Going from 18 to 17 in wheels.

[stilov]

Am I dumb? I can score a smoking deal on some 17s with good tires. And I need tires anyway and hate that my 18 are chrome.

I was against it until I saw most guys racing use 17.

I have a 00 boxster s. Thoughts?

[amitmishra4]

Sounds like you hating the chrome should be an easy fix - Plastidip!! Buy some spray cans of PLastidip at your local Home Depot/Lowes and depending on the color of your car of course, go matte black. Just saying. When you are ready to sell, if the buyer likes Chrome, he just peels off the plastic.

I dont really know if the 17s or 18s make any real difference for racing, but the experts can chip in on that part.

[KRAM36]

What's the wheel and tire size of both your 18" and the 17" you're looking at? The 17" could possibly have a higher sidewall height which would affect cornering, but should give a smoother ride.

[stilov]

I also hate the chrome, because on one wheel its bubbling up on the bead so I lose air. I can pay to have the chrome blasted off the bead but it'd be 100+ a wheel.

And the chrome wheels are not in the best shape. I guess I am being cheap here, but my 996t is the money pit and I just dumped a lot in it.

[RedTele58]

I recently bought a '99 that has 18s. I'm going back to a factory 17 wheel since I'm using the car for DE events and autoX.

Other than a "cool" factor, I see no difference in ride quality between 17 and 18.

If you don't like what your car is currently wearing andf have found 17s you do like, it's a no brainer!

[lkchris]

Wheels weigh more than tires, so you'll be losing some unsprung weight.

Probably a little ride improvement, too.

Better slippery surface traction with narrower tires as well.

[woodsman]

If you own 2 Porsches you must be crazy so go with ahead with the 17's...

[Topless]

From the standpoint of looks, I tend to favor 17s and 18s on a 986, and 18s and 19s on a 987.

For performance driving, 17s all the way. I have 4 sets. 17 tires are a lot less $$ and I shred a lot of tires.

[biglimited]

Maybe wrong thread but still wondering why Porsche puts 18" originals wheels 7,5" and 9" 225 and 265 tires? I am thinking changing to 215/40 and 255/35 tires. Any downsides to this? I think possibly a bit more light feel to driving..? Car is 2004 S and with optional sport chassis

[LAP1DOUG]

Originally Posted by biglimited

Maybe wrong thread but still wondering why Porsche puts 18" originals wheels 7,5" and 9" 225 and 265 tires? I am thinking changing to 215/40 and 255/35 tires. Any downsides to this? I think possibly a bit more light feel to driving..? Car is 2004 S and with optional sport chassis

Tervetuloa,

If your car is unmodified, as in no front camber modifications, I would go toward less stagger front to rear to squelch the inherent understeer of these cars. The low cost approach would then be to get a spare set of rear wheels to fit on the front and run say a 245 or 255 front and 265 rear.

I wouldn't go with a smaller width tire than OEM at either end. With our weight, these cars can really use more tire.

I don't understand all the love for 17" wheels-

No advantage in gearing as the OD of all the 17" performance tires is right at the same as many of the 18"'s thanks to the market being brainwashed with the +1/-1 concept (there are no 17" Series 30-35 tires that I know of)

Not really any advantage on weight - you can get some very light 18" wheels (OZ's for example), and data on tire weights from at least one mfr show a 265/35-18 weighs actually 1 lb less than a 265/40-17.

Disadvantage in clearance - After I shimmed my rear trailing arms for bump-steer, the nut hit the wheel on my 17" wheels.


The only thing I use 17's for are my wet track tires where narrow tires seem to have a hydroplaning advantage.

[Topless]

Originally Posted by biglimited

Maybe wrong thread but still wondering why Porsche puts 18" originals wheels 7,5" and 9" 225 and 265 tires? I am thinking changing to 215/40 and 255/35 tires. Any downsides to this? I think possibly a bit more light feel to driving..? Car is 2004 S and with optional sport chassis

255/35 tires are unobtanium so probably not the best plan. 225/45/17 and 255/40/17 are very common sizes available with lots of tire choices everywhere.

[biglimited]

I meant 225/40x18 to 215/40x18 front and 265/35x18 to 255/35x18 back

And LAP1DOUG, kiitos ja kippis!