Any advantages of 19" vs 18" wheels?
 

Apart from looks ?
Will the 19" give you a harsh ride compared to 18"?

Any performance benefits of 19" wheels?

Benefits: Increased steering response and Increased feedback from road surfaces

Drawbacks: Tend to be heavier than 18s and Increased harshness.

Remember, that, the overall outside tire diameters dont change much, whether you are talking about a 70 series tire on a 15" rim or a 30 series tire on an 18" rim. An 18 or 19 will have a very small side profile. This low profile is what allows for increased feedback.. but can also create harshness too.

It also seems a bit eary in the 19" sizes to find really sticky tires. Very limited sizes and should be more expensive than even 18" tires.

+: better steering response,easier to clean ur calipers hehe, and just look good
-:more expensive to get, more expensive tires, harsher ride due to lack of sidewall

There are definite Pros and Cons. Then, you have to assign whatever weight to each that your experience, wants, beliefs and such demand.

Pros

Better Steering response (but, maybe not all that noticeable in street driving)

Increased 'Road Feel'

Aesthetics - fills out the wheel wells, the Hot trend, may gain the respect of your peers



Cons

Increased 'Road Feel'

Usually heavier

Usually costlier

More expensive Tires

Can affect MPG

May not allow for a Tire change due to the mismatched spare

Possibly unable to fit the flat roadwheel in the trunk (wanna leave a $600-$1000 wheel on the roadside or put it on your nice leather seat?)

Possibly a greater magnet for thieves and vandals

Aesthetics - may signal that you're trendy, may gain the ridicule of your peers

Again, so far as street driving, there's not alot of advantage (though there are some depending on how much weight you give to each point). Many are very happy having 19s.

Your car + your $ = your decision. Good luck.

I'll pass on what my dealer said... I'm sure this isn't the only opinion out there so take it for what it is worth.

The driving instructors at their local track recommend 18" wheels and no PASM. On very good surfaces such as track driving 19" wheels offer clear benefits. On the street, where the quality of roads is more hit and miss 18" wheels are able to maintain better contact across a wider variety of surface. The larger sidewall acts as a shock absorber and keeps the grip more even. The car I bought used originally had 19", but the first owner swapped them out for 18".

My personal take is that the handling with 18" is outstanding. 19" may be better in some circumstances, but I prefer not to pay the extra cost for 19" every time the tires need replacing. Price it out at Tire Rack. It's not just a few more bucks.

I agree with everything said so far, but on the performance side, 19's will NOT offer better performance UNLESS you are comparing equal weight to equal weight.

If you have a 19" wheel that weighs the same as an 18" wheel, then yes there can be performance benefits in "better steering response", less body roll, etc. But if you've increased weight by going to the larger diameter wheel, then all of those gains are more than canceled out by the added weight.

On the street, the only advantage of 19" wheels is looks and you will most likely pay for that in ride harshness.

On the track, you'd only have an advantage if you got some kind of really-expensive lightweight forged wheel, and even then you'd be better off to buy a lightweight 18" wheel instead.

FWIW, a friend of mine just got a new Cayman S with 19's. with PASM. As a passenger on a drive of a few miles with him, I didn't notice it was any harsher than my Boxster with 18's and no PASM. Perhaps more driving would have revealed a difference, but it wasn't immediately clear it was harsher.

I'd go with the 18's. Tires are cheaper, wheels are lighter.

After reading thread after thread, I was apprehensive to equip my Boxster with 19" wheels, then finally had the opportunity to drive one. 19" wheels/tires on a Boxster is a great set up, and is not harsh. Harsh is my 18" BMW 335i with runflats.
vincesf

If you decide to slam your ride with 19"s aren't you gonna run into MAJOR rubbing issues?

I run 19s on my 99 No rubbing issues.

When the car was on OEM shocks I did not notice any additional harshness.
As far as weight goes....how much weight does it take to notice? If the wheels are 3 pounds more each is that enough to make a difference?

I think its a personal choice. I like the look of my car on 19s and the car lowered.
Other people like their cars OEM all the way.

If you plan on tracking th car go with 18s.
or get the 19s and put track tires on your oem rims/

Its really up to you.

how wide are your rims?
 

I'm also interested in 19's instead of 18's. I found these rims on ebay (wheel specs included in listing) for a reasonable price and want to go forward BUT, am concerned about rubbing. Im not tracking, only tooling around and driving less than 4K a year (Im in Chicago, the summer season dictates the amount of driving).

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&_trkparms=tab%3DWatching&vi ewitem=&item=200208497016&_trksid=p3907.m32

cbenitah has the exact same package (man does it look sick! look at his gallery and youll see what I mean) as this and says there are not rubbing issues at all; the vendor says so too. However, before I go spending ~2K on something I cant return, I want to make absolutely sure.

Ive received a bunch of conflicting info from respected members of this board about fit, spacers, etc (which I TOTALLY appreciate; thanks everyone), so Im concerned.

The new, "used" ride I bought arrives in april; a 'blue 99 with 12K miles that is mechanically and cosmetically PERFECT (thanks mom!). I just want to update it a bit to make it look better (IMHO).

thanks for the help.

New body Boxster/Cayman was designed to ride on 18's like ours were designed to ride on 17's. They are set up for bigger diameter...so the sidewall on a 19" wheel on new car is same as sidewall on our 18" wheels. If we move up to a 19" we have a thinner sidewall than a new body cayman/boxster with the same size wheel.

19's actually runs a lot smoother on mine than stock 18's. I had the turbos and they were very uncomfortable to drive with. Not sure this is the same for everyone but 19's do fill out the wheel wells better and IMHO looks a little bit better.

For these wheels you should NOT have a spacer then you have the wrong offset. I have no spacer and I clear inside and outside just fine. (you do have to tie up the parking break cable to make it not rub)

I recommend these to anyone who likes them