It's a Porsche, not a BMW, you should have chosen the latter if you wanted a soft smooth ride. That being said, 20's will make your ride quality much worse, lighter 20's will make it better, 19's better, light 19's even better and so on. If it's not a track car and the ride bothers you, get some 18's or 19's and lower the car, that way the wheels still look good and the car drives well.

 

In this thread someone in post# 13 mentions the 19" lobster fork wheels being some of the lightest available from Porsche at about 100lbs.

https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...ad.php?t=94258

In this thread HRE mentions the weights of 20" wheels being about 100.6 pounds for the set.

https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...t=94186&page=3

hope the blanket statement that 20" wheels are going to hurt performance based on weight is debunked at least a little. Regarding ride quality, I have 20" wheels and it's not bad at all and that is based on real life experience. How many here that are slaming them have even tried them, bet it's not many.

 

PorscheAudio,

Thanks (and to all of you) for your reply. I'd probably sell my car, as I think I'm going to go more track focused. The power I have is great on the street, but too much for me on a track I think. Especially without LSD. Anyways, if anyone is interested, PM me. Sounds like you got a nice car. Congrats! And if you're into Audio, could you PM me too? Is that your hobby or profession?

JC

 

Umm.... Seeing that you are in Braselton, I'm going to stop and guess that you have been around the track a good bit there at Road Atlanta. BUT, I got what I wanted. I'll RESTATE again (I will taunt you a second time! - Monty Python), I track my car. I have my stock 19s with PS2s on them that I have been using for that. I have the 20s because I thought they looked great. Then, I upgraded to coilovers and am getting more and more track time. I don't like swapping out street wheels to track wheels all the time. The roads around Asheville are old and horrible. With the coilovers (which I haven't messed with much) and the 20s... HEAVY 20s, I don't like the ride especially when it comes down to a cruise. I drive it hard though. I don't need a damn BMW. I drive the Dragon often and I'm sideways through half the turns. On purpose. I also agree with the 'hockey puck' statement made earlier. Although I don't have PS2s on the 20s, they squeal way too much and don't really let me know before they let go. They are too hard. I end up letting too much pressure out of them to get feel. But they looked great to me when I bought them. I'll sell them for cheap to someone, especially someone with a stock suspension, to love and appreciate the killer looks. I want to probably go with something like an F110, Champion (although I don't really like any of their looks), or even OZ (the Ultraleggera is cheap, light, and looks surprisingly good on a 997).

Don't give me that BMW poo. If you weren't possibly one of my instructors at Road Atlanta (meaning that you're a badass driver) I'd probably point out that you apparently drive a Chevy.

Take care,

JC

 

I had dinner last night in Atlanta with a guy that is an instructor at Road Atlanta for Panoz (which is now sold to Skip Barber BTW) and other various track days. He is also an instructor for Porsche at their driving school in Birmingham and that is were I met him. I brought up the topic of wheel sizes for a 997S. I am in the market for track wheels and tires. It was highly suggested 18"s for the best handling...with out a doubt....19" are OK for the street and he said forget about 20's as they kill the handling and feel of the car. This guy has plenty of racing and track experiance so I will go with his recomendations.

I have seen plenty of 997's with 20" and they look weird to me, non sporty and cartoonish. 19"s look good but at my track days in Sebring I see plenty of 18's and they look really good.

What is the deal with you all wanting these pimp azz cartoonish 20's?
In one breath you all talk about handling and buying a 997 because it is a great car and has a sporty heritage and in the next breath you all complain about the ride quality and then you all put 20's on the car.

I do not understand!

 

Mdrums,

I agree with most of what you are saying. I don't think 20s look cartoonish. I think they look badass. Many many many people do. So we should stick to facts, which your post has many good ones. As far as the 20s handling and feeling worse, I agree now, but I wouldn't have bought them if I felt then like I do now (remember, mine are for SALE).

And, I'm sorry... I gotta... I really don't want to open up a can of worms, but I gotta. You're kinda slamming us, in a friendly and fine way, for liking 20s when they are more aesthetic than useful and we bought 911s instead of something else... but....

you have a cabriolet! We would probably have to go to 24s to slow our cars down enough to be there with you.

Had to do it. Sorry. It was a bit of irony I had to point out.

Peace though. Umm k?

 

I did do a little bit of research and found ther are some 20" wheels that weight in at 20-22 lbs frnt and 23-26 lbs rear .

 

PorscheAudio - the Champions in 20's weight that much as well as some new wheels coming out.

As for heavychevy and what he drives..he is not on the board for nothing. And I am sure he can outdrive many of us here. Cept for me haha j/k.

20's do not destroy the ride of any car if balanced correctly. You didn't by a Porsche to not feel the road! I would challenge you to ride on 19's and 20's blind folded on a highway and notice the difference.

You tell me if you can see that much of a difference in a .10mm(height) when the wheel/tire is on the car. Read specs below for Stock Turbo comparison(since i own one) and the 20's that I will be running as soon as they are built.

Section Width:12.00 for 305mm | Width:12.79 in 325mm

Overall Diameter:26.20 in 665.48 mm | Overall Diameter:26.39 in 670.30mm

Sidewall Height:3.60 in 91.44mm | Sidewall Height:3.19 in 81.026mm

Radius:13.10 in 332.74mm | Radius:13.19 in 335.02mm

Circumference:82.30in 2090.4mm | Circumference:82.90 in 2105.6mm

Revs per Mile:793.8 Revs per Mile | Revs 788.1

Actual Speed:60 mph 100 km/h Speedometer1 :59.5 mph 99.2km/h

Speedometer Difference: | Speedometer Difference: 0.723% too slow

Diameter Difference: -Diameter Difference: 0.72%

 

Bingo! I bet most here are just preaching what there read. I'd like to see a poll about how many that actually own/owned 20's regret their decision. I'd bet if the responses were real, it's be very few.

 

You need a RUF GT2

 

blakt, not slammin ya...it's all in good fun and just speaking my mind freely here....yep I drive a Cab, my wifes choice but I have yet to figure out why you think a Cab is slower than a coupe...maybe weight but I have not noticed much yet. Although I will have a coupe winter 2008 due to my track day hobby. Slam away on me...it's all good and we all need some laughs.

see ya! Mike

 

mdrums - you live in Tampa! You need a CAB!!!

I will be there with the car Labor day. Need to stretch its legs and put some miles on it.

 

Alpine, right now it's a little hot to be driving around with the top down. I was in Atlanta Wednesday and Thursday this week and Atlanta is hotter than Tampa! When you get to Tampa PM or email me!
see ya, Mike

 

I can't imangine anywhere hotter than tampa right now, plus our heat lasts much longer and other places that just have a short heat wave. I can't even ride with the windows down with the humidity..

 

Then why do the top models come with 19's???? GT3, GT2, TT, CGT????

There is no sizeable difference in 18's and 19's of the same weight and same tire height, the only diffence you will find is sidewall stiffness (which is good for handling BTW) and that difference is miniscule.