I keep hearing different opinions about the best performing wheels for a 996. I currently have 5 spoke 18" Carrera wheels and am trying to decide if I should upgrade to 19's. I prefer the look of the 19" wheels with a polished lip but want to focus on performance first. I am looking at a upgrading my suspension to PSS9's and adding 15mm spacers. Will a change to 19's improve performance or just look better.

Any opinons???

 

19" won't improve performance, just looks... if you spent a lot of money, you can at best keep the weight of wheel the same when upgrading.

 

Look at what the cup and gt cars run nuff said.

 

yep true. i went to the calfestival this weekend and i didn't see one car riding on 19s. though if you aren't doing track days with the car, go with 19s looks better.

 

so you guys sponsored race car drivers running cup cars?

no.

 

The whole concept of plus sizing is to improve performance. The idea being that you get a shorter sidewall on the tire with less flex. In concept, there would be improvement in acceleration, cornering, steering response and braking since your inputs are more quickly delivered to the pavement. There is also the minor benefit of better brake cooling since there is now more air space between the caliper/rotor and wheel (I don't know how much that is true, but it is out there...)

If there is a meaningful difference between your already low profile 18" compared to 19" probably depends on the use and driver. Obviously, there is an aesthetic consideration depending on your personal taste. I've always thought that if you're going to buy a new wheel, you may as well get a bigger size.

 

good question- I here a lot of talk that 18's perform better on a 996 vs. 19's. Of course we know that aesthetically 19's look better for that "aggressive" style.

Love to hear some professional experienced input from those who track regularly or sponsor a race team.

 

19 will probably decrease performance... keep in mind, the car rides MUCH better with 18", on 19"s it's a lot more harash, less compliant

 

also, with 19"s you need to worry more about damaging your wheels, cracking lips.. etc

 

here's my take on 18s v 19s on the 996, 19s v 20s on the 997 etc

if you and your 911 bring in any sort of revenue $ from tracking your car, stick to the smaller diameters.

if you and your 911 is a $ hobby and you spend the majority of your time enjoying it on public roads, get the upsized wheels.

 

Thanks for all your input.

It appears that many believe that the 19's look better but will have minimal to no effect on performance (possibly hurt track performance). I do not track the car but do drive it quite hard on the 100's of miles of twisty backroads in my area. Based on this feedback, I am going focus on the suspension upgrade for now. Drive the heck out of the car this summer then upgrade to 19's next summer to get that buzz all over again.


Thanks,
erubin

 

I have 18s (I'm selling) and 19s that I just put on. I can't tell any difference from the two on the seat of the pants dyno. I can tell you that the car looks much better with the 19's. Also, if the weight is about the same, and the total diameter of the wheel/tire is the same, how would the performance be different? I mean the wheel is a little bigger and the tire is a little smaller...how do you suppose it changes the net weight? Probably not much more than changing to different wheels of the same size but different styles/weights.

 

actually, my 18's ride a lot harsher than my 19's, even though their is less sidewall on the 19's....

one reason maybe is I'm running pilot sport cups on the 18's (REALLY stiff and bone jarring), vs the softer feeling PS2's on the 19's..

 

It seems that it may be a case of diminishing returns. When I went from 17"-18" on my allroad it made a huge difference. In this case the car is a bit heavier and the tires had a higher aspect for the sidewall. In this case it feels like a different car with the upsize.

I do agree that 19" wheels especially with a nice lip look great, although I am a little concerned that the stock rotors will end up looking silly small.

 

You've got a cab, get the pss10's installed (not sure why people still refer to discontinued product in the pss9) and a set of 19"s. It'll look great and perform exceptionally well on backroads.