I am planning on getting new wheels for my 01 TT but cannot decide on whether to go with 18 vs 19s. I've seen a lot of great looking vehicles on this site but am not sure what to do. First, I don't know if my car will incur any mechanical damage due to the physics of having the 19" wheel make the tranny/diff work a little harder. Second, I think that most wheels do come in both sizes. I like the HRE 542Rs and the 545s and some of the other aftermarket wheels. I also like the sport technos and probably wouldn't be having this discussion if my car came with them. Anyone have thoughts on this issue?

Ta

Geoff

 

19s will not cause any mechanical issues as long as you get tires with the correct sizes.

Basically 19s look pretty awesome. The drawback is tire selection. If you need an ultra high performance tire then 18s are your only choice. If you just want something that looks awesome, 19s are definitely the way to go.

 

Are you going to track your car at all? You probably wont want 19s for that purpose.

 

It depends on what you're trying to do. 19" wheels don't
affect the transmission or differential at all. The issue is
that you are (necessarily) keeping the tire diameter the
same, so if you increase the wheel diameter, you decrease
the amount of tire you have between road and rim. This
means that more road shock gets to the wheel and
suspension. You must consider the weight of the wheels too.
If they are heavier than stock (and they may be because they
need to be stronger to bear the extra shock load), then that
affects the lifetime of your shock absorbers.
If you're going for looks, then I can't help you, but for function,
I'd stay stock unless you have money to throw at prettier,
lighter wheels in the stock dimensions.
In my opinion, 19" wheels do nothing better, and do do some
things worse. Your tire choices will be fewer and more expensive,
I believe, with 19" wheels too.
I'll repeat the chant of the collective wisdom of the group:

Order of Extras for the 996tt Owner:

1 - Driving school(s)
2 - Handling mods
3 - Power mods

I'd rate cosmetic changes, and/or function-compromising mods,
or adding 40-lbs of *****in' blaster stereo equipment as number 4
That's my position, but you'd have to pay me if you wanted me to
give you an *important* opinion.

Joe Weinstein

 

Wider rubber /larger diam wheels will create more drag , slowing rolling acceleration and top speed ;add unsprung weight ( even if the larger wheels are close to OEM weight through forging , the tires are heavier ) which affects handling and ride ;and the higher rotational inertia simply because this heavier tire's mass is one inch farther from the mounting hub means reduced braking performance that usually is not compensated by any supposed increased traction of wider rubber . If you add compensatory bigger and heavier calipers/rotors to reduce fade at the track , then your handling / ride deteriorate further.
Where this is really getting out of control is with SUVs with 24 and 26 " wheels. Besides the obvious damage to the suspensions and bearing components that are not engineered for them, they increase the already poor stopping distances of these vehicles to " the wall will eventually slow it down " distances . The aftermarket wheel industry is getting nervous because this issue has been raised by the OEMs to cover their asses and they are preemptively pointing the finger at the wheel makers before the inevitable " bling" lawsuits .That's why they were talking at SEMA about some kind of aftermarket " standards of safety " that these sellers can adopt to inform consumers of BIG wheels at the time of purchase.

 

19s all the way....Besides, brembo 8 pods dont fit on most 18s
I am also selling my 542Rs - see the For Sale section

 

Anyone have photos of 18" wheels w/ 19" centers? I've heard this looks good...but why would you do it?

 

How would that work?? 19" spokes curved to fit a 18" center??
I think AI design has a set of Kinesis like that on a 996...www.aidesign.com

 

Kinesis K29Rs are 18" wheels that use the spokes from a 19" center with 3" polished chrome lip

www.kinesis.com

i am running PZero's - 315s Rear and 235s Front
can't figure out how to insert pics otherwise I would... sorry

 

sorry here is correct link
http://www.kinesismotorsport.com/K28R.htm

 

Kinesis here. 18" with 19" center (reverse center)

 

Kinesis has marketed this idea well, and it IS a reality. The normal 18" wheel in a 3 piece construction has traditionally had a 17 inch center or face. Nowadays a manufacturer can turn the wheel inside out, or in other words use the "back" side of the wheel which has a flatter middle section or no safety hump to obstruct the LARGER face to be placed there. This means that the wheel must be placed face down from what you normally would see as the front of the wheel when installing tires. If your factory wheels were mounted with the face of the wheel pointed upwards, it now gets mounted from the back..! Thus, the wheel LOOKS bigger due to the large 18" FACE in a 19 inch wheel.

Very cool and appealing!

Hope this helped

 

Isn't this the same as HRE's reverse lip design (ie. 540R)???

 

I was about to ask the same question as Chris??

 

I have to say that there is nothing quite like a 19" wheel on a TT. Specially with some fat lips in the rear. Wheels alone I beleive always make the biggest apperance difference on a car.