim

oalvarez i agree 18's are ok, although i'm not sure they provide much of a performance advantage over 17's except to allow for larger calipers on c4s's and turbos.

I think the statement 'dumb fad' is a bit unwarranted. There's a combination of reasons to have 19s, not the least of which is aesthetic balance, which is clearly improved with the wheel wells filled out a bit more. Furthermore, the move toward larger wheels must have some mechanical value as well, otherwise wouldn't we all still be driving around with 13s on our 996s? In time, metallurgical advances will bring us larger wheels that are both stronger and lighter, they will increase tire contact on the road and most likely improve handling...

zz please advise me of the evidence that 19" tires improve cornering, braking, or any other objective parameters. for example, are g force measurements improved? as for "aesthetic balance" i say, nonsense, unless it aids handling. these are tires and wheels not strips of chrome or paint color.

a friend of mine is part of a race team that rides on 996s. their wheel sponsor is OZ and they use 19". i guess that it is to clear those huge brembos. does that aid in performance? yes but out of necessity and not directly. its all about braking and using the biggest brakes. you can see that with the use of 19s on DTM cars. and with nascar, well hell, you only turn left and don't ever need the brakes hence the 60 series tires if it weren't for aesthetics and was only about performance, you might not even own the car you have now. you might be in a subaru WRX STI. have you ever seen concept sketches of cars? notice how much the wells are filled out? it's purely for aesthetics. do you think you have a better eye than these car designers? you have a lapis blue C$S right? i think lapis blue is the UGLIEST colour for a porsche. do you see the logic in that remark? no? then would you say that someone else is dumb for liking the look of 19" wheels on their pride and joy? same line of thinking. to each his own. yes these are tires and and wheels but they are jewellry for your car. something to dress it up. if you are not into the looks the you should get the subaru then.

I think Karlooz put it pretty much perfectly. Ignacio, seems to me that your comments are here for their inflammatory value and not so much for their potential for self-education. Fact is that larger wheels mean that you can go wider in a safer way. Wider means more rubber, more rubber means better handling. Again, if you really think that this trend toward larger wheels is silly, then may I recommend some Cragar 14s to go with your car? It will give you much more suspension travel in the wheel well which you may consider a significant benefit...

zz and karlooz take a deep breath! my point is that wheels and tires are a poor place to make an aesthetic statement. paint color is a benign place to express yourself. excessively large wheels make for very fragile tires because their side wall height is so small. they are also more prone to hydroplaning. finally, you both ignored my plea for any evidence that increasing the wheel size beyond 18" makes any difference in cornering or braking, even in the dry.

the 996tt shootout in the current "european car" magazine bears this out. tuners who ran 19s switched to 18s for all the track tests. there are many more tire choices with 18s. fwiw, i think the jump up from 17s to 18s on a 996 is a huge performance improvement. every 996 i've driven with 17s had less grip and squirmed under load (cornering) compared to 18s.

first - maybe you should take your own advice. take a deep breath. that was my first post and it now your 4th post. just chill. second - aesthetic statement, still to each his own, i have my opinion, don't infer that it is a dumb one because i don't agree with you. lapis blue sucks, it just sucks, i can't believe you chose that crap colour. sound like a logical response?. third - where's your evidence of increased hydoplaning. it has direct relationship with the tire's contact patch not the wheel's diameter. if you said that a wider tire has increased hydoplaning characteristics then i would tend to agree with you. fourth - where's your evidence that 19s do not have better handling characteristics and are more fragile? to a layman (me) i would guess because there is a shorter, stiffer sidewall, then turn in response is better. it may be on a small scale. 30 series tire's sidewall would have to be beefed up to compensate therefore a harsher ride, that i would tend to agree, but unless YOU show evidence that they are more fragile than 18s and 17s then don't bother with a response. in fact, YOU should show evidence to back up your ideas before you shoot down anyone else ideas otherwise don't respond, agreed? i'm not going to stoop to a flame war. i saw it from you first post but i couldn't resist. i am done until you put up or shut up. 496 post to your credit and not a member? shame on you

Porsches with small wheels look like stupid SUV. Everyday I get home and look at my baby in the garge with 18 and stand USA suspension I want to cry. She looks like a shiny silver school bus. She needs 19's and a ROW suspension and that might not even be enough. If I didnt need a home movie theatre and trying to have a baby, she would have it all baby, have it all. Having the wheel wells filled out make all the aesthetic difference. If it was not for aesthetics, I would be driving a 2000 < lbs 81 SC....

ouchie! on the lapis blue comments....maybe that excluded "ocean blue" good stuff does my car look that bad?

dude, you know what i was talking about right ? i wanted to show how subjective and emotional aesthetics is. i absolutely LOVE the colour of your car and it was my first choice but i couldn't find one in my price range . i originally wanted something other than arctic silver cause i had an arctic silver boxster. i still LOVE my c2, even if it has 18" wheels

Well I can't give you any hard evidence ignacio but I can tell you through experience that IMHO my 996 handles way, I say, way much better since I fitted 19" wheels.....and it handles way, and I say, way much better again since I moved from Pzer0s to Goodyear F1's. When I say handle better I mean I can take a corner on a wide bend near where I live at 110 mph in the wet and stil feel there is more. I used to take my Audi A6 quattro to the limit at 90 mph on the same corner before it started to understeer. When I had 18" wheels on my C2 I could not take this corner at 90mph. Even with 19" PZeros I could only just get 95mph before the back started to swing. So as far as I am concerned a) 19" wheels increases road handling a hell of a lot and b) it can be further increased by choosing the right tyres. It certainly isn't a fad. The increased wheel size fills the wheel arch and thus decreases drag. The less air space you circulate the better the car will handle. Hence lowering the car and fitting 19" wheels is a typical setup for cup cars.

hey sccouser, i'm thinking of trying the gsd3s on 19"rims. what size tires are you running?

Carlos, belive me they are unreal. And as a bonus they seem to be lasting well too and they are quiet (I have a cab so quiet is good). I currently only have them fitted on my rear axle but will eventually get them for the front too. (Front still use Pzeros). Tyres I had fitted on the rears are 275/30 ZR19 F1 GS-D3 Fronts I will get will be 235/35 ZR19 F1 GS-D3 They ain't cheap but they are glued to the road. I love em.

carlos i believe "european car" provides evidence of better handling for 18's, notwithstanding scouser's observations. at least scouser has performance in mind, though. to me tires and wheels are about performance, not aesthetics. i would like to see scouser's observations replicated in a more formal comparison test. re hydroplaning--haven't you noticed that as wheels get taller their lower profile tires get wider? regarding fragility, please note that numerous car manufactures issue a warning to this effect when they build a car with a sports package with lower profile taller and wider tires, e.g.bmw, audi and mercedes. porsche instead issues formal recommendations every year in christopherous which you will note don't include any 19's. my point is that 19'' tires do not provide any substantal advantage in handling in 996's except for a "look". to me performance trumps looks any day. i think it's silly to sacrifice performance for a faddish look, no matter how "cool". i do agree that 18's provide better handling in summer tires than 17's. the opposite is true in the snow, because of the wider tires on 18'' wheels. your comparisons citing color comparisons miss the point completely. btw, i like arctic silver--it's easier to keep clean than lapis blue. it just wasn't available at my dealer without a substantial wait for a c4s. imo, polar silver is even nicer--too bad it's so expensive and hard to get without a factory order. peace

maybe you should try a set of 19s and then decide. i went from 17s to 18s and there was a HUGE performance jump in handling. the turn in is crisper. i didn't get that "delayed" "squishy" feeling from the 17s (pirelli p rossos). i'm guessing going from 18s to 19s will achieve the same results but to a lesser degree. hey with wider tires you get better cornering right? i think those in the shoot out went to 18s for the better range of tire sizes. you can get a better selection of tires, up to 315/30s in 18 but there isn't much for 19" fitments. i think you missed my point completely. the color doesn't matter, it was the subjectivity of it all that i was questioning. you saying that "aesthetic balance, nonsense" was illogical, rather it was an emotional respose. let's keep emotions aside then we can all play nice. it's all so subjective nobody wins, but winning isn't realyl the point. it's what YOU think is aesthetically pleasing and who cares what others say. after all, who's driving your car? can i say that my opinion is right and yours is wrong? nope. i've got a set of 17s sitting in the garage if you want them

carlos i suspect that beyond 18's one has exceeded the point of diminishing returns with regard to cornering. porsche is very specific regarding their tire and wheel recommendations which they seem to test very thoroughly on a yearly basis. i don't know any other car company that does this. i am pleased to be discussing performance rather than looks. i don't dislike the look of large wheels. i just think the looks are much less important than the performance characteristics, which are often compromised by huge wheels and tires. btw, i may be interested in some 17'' wheels for snow tires next year. i suspect snow is not a factor for your location. please send me a private email.

i can accept that. BTW i heard/read of a rumour that the 997 has 19s as an option. it's all but a rumour though. good to hear your C4S is not a garage queen and it' s driven in the snow

as you know, 997's have spawned countless rumors--we'll soon see which are right. i drive my c4s daily--35k mi in 23 mos. it goes well in snow below 8 inches--beyond that it's a great plow!