The lightest 17" rims available for 986?
 

What are the lightness 17" wheels / rims available for my 1997 boxster?

I'm trying to build the lightest 986. 16" won't clear my front brakes.

thank you

-ak

I'll vote OZ although I'm not a big fan of the wheels they are really quite light.

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.mini-madness.com/ProductImages/OZ-Superleggera-lg.bmp&imgrefurl=http://www.mini-madness.com/browseproducts/O.Z.-Superleggera.HTML&h=400&w=400&sz=469&tbnid=DP1i4EX 0eQBT6M:&tbnh=97&tbnw=97&prev=/search%3Fq%3Doz%2Bsuperleggera%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo% 3Du&zoom=1&q=oz+superleggera&docid=HURpr30QRV9NpM& hl=en&sa=X&ei=XRRET6TjGO2B0QHhpeC4Bw&ved=0CEUQ9QEw AQ&dur=387

How bad are the 17-inch twists?

If I remember correctly, the Speedline hollow spoked wheels fitted to the 964/993 Turbo cars where about the lightest - but be prepared to pay big money for them, though I seem to remember that you could buy replicas a few years ago......

I'm looking not only into OEM 17" but aftermarket as well. I would be happy with 14lbs or so.

would like to run 245 up front and 285 in the back without rolling fenders.

thank you guys!

fikse fm10s are fairly light.

nope, around 18lbs for 17" they are not light at all.

Hmmm, in the sizes you want to run 275/35/17 you will want a 17x10" wheel. A 14lb 17x10 wheel is probably only made from unobtanium... or around $4k each. The lightest 17x10 I have ever seen are these: Fikse FM-5 Forged/Spun 17x10 18.5lbs
http://www.wheelenhancement.com/index.php?t=WheelDetail&id=267

The only thing I see about a light weight alloy wheel is the strength to take a hard bump like a pot hole. A sudden impact can make these wheels useless. Rather take all that money and put it into the engine.:cheers:

O.Z. Alleggerita HLT. These wheels with Porsche bolt pattern are sold ONLY on tirerack.com

This is the lightest rim I could find, but I think it only comes in 18 inch. They are just under 18 lbs.

He specifically asked for 17" wheels. I'm not familiar with that size for Boxsters.
That said, 18" Forgestar F14s are just as light, if not a little lighter, than the Alleggeritas.

The pricing on these have become very popular for track junkies who obviously put their wheels to the test.

I too would like a 17" wheel but that's simply not practical anymore. Even finding a 18" wheel is hard enough since the aftermarket is set up to cater to Carrera 19" and higher. Boxster fit is not a big enough seller to warrant special builds. OEM Porsche wheels are cost prohibitive and a really poor value for cast alloy that will bend like a Pepsi can just like an $150 mass produced wheel.

For this car anything under 20# is considered light. The 18" OEM Turbo twists in Boxster fit are nearly 30#. My winter wheels (997 Turbo replicas) on the crap snow tires are definitely over 30# and it does kill acceleration...and gas mileage is down about 15-20%. Thankfully I'll be back on my factory Carrera lights and RE-11 when the weather breaks. Night and day.

This is not true PL. The OEM cast Porsche wheels are reasonably light and quite strong compared with cast aftermarket Italian or Chinese knockoffs. They compare well with quality forged wheels in terms of strength at a much lower cost. This subject was studied at length within the Spec Boxster Racing class.

Wait wait wait.... Did you just say you want a 17" wheel that weighs 14 lbs??? I hope you know how ridiculous that is.... Especially an 8.5 inch wide 17" wheel....

interesting. But based on how long it took to dent both of my front factory wheels I would not have payed the steep Porsche premium. And I'm not a daily driver. I also cracked a rear wheel (no coilovers or aftermarket suspension) but that was after four years. Although that doesn't seem like that long a time frame.
I fared no better with my previous cast alloy BBS RK's. Both front wheels dented within a year, one simply slowly driving up onto a steep driveway with a high edge at just the wrong angle.

What about the team dynamics pro race 1.3 wheels, light and strong, used on the UK touring cars

I looked into these myself in 18s. The 1.3 is not as light as the 1.2. And they don't make the 1.2 in Boxster fitment. But you may be able to get 1.3s in 17s...not sure. That said, I don't think they'd be as light as what he is shooting for, even if they are available.

My 1.3 18x8.5 are 11kgs and the 18x10 are 11.75kgs, they are strong too, I run them on all my track cars.

http://img.tapatalk.com/519bd09d-5519-b08a.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/519bd09d-554b-76bd.jpg

Those numbers are way different than what Avalon Motorsports quoted me for the 1.3s.

Have a look on team dynamics web site, or Rimstock as they are over here :)

11kg = 24.25lbs

So far its O.Z. Alleggerita with 17.4 for the front and 20.4 for the back in 18"

I was really hoping to find 17" to save even more on weight.

Splitpin- Can you please post a photo showing the offset of your wheels, as well as the offset number? I'll soon be ordering F14s with custom offsets and I'm trying to figure out exactly what I want them to be.
BTEMY- I believe a set of Forgestar F14s are lighter than a set of Alleggeritas.

How much per wheel?

Anybody used them yet?

Plenty of people have used them to good effect. Look on Planet 9 and Sixspeedonline.
Forgestar F14 Wheels for Porsche 18"

I think you can get a set of custom CCW wheels in boxster fitment in that weight range in 17". Their 18x12 size weighs 21 lbs so I'm sure the 17x9/10 sizes will weigh much less. Around $2500 for a set.

If my digital bathroom scale is accurate and Tirerack is right in saying a Mich PS2 18x9 is 25lb, then a Fikse profil 5 18x9 is 17lb. The same scale says my stock twist wheels are in the low 20s although I was told they would be 30+.

? That is pretty light.

18x8.5 front et52
18x10 rear et45


225/40/18 Fronts

265/35/18 Rears
But be aware rim width is measured to the inner edge of the rim where the tyre mounts, so different makes can have thicker rim walls and foul.

My rears sit 4mm from the struts and the fronts have loads of room.

About a year ago, GRM magazine did a test to confirm that a light weight wheel and tire improved times on an auto-x course. They used a Miata for the test, and found that the heavier weight wheel was actually faster!

After examining the data, it was apparent that the heavier wheel was faster just because that wheel/tire combination was just a bit smaller diameter, and thereby lowered the effective gearing and improved acceleration. Just a fraction of an inch less diameter completely over-rode the weight effects of a heavy wheel.

So, you should probably look at the whole package of resulting wheel / tire diameter, sidewall stiffness, etc. rather than being overly concerned about the last ounce of wheel weight.

Hi,

our monobloc cast wheels weights in 8,5 x 19 offset45 21,5lbs and in 10,0 x 19 offset 40 23,8lbs, Made in Germany, german TÜV-Approved and a set here in germany costs about 1.200,-Euro in different finishes (matte titanium, matte black/front polish and matte black/red ring)... i´m very interesting for, if you become in USA similar (design, wheel weights ) wheels?

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1330083389.jpg
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1330083414.jpg

You do realise that some manufacturers are already doing 'modern' 19" that weight less than 7.5 killos right? (+/-15lbs)

Below would be one of them. Clearly not a good news for all the cast fat-round wheels manufacturers e.g. porsche oem wheels. Today, I'd say there is nothing more heavy than original porsche wheels! My 19" on my MY97 are few grams lighter than the original fugly 17" twist things that comes with car

http://www.poweredbyheidl.com/DE/ima...ews/felge1.jpg

I pass all the other that we know already about that makes carbon fiber / magnesium wheels, ect...

Below is a 13lbs 18" wheels for instance

http://www.motorator.com/images/blog...on_Wheel_1.jpg

Leaving out the 20+ other worldwide custom shops who does team wheels on a need basis

Dymag no longer produces wheels for automobiles . At one point, Oakley Design took over the rights to produce their wheels . But, they have since ceased production as well . Not long ago Oakley and HRE collaborated on the technology, however, that relationship was short lived .

Problem is there's only a handful of drivers who can take full advantage of those superlight thing. besides, this is not really for street use. Unless of course your municipality/city have a refund policy if you hit holes and blow-up a wheel ($$$$ each)

I did 3 test laps on a TurboS rolling on custom made 18s CF/Mag wheels and something is completely 'wrong' there (lolll) ... feels very different at the very first corner. Personally, I wouldn't be able to take full control of those superlight wheels, a pro maybe! Go-kart steering kind of thing, car front flipping up easy etc......

eBay Porsche wheels rocks mate. Heavy, strong, so masculine, with an oriental flavor to them, yeaaa!

I agree with your conclusions Doug. What a goofy test though. If you want to test the advantages of lighter wheels you must start with identical wheel and tire sizes and diameters.

Bottom line: You can find quality 17" Porsche takeoff 17 x 8.5 wheels that weigh 21 lbs for around $125ea on CL or you can buy ultra lightweight (18lb) racing wheels for $2500 ea. Shaving 12lbs of unsprung weight might buy you 2/10sec per lap. Are there more efficient ways to spend your $10k that will yield higher performance? Adding a 3.8L motor (2-3sec)? Professional coaching by Andy Lally (8sec)? Tires (5sec)? Suspension (2sec)? The low hanging fruit is always the driver, not the wheels.

That is something to think about

People always overlook their driving skills.... Like instead of thinking that each lap wasn't fast enough so they make their car faster, they should just keep driving and going to driving schools...

And as previously stated, the difference between a 18 and 14lb wheel is not that noticable... If you're trying to be faster, when it comes to wheels, go smaller....

Driver before car... Driver. IMPROVE YOUR DRIVING! GO FORTH!!!

This database is awesome!

according to that list the stock 17's are pretty dang light for factory wheels!