How to tell genuine OEM Porsche Wheels
 

Hi folks,

I ordered a 2007 Boxster S just before the New Year, expecting delivery in May, and yes, the wait is horrible, especially as the weather is finally turning here in Cleveland!

I finally found a good deal on eBay for some 19" Carrera S wheels to fit my new car (figure I'll use the 18" that come with it for some race tires or just a spare set of tires, can't hurt!), picked them up for just under $1,400 with shipping. The two rears tires are pretty shot, so even with new Michelins it ccomes to under $2k, which seems like a good deal considering the Carrera S wheel option was over $1,600 with tax, and that would have only given me one set of wheels/tires.

Anyhow, point of the message -- how can I tell if these wheels really are genuine OEM ones? I can't find any markings that say Porsche or Made in Germany on them, just the wheel width and offset around the valve stems. Any ideas on what to check for? Here's the link to the original auction:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130081292821&indexURL= 8&photoDisplayType=2#ebayphotohosting


I'll get around to writing a proper introduction one of these days, but in short I've just moved back to the US after racing in Europe for the last 5 years, most recently in the British Carrera Cup in 2005 for Team RPM (teammate to Tim Harvey). The Cup car was an absolute blast to drive, but unfortunately had some problems with the team and two sponsors which forced the season to come to an untimely end only two races into the season.

Thanks for the help. It's been very informative reading the forum for the last month or so and I look forward to becoming more involved once my car finally gets built ! :)


Cheers,

Emmanuel

Umm...it doesn't look like the rims you purchased have the TPMS sensor/transmitters which is standard on the '07. Have you considered this? Although the OBC modification isn't available after POS perhaps the sensors can be added to the rims...but it doesn't look like it on my Carrera S wheels (shown in pic), and when I've made rim inquiries they've usually asked me if the car has TPMS or not.

I'll take a look tomorrow and see if the OEM ones have any markings.

Thanks for the quick reply. To begin with, after cleaning the wheels properly, I DID find "Germany" marked on the inside of the wheel on one of the spokes, so I'm pretty certain they are indeed OEM Porsche wheels. So that answers my original question!

The TPMS is an issue I didn't even think of as I didn't realize that my car was coming with it.. I've now looked into it through quite a bit of searching through various forums, and it appears that the information isn't to be found in this forum, so I figured I'd post it. These are apparently the part numbers for ordering all the parts to fit TPMS sensors to new Porsche wheels (not sure if it would work with all aftermarket wheels or not):

997.606.021.00 wheel sensor
955.361.053.00 aluminum valve
4DO.601.365 fastening screw


According to some posts at the Cayman Club, the sensors should be able to be had for around $85/each from Porsche, but others were quoted around $150/each. Apparently they can be purchased from Wheel Enhancement for around $500 altogether, and they are the original Porsche units with Porsche part numbers.

Now for my new question -- what's the best source to get good pricing for Porsche parts so I can look into sourcing these ? The TPMS warning system would annoy me to no end, so I think I'm best off making sure both sets of wheels are fitted with the sensors. It looks quite straight forward to fit the sensors to the wheels provided the tires are already off (found a PDF file from Beru with detailed pictures and instructions, would be happy to forward to anyone interested).


Cheers,

Emmanuel

I'm sure folks have their own favorites but I know that the parts department at Suncoast Porsche is well-regarded and generally have competitive pricing even when factoring cost to ship.

http://e-partssales.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=P&Category_Cod e=PO

Sunset in Oregon is a great place for Pcar parts too. 10 percent over hard cost.

I use Suncoast and Pelican mostly but do get a couple of things off of eBay. I think that you will find most of dealers here lacking in parts. Seems like they always have to order any little thing. Last year not one of the 3 dealers had the spinlocks. Got em from Suncoast faster than I could have at the local dealer. Same with the clear side markers.