What wheels look the best
 

Ok so I am very picky about rims, and have narrowed it down to a couple choices. The only problem is one of the choices is astronomically expensive, and the other is reasonably priced. Seeing as how I will pick the car up Monday :dance:, I am obsessing over what to do to the car first. (Before I drive the car home it will have a revamped ims, rms, clutch, waterpump, resurfaced fly wheel, and a few other things.

After 2 minutes in Gimp, I got a crude mock up of the rims.


so here are the rims that are on the car http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1392858656.jpg



Here are the rims that cost about 1500 - they are forgestar f14 matte black. I scaled them up slightly due to the fact that I would get the 19" or 20" version
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1392858758.jpg



And here is the most expensive option, that costs more than a third the value of the car - at least the 20 inch version does - if anybody knows where to get these for less, please enlighten me... they are Carrera classic rims that cost anywhere from 5,000 to 6,500.
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1392858904.jpg

Congrats on your purchase! Looks like you are doing the smart thing with critical maintenance up front.

Personally, I like option 2, the black rims the best.

I like the clean, elongated look of the first wheel. However, I much prefer the dark finish of the second option. If price is a concern, perhaps you might like these. They have a similar look to option one, with the dark finish of option two - at a fraction of the price.
There are at least a couple of members who have them on their vehicle.

1st set looks nice

Thank you for showing me them! I love their insbruck weels! and I also love the price! :cheers:

I like first photo wheels

Black ones to me...

i personally prefer the first!

Nice looking car....I'd prefer the 1st set

Agreed, I don't see anything that looks better than what you already have.

Set #1. Great wheels, zero extra cost.

Did you get rid of the BS spring compressors?

Time to drive it now, that's where the real pleasure comes into play.

Just sayin'............

TO

In order of preference based strictly on appearance: 1st (original) set, 3rd set, 2nd set. All-black cheapens the look in a boy-racer kind of way, but if you just tone the silver down to a dark graphite grey it looks both more aggressive and sophisticated, with the bonus of less visible brake dust.
Like the seats BTW. Enjoy the ride!

1st set!!!!

Congrats on your new ride

The wheels it has now are nice!

Another vote here for keeping the wheels it already has. They look great and I don't know why you should spend money on a change that wouldn't be much (if any) better looking.

Ditto what BrokenLinkage said.

Ditto what silver-S and Rawley says....

Plus I'd hate to think how 20" wheels would ride on an early Boxster!!

Stick with the originals for now, they look great and have zero cost. My second choice is #3. I am just not big on the black look. There are sooooo many wheel choices. My advice is to live with the car for awhile, listen to other opinions, watch CL or eBay for used wheels, and take a look at some retailers for new. Wheel Dynamics has some reasonable cost wheels as does Tire Rack. Congrats on a great looking Boxster:cheers:

F14 is a great wheel. A trick to find in 18" which imho is the proper size for best performance.
Some 19" wheels worsen the ride quality, especially if you're on lower springs but less so if the weight is ~20 Lbs. and under.
20" wheels on the 986 are ridiculous. The rattles are bad enough with a 20lb. wheel, going with anything heavier is nuts.

I would not spring for any expensive wheels unless they were forged. Or at least the flange part as some do to cut costs. Cast wheels that are pricey like forged wheels is crazy to me. Some non-forged wheels like certain BBS models are low pressure cast or flow formed to make them much stronger than the typical (gravity) cast wheel sold in the back of car magazines but they're still steeply priced. Might as well go forged. Forged wheels always sell for good prices second hand too.

The F14 is a nice trade off for a cast wheel of price and weight but it's still just a street wheel.
You might consider the OZ Allergita as well. Those are popular for track use while not being absurdly priced like some of Porsche OEM cast wheels.
The saying is true "weight, strength or cost -- you can only have two of the three".

p.s.
You're current wheels aren't bad. I'd paint those gun metal and run them as winter beaters on some all season tires. Granted, I don' know if the temps in your state go below freezing of if you get more than an inch of snow. I run full winter tires from November to April. And have they come in handy this year. Last wheek I was stuck in a parking spot, even with the winter tires it took some doing to get out of that.

Unfortunately, I think you have left some very obvious choices off the table...

for example...
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01/one1392914431.jpg

or
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01/two1392914449.jpg

You forgot the daisy wheels.