ALT Miro 349 wheels on the 986... - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Rev. Al · 02-22-2010, 05:27 PM

I've been searching for too long on finding the perfect wheel for my 03 986.
There are so many choices. I'm upgrading from the base 16"s. I want to go 19"s and the ALT Miro 349's look good. Any thoughts on this upgrade?

Thanks,
Mike

Perfectlap · 02-22-2010, 05:49 PM

19" wheels just look really weird to me on the 986. they make the car look smaller and rubber band tires make the wheels look bigger. The Cayman and 987 seem to pull off the 19"s a bit better.
The Boxster is a performance driven roadster, meaning its engineered for aggresive cornering. You need some rubber on the car and the wheels should be light, closer to 20 pounds than over 30. Heavy wheels on low profile rubber will cause to much cowl shake on a convertible. That leads to things coming loose, rattling and stress all around. The other thing is that at 19" you will have fewer tire choices.
I've always like the two piece speedline wheels that most ressemble the original Boxster concept car. They're often seen on the 968 too.
speedline wheels

Quickurt · 02-23-2010, 01:15 PM

I agree Perfect. I also don't have a single friend with 19s who hasn't been to his favorite pot-hole luck wheel replacement party. Several times it has been BOTH on the same side of the car. I replaced an 18 on an RX8 for the same eason, but 19s are just asking for it. Might be a good idea to buy spares when you make your initial purchase.
Most of us seem to have our cars as second cars, but I still do trips in mine and I'm not interested in sitting in some Montana motel, waiting for a replacement wheel/tire set from Tirerack.........enough risk of that with 18s and 40 series tires.

Gary H · 02-23-2010, 03:23 PM

I use a set of 18's for road and 17's for track - mainly because the difference in price between a set of 17's and 18 Toyo R888's is huge!

Quickurt · 02-23-2010, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gary H

I use a set of 18's for road and 17's for track - mainly because the difference in price between a set of 17's and 18 Toyo R888's is huge!

When a friend and I were looking at building a new class car for SCCA, 17" had an unlimited supply of race and ultra high performance tires in any width or series (30, 40, etc). Also varying different series tires will allow you to make minor OA gear rate changes and rake changes to the chassis.

Rev. Al · 02-24-2010, 05:04 PM

Thanks for the feedback. Sounds like 18's will be the better choice.
Mike