Just mounted the black carrera 5 spokes...pics

[FUHRIUS]

just got back from having my new wheels mounted...thought I'd post some pics. I bought this car about two months ago with the turbo twists on it and while I like those wheels (and the the car looks more elegant with them) I wanted to drop some weight and do something a little different / a little more aggressive looking. I found these wheels on ebay a few weeks back being sold by Brandywine Porsche out east...they had snow tires mounted on them. They didn't get them sold on ebay so I made them an offer without the tires...I just had my Michelin Pilot Sports (which I've been very happy with and they only have 6k miles on them) mounted to the new rims. I just got back from a nice drive and the new look certainly turns heads...though I'm sure the dark wheels are not most people's 'cup of tea'...oh well, I like them. So, here you go...

[FUHRIUS]

another angle

[FUHRIUS]

good shot of the rear end...can't see the wheels, of course, but rhe 'S' is new and the shot of the rear gives a good view of how the spacers (21mm in the rear) add to the aggressive look from the back...running the stock size 9inch rear wheels with 52mm offsets.

[FUHRIUS]

close up of the wheel...looks like the anniversary wheel just with black spokes instead of seal grey.

[QporscheQ]

sweeeeet.

[Subanez]

Looks good man, I always like it when a car is done up a little differently than "normal." They're nice and shiny.

-Kevin

[F1CAR4ME]

I bet they'd look good on my black car. I've been thinking about getting my 17" twists powdercoated black with a polished lip like yours...

[Perfectlap]

f1car4me consider painting them a gunmetal or graphite.
!
I had a black miata with graphite color wheels and polished inner lips and they looked bad ass with my red calipers and drilled rotors.

Fuhrius, how did you remove the boxster badge? what type of glue?
I'm replacing mine with a chrome 550 edition one as soon as it arrives from eagle day. I want to make sure its on really tight because just this weekend the stock silver boxster s badge partially broke off when someone drying the car got a little carried away at the car wash.
[black and gunmetal

[Lux]

Fuhrius,
Those wheels look smokin'. I still think if you throw in some white bumperettes it'll really finish it off!


Perfectlap,
Do you have any higher res pics of your Miata? I'm thinking about throwing on the seal gray anniversary wheels on my black S.

[FUHRIUS]

first off, thanks for the kind comments folks.

Lux, I know what you mean...but call me strange...I actually like the black bumperettes. It just feels kinda traditional. I do like the cars with the matching ones as well.
And those seal grey 5-spokes would like killer on any car...I was looking for those as well and would have bought them if I could find any...I called al the porsche parts places and no one could come up with a set. You can get a set of regular 5 spokes and have them painted yourself at just about any body shop or wheel shop.

Perfectlap, on the badge stuff...removal as easy. I used a hair dryer to warm up the glue underthe badge and then ran some dental floss under the badge to get it off. the rest of the glue just lifter off and didn't leave and residual at all. the black 'S' already had glue on it, so it was easy to install. I bought it from bumperplugs.com...where I also picked up some bumper plugs. I believe he gets factory silver badges and paints them. I was actually looking for a matte black one but he could only do them in glossy.

To that end, I was hoping to find some wheels in a matte black or dark anno color (like some kinesis k58's in dark anno)...the problem was that the kinesis were just too much buck (like $4,500 for a set) vs the $2k I paid for these. the glossy black cann be a little overpowering, as it's 'darker' than the black on my top. I'm still really pleased with the way it turned out though...and I think those carrera wheels are about as good as it gets in terms of lightweight-but-still-strong-to-dollar ratio. BTW, I weighed these wheels (unscientifically by holding one and standing on my bathroom scale...then just me on the scale)...one thing's for sure, I'm getting fatter, but that's beside the point. The wheels came in slightly under 20lbs for fronts and around 23lbs for rears. not bad.

[Perfectlap]

Lux did you click on my website? on page three I have a bunch of shots of the Black Miata. I put in chrome spline drive lug nuts, very nice contrast.

Fuhrius, you got a good deal do you know the weight of each wheel? I want a second set of wheels for Summer/Autocross but I don't want to break the bank either. Check out the polished/chrome lug nuts. Gorilla makes them and they're all over Ebay.

[FUHRIUS]

perfectlap, I clicked on your link and got the following error message: We are sorry, your request has caused an error. Please press back on your browser and try again.

On wheel weight, 19.5 front and 23.5 rears. the twists were 27 and 29ish.

[Perfectlap]

yeah you have to click on my HTTP:// below my signature.

27 pounds! holy cow! my old 16" BBS wheels on my Miata were a porky 20 pounds. I switched to Summer wheels which were 13 pounds but those were tiny 15" wheels.

I wonder what my 2000 S wheels weigh.

[Lux]

Perfectlap,
Just checked out your webpage. That's one mean Miata. I thought I had stylin' shock mounts on my M3...

The gray wheels look great. Gives it a stealth look. But the silver BBS' look great too. Damn. Now I need 2 sets of wheels for whatever mood I'm in.


Fuhrius,
27 and 29lbs??? You should be able to notice a bit of difference (for the better) in acceleration and handling now, eh?

[FUHRIUS]

ya, I noticed a little difference for the better. ;-)

[Perfectlap]

7 fewer pounds of rotating weight would really show up in hard cornering and accelerating after some hard braking. I always thought of wheels as the anchors that keep the soft side up.
In a straight line, I don't think it would be as noticeable because the Boxster is a very light weight car for the power available. Unless you were accelerating up hill at Watkins!

[Ad Sach]

Since 99% of cars (including me) usually breathe off the throttle in The Esses, reducing wheel weight propably isn't priority #1. That said...

The Carrera 5-spoke lightweight is my all time favorite wheel for the Boxster S. A month after I ordered the car, I saw these wheels on a 996 and started to drool

PS - I have taken the The Esses flat out, but only twice after a good exit from The Ninety. Generally I hit the Ninety too hot and scrub off 2 mph so it doesn't count. Speed at the back straight track out is about 105. Hey wait a minute, I need more power for the Back Straight! Wheel weights do matter

[Perfectlap]

did you need a roll bar for Watkins?
is that photo next to your name coming out of the S's ?
I'm hoping to do the novice school listed on the trackmaster.com
But I'm still getting used to the power of my S.
A few times its caught me out in a BIG way. Hopefully after a few Autocross events I'll be more confident.
Can't toss this puppy around like I did the Miata (foot to the floor)

oh what other wheels do you like for the Boxster?
I've been drooling for the BBS RS Gt ($3K) but
they're pretty much for looks. I've seen one Ebay seller
who sells nothing but Porsche wheels auction the five spokes
for about $2,500. Not bad?

[FUHRIUS]

on wheels, I'm a spoke guy. Those bbs rs-gt's aren't my cup o t, but if you like more of a mesh design I hear good things about bbs. I'd also look at kinesis and fikse, both of which are VERY high quality, light weight, but pricey. As Keith Bontrager (of mountain bike part and frame design fame) says: "I can give you any two of the three...light, strong, inexpensive." I think the best looking wheel for my white car would have been the Kinesis K58's in a dark anno. Fikse fm5 is second choice...same qualities, same price, not quite as nicely finished in my opinio. But those sets were gonna cost me $4,500...wasn't prepared to go there.
I was told (by kinesis and fikse) that thier wheels are generally in the 18.5lbs range for fronts and 20-21lb for rear. A nice improvement even from the carreras. Anyhow, the wheels feel lighter, not much improvement in acceleration but they're more nimble feeling. And that's a good thing for handling but can also be a drawback on 'ride quality' where 'reide quality' is 'how comfortable is the car to drive down the road.' this isn't a big concern to me...when I drive the boxster I like to feel as if I'm driving a sports car not some luxury 'sport' sedan.

[F1CAR4ME]

Those gunmetals would look nice on my black Boxster, thanks for the tip!