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.

I'd leave it as is; the first set looks the best and will not cost you additional money. The other two sets don't do anything for me, personally. Drive the car and enjoy it.

Another vote for 1st set...

The black rims look great on a red car, perhaps you need to Gimp the JD black rims onto it and compare.

Beware, before you pick the rim size, check on performance tire availability, some sizes are simply not available or really expensive.

Also, if you want to track the car, many folks prefer 17" rims for the great variety of tire availability and lower tire cost.

Just something to consider.

What are the brand/specs for the wheels currently on your Boxster? I too think they look good. I too wouldn't go beyond 18" diameter on a 986 for both ride quality and appearance reasons.

NewOB: New ride looks sweeet! I can decide on the wheels but black looks great and carrera, way too much for wheels, and original rims dont look bad, can wait to hear what u decide on! have fun

As mentioned, you have left out some very attractive options:

You asked....The second set, preferably in a Graphite Grey but they look good in black also.

As others have stated, 18's are probably as big as you would want to go on a 986 Boxster.

First set gets my vote:cool:

Second set, I'm a big fan of black wheels. JD, great recommendation, multiple attractive styles and very affordable.

My vote is for option 2. Option 3 is nice but too big for your car. I would look into plasti dipping those wheels or just have powder coated. Good luck with your choice.

Original set looks great...not into black wheels.

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1392948562.jpg

My original set...going to refinish them so when I get bored with the Caymans I can put these back on.

http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1392948708.jpg

Can't decide but I prefer OEM wheels anyways. Love the seats and, a, who's the lovely lady everyone else missed?

I would powdercoat the original set gunmetal and be done with it.

#1 as long as they're in good shape. #2 is second choice. Don't care for #3, but it's not my $$.

Enjoy your new car!

I had no idea you could powdercoat/paint wheels. I would be very interested in that. I must find out more.

I did this for my factory Carreras 5 spokes. They've gone up in price considerably since I picked them up for $1,100 about 10 years ago. But painting was not cheap although not that expensive either, I think I paid $800. I had a gun metal finish done where the first layer was black (not sure if powder coat) and a mettalic gun metal color was applied on top. Similar to the BMW "chrome shadow" used on the previous M3's that came in all those wild colors.

But I would second the suggestion to go with the plasti-dip a first course of action to see how you like it. Probably $100 for the prep cleaners, paint cans and special spray gun handle that clips ontop of the cans.
It's fairly simple and the guys at DipYourCar.com don't even remove the tire from the wheel. They just take up the tire with masking tape.

In this video they layer over matte black with gold, but I'm sure silver will give you the same effect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qd9ILYezWM&list=PL8Cnc6kMnQhPob341Elr4kW2 N9rtq3UfF

I like the black ones.

I picked up some factory alloys for one of the kid's cars for $100, bare wheels with curb rash and all. We worked off the curb rash with files and sandpaper by running them on the car while the drive wheel was jacked up, then had the kid rough them up thoroughly with Scotchbrite pads. After buying about $30.00 worth of Duplicolor Wheel Paint in Graphite Grey (3 coats), Silver (2 light coats) then Clear (2 coats) the end result was IMO incredible.

Might want to watch this if interested in pursuing DIY:

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