conclusion was performance (slalom speeds dropped from 70 to 67)dropped because the car is set up from the factory for what's on it.

 

Yeah, I think most people are aware that 18's actually perform better on the tt but looks wise the 19's are sweet.

18's for the track and 19's for the street!

 

They are now pushing 20's on the 997's

 

Ever notice that the front tires on a Ferrari 360 are only 215 section width , like on an econocar ? It's because it's wide enough and light enough to get the job done and to give wonderful steering feel and suspension control. Once you go bigger , you add bling and heavier steering feeling and slowed acceleration and braking due to greater rotational inertia , not to mention drag and tramlining.

 

It's all a moot point in the car crazy crowd because we customize them not just from the pure performance standpoint, but keep aesthetics in check as well. Very few of us are winning race$ by modding our Porsches so let's just be real about this.

But if any of you dudes were upsizing from 18s to 19s cuz you truly believed that this would help the car go faster around a track, then that's a whole other discussion.

And when you upsize, you will be lowering (if you're not into the 4x4 look) so that totally fuqs with Porsche's factory tuning right off the bat.

the pitfalls of vanity. haha

 

I agree 1000%, but man it looks so stupid on stock wheels. Looks like a kit car from the front when you can see the wheel width.

 

the cgt (the fastest street legal porsche on a track) comes stock with 19's front - 265s/20's rear - 335s while the stradale (the second fastest track performing street legal ferrari - after only the enzo) has 19" front -225s and rear - 285s (vs. the 18" on the 360). so, the point of the article was not only that wider tires and/or larger rims (in this case the rims only added 2 lbs per front and 1 lb per rear) automatically hinder performance, but instead that the rest of the car also has to be modified (largely from a suspension standpoint) to get maximum performance from them.

 

Ben....too bad your CGT has 19 and 20's.....if you had these 22's you can beat the Enzo.

 

werd

 

From the driver's seat , you can't see your car or it's wheels . But at that moment the feel in the butt and in your fingertips on the steering wheel is part of what you are paying upwards of $200K for , since you can slap on a set of HREs on a Camaro if that's your thing. That's fine.
OTOH, you don't need to be at 10/10ths on the track to notice the changes. You can feel it on windy cambered country road at 40-80 mph and for some it's not a trade- off that's worthwhile.

 

well stated, but you don't drive a ferrari because it looks and feels cool from the inside you smell me

make 'em say whoa and 215s just don't cut it in front of car freaks like you fellas

 

I had " plus 2 " first gen Pirelli P7 tires ( first modern era super tire ) on my college car in 1976, about the year you were born and about the time " plus " upsizing started in the sports car world. Over all these years, everycar I have " plus sized " has felt less nimble despite the increased bling factor. You can sure bet that if I had a Ferrari, the driving feel will be number 1 on my " Fun" list with looks at a distant number 2. You stare at your car only when walking up to it to get in. The other hundreds of hours are spent in the drivers seat. ( Unless you are the type that sits in the garage at 1 AM ! )

 

 

Well.......F car or not.......unless I could walk up blindfolded....I'd definately have to fix something here.

 

You can't " fill the wheel wells " on cars like Ferrari or even Corvette that purposely have in their design large openings to diminish the apparent / visual size of the car from side view. (Big openings make car seem smaller). What can you do here - put in 30 " outside diameter tires ?