What is the deal with all these big 19 and 20 inch wheels on roadsters and coupes?
 

Time for a rant. I'm shopping a second set of wheels. Actually more like fourth but that's another story. I currently run the factory 18" Carrera lights with the excellent RE-11 for summer use. For me this is really pushing the tire size. Ride quality and performance don't seem to improve with less rubber.
Aesthetically I'd rather see more tire hugging the wheel arch and not this big wheel on rubber band tires. Why is this popular? Small cars look ridiculous with so much visibility into the wheel arch area. Virtually all of the traditional Porsche wheel (aftermarket) manufacturers offer only 19" and larger. In the rare instance that I see 18" or smaller in the aftermarket they tend to be extremely over-priced for cast alloy. Some like CCWheel make an 18" wheel but there's not many choices and there's no such thing as a moderately priced forged wheel which are usually intended for racing. Not to mention a new set of those puppies correlates to 30% of the value of any given second hand Boxster and those 996 Carreras aren't holding value much better.
This just doesn't make sense to me. Has the sports car market just been taken over by people who demand big wheels and fewer tire (more expensive) tire choices? I don't get it.


http://i76.photobucket.com/albums/j3...n/seinfeld.jpg

Totally agree, my wife's Boxster has 16s and rides super smooth and quiet, it handles well and is quick but forgiving. My Boxster has 17s and those look and feel good to me, it handles very well and is a bit harsh on bad roads. I would run 18s for track day tires but not on the road.

I cannot imagine even running 19s or 20s. ( My Range Rover has 19s and they are big on it) The ride would be incredibly rough and the lower profile rubber would give you zero feedback at the point where it loses traction. It is not that they handle any better or any worse... it is how much information you get between the point of the limit of adhesion and the point where you spin out. Lower profile tires have less deflection therefore they breakaway quicker with less warning.

And I really don't like the new aftermarket wheels that are 19s and 20s with spindly little spokes that look like they would snap in a hard corner. BBS wheels look the way they do for a reason - they work under racing conditions. Chinese wheels are designed for looks only and safety and performance are not taken into consideration.

Work from your shop JFP ;)

Pure marketing. I believe engineers at Porsche wanted to stay with 18"s on 997 but the marketing dept insisted they make the car have optional 19"s.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6Glkf4jwkM

and while we are on the "whats with" subject.

What is with all the donks with the corporate logos on them? Around here we have a "John Deere" donk, a laughably horrible "Hooters" donk and a few other corporately decorated bling-mobiles. I would expect that they would get Cease and Desist letters.

Corporate sponsorship is not a bad thing.

Sure if it was corporate sponsorship. This is something the guys are doing all by themselves without the corporate folks knowing. Do you really think the Skittle donk above was approved by anyone corporate?

Not on your life, Burg; if something like that ever showed up, I would personally escort it off the premises.....................;)

Is this just an issue with 'high end' (as in price not performance) sports cars?

I remember going through hell trying to find 16" BBS RK's for Miata. I would get these blank stares at most speed shops when I told them I did NOT want "big rims". I wonder if BBS even make any wheels that small anymore.

The more I think about it the less sense this makes. The Boxster Spyder has 19" wheels and seems to be the best performing Porsche per dollar but eventually cowl shake will catch up to any ageing car and the rattles and jarring only build on themselves.

I have 17" RKII's (2pc) on the Saab! I LOVE those rims.

when I lived in Georgia I saw a fruity pebbles donk in Columbia, SC

You know what I really want? A set of the wheels that were on the original Boxster show car back in 1993. Can't find anything remotely resembling them. I have the 18" Turbo wheels and I don't really want larger, I was alongside an '08 with 19"s on it yesterday and it looked like a Peterbilt.

Even the 991 is rolling on 20". Seems a bit silly.

Are wheels getting bigger to accommodate larger rotors and calipers? Or do they keep increasing the size of the brake parts just because they have the room in the larger wheels?

How bout the ones in my avatar? May have these for sale soon...

http://986forum.com/forums/attachmen...s-download.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3420/...90927559_o.jpg

Yeah, I'm not a fan of this trend, either. Thank goodness OZ still makes wheels like the Alleggerita.

Yo, yo, yo! I'm gettin' this spinner bling bling wheel for my hoopdie Porshy.

http://www.rollinbig.com/hotcarpictureswithspinnersandchrome.html

Hells teeth - I nearly brought up my sugar ricicles.......
Hey Landy - they would look great on your Rangie, but instead of the Porsche badging, a big
LEYLAND logo badge - in gold chrome of course - on them.

I agree that the big wheel thing has got WAY out of hand - but what about tires?

Why does the same model tire cost $100+ more just because its a 19" rather than a 17" (with the same profile)? Sure, the 19" tire is a bit wider so there is a little more rubber and probably a bit more design effort tthat had to be expended in its development that has to be recovered, but not $400+ on a set of four.

I've purposely kept my 17's just to keep my tire budget low!

Those originals look like speedlines from a 911 T 3.6. One of my fav all time cars!

Since we're on the topic...

man o man are you guys going to be hating my rims when they arrive! :o

I personally think that 19" look good on Boxsters and Caymans as long as they are done with taste. All of the photos shown in this thread are at the extreme end of the spectrum.

When it all comes down to it, as long as the owner of the car/rims is happy, who really cares?!?!?!

just my 2 cents...

The 19s on my RR are stock in the US but the ROW stock is 18s which I would like because it gives you a hell of a lot more and cheaper tire options. There is only one manufacturer that makes a real offroad tire for the 19s (goodyear kevlar wranglers) and they are god-awful expensive.

To my eye the 17" wheel is just right on the 911, Boxster and Cayman. It has the right amount of metal and rubber sidewall showing. The 17" do ride a little stiffer than my other car with 16" did. I have test driven some 18" and 19" the ride was acceptable, but they were new cars not 10+ years old. I just prefer the look of 17". I can live with 18" if I had to, but any bigger just looks silly to me. I don't like the 20" on the 2012 Boxster.

Do you really think 19's look to large? I would have to disagree. Yes they are heavier, and yes there is less of a tire selection but looks wise they are perfect in my opinion

My 997 is on 20's and my 986 is on 18's and they both look good to me :dance:

Personally 16's and 17's look way too small on the 986 and should only be used for track days. 18's still give you enough sidewall to absorb the harshness of the road and keep your ride relatively comfortable.

http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6116/...9474895012.jpg
http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4043/...4eae836e_z.jpg

^wingnut2u,

are both of your car lowered?? What size tires are on the 18"s? Anything above 18" on stock springs/struts does not look right to me. Even if you've got more rubber filling the gap the rear bumper and front bumper still look as if they're sitting higher off the ground, which in sports car terms looks contradictory. Like something you would see on muscle car or drag racer. Just my opinion.

As far as performance and ride, if the car is going to be sitting lower since of course it's been set up for sportier specs, then you're only compounding the jarring and punishment the car is going to take by going with such large wheels. This may work on new models with brand new shocks, but as parts start to age the size of the wheel starts to show its weakness.
Think about it. 19" wheels used to be strictly the domain of trucks and vans.
Now they're on sports cars despite, to my knowledge, there being no advantage in either street driving or on the track. It's purely an urban style cue. I suspect it's more to do with the greater prices that both wheel makers and tire companies can turn for slightly more material as another poster pointed out. In other words the vendors are feeding the trend when from a performance and ride comformt standpoint they should be discouraging it.

well the first thing that jumps out at me is that you can see clear to the other side of the pavement under that car. And I can see all the material at the bottom of the front bumper. Even the shadow that is cast by the car shows that its sitting high...due to the wheels size (again just my visual opinion). But that's another issue (ride height) that is not necessarily the same as wheels size. If the car were lowered, you'd have less rubber due to more wheel, in that setting it looks compromised. On the street such large wheels on cars like a Porsche ,that has every aero and mechanical consideration run through works a dozen times over, looks like style trumps engineering. Granted to the average car nut it looks like a calendar photo. I don't know I just don't see the upside on your wallet, ride comfort, or peformance.

Looking at that photo really makes me wonder if I can go to 19" without re-doing my shocks which brings its own issues on these rough roads.

19 inch wheels do not change the ride height. The tires are the same diameter as if they were 16 inch. My car is not lowered and I may be experiencing some body roll due to racing speeds on a autocross track

DOH! forget you go down to F35/R30 on 19"s.

I guess roll to the left would explain the gap. It looked like the car was going straight.