Wheel issues - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Hi I have a 2000 model Porsche Boxster Does anyone else had issues with the wheels scraping and destroying the inside of the guards It currently sits on 255 - 30 R19 tyres Any idea what's wrong? Only bough it last week and new to this! Andrew

Welcome to the forum! To start with, 19" wheels are certainly not standard issue on 2000 Boxster base. Your problem most likely resides there.

The 19's are probably too large for the car and/or wrong offset There are a few tire size and offset calculators online compare your setup with the stock setup and it may give you some insite to what the problem is. Most likely its the wheel offset as the tire diameter is the same and the width very close to stock 18's

Front or rear?? The stock size for the front is more of a 205-55 16. If you have 255 on the front they are 2" wider.

Thanks for the fast reply Maybe the rear wheel is on the front The wheels have been on the car for about 2 years. Tyres are brand new Maybe tyre shop mixed them up Got the same size tyres front and rear It's the front drivers side that's been destroyed

Can you tell us the front and rear wheel make, model, and offsets? Also, tell us the tire make, model, and sizes front and rear. With this info, I am sure that someone will be able to diagnose the problem.

First of all, the Box was not designed to have the same sized tire at all 4 corners. It's designed to have a stagger, front to back. This is the info I found for stock wheels: WHEEL SIZE FRONT16 x 6 WHEEL SIZE REAR16 x 7 TIRE SIZE FRONT205/55ZR-16 TIRE SIZE REAR225/50ZR-16 And for the "S" which is a quite common upgrade on the base: WHEEL SIZE FRONT17 x 7 WHEEL SIZE REAR17 x 8.5 TIRE SIZE FRONT205/50ZR-17 TIRE SIZE REAR255/40ZR-17 Many upgrade the fronts on the Box to a 225/45-17 to give a little bit better balance but it stays on the 7" wide wheel/rim. I'm sure you're rubbing up front like crazy and the handling has to be a bit out of whack and could be a bit dangerous with this set up. The balance of the chassis is all out. If I were you I would change the fronts to a proper width 19" tire. Tire rack has this as the 19" option for the 2000: CONTINENTAL EXTREMECONTACT DW Max Performance Summer Front: 225/35ZR19 88Y XL 8.5" wheel Rear: 265/30ZR19 93Y XL Sidewall Style: Blackwall 10" wheel So, even in a 19" wheel size, you stick with the 225 width. The wheel size is also still staggered. You have too wide a tire and probably too wide a wheel up front.

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Not sure if "designed" is the correct word. Many people for competition do run a square setup, all tires the same. Tire and wheel size is just part of the equation, wheel offset plays a big part in what will fit and what will rub. Even a 16 or 17 with the wrong offset will rub Also 18" wheels are a factory option as well, at least in later model years For 17's, 225 front and 255 rear is better than the factory setup of 205/255

What word would be better? I am going with the fact that Andrew is not a track junkie or spec racer and needs help with his street car that he bought last week.

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Maybe normal factory setup BTW, how is your daughter's boxster doing?

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Yes and no. Yes, the stock setup is staggered. But no, the car is designed to accept a 8.5" wheel with a 255 width tire on the front without rubbing. Jay is correct that the racing guys do this all of the time without any problems. The reason that the car doesn't come with a 255 square setup from the factory has to do with handling, not rubbing. The staggered setup creates significant understeer which Porsche feels is a safer handling characteristic than neutral or oversteer. A stock Boxster running 255 square tires with the factory sway bars will slide the rear end around like a drift car - but they won't rub. (Racers get the car back to neutral handling by using non-stock adjustable sway bars). Thus, the likely problem is that the front wheels have the incorrect offset which is causing the 255 width tire to rub.

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We have gotten into the very boring part of the refresh, trying to clean up and make everything work. She got new seats but they have a memory module and this car did not have that. So I have to rewire the seat to be powered off of the normal plug. Rear Spoiler wont work and I can't seem to get it to move at all. Working all of the deep scratches out of the paint, etc... Got it running, took it for a ride (no plates! but we live in the country) on the close to home roads and once nice and hot it blew out the coolant tank. New one is on the way. I will make an update today to the thread.