Best wheels for a 986 S 2004?
Discussion
Last month I got me a nice Boxster S 2004 in Seal Grey. After changing 5 knackered coils and a failed water control valve, she now runs like an absolute dream. Currently I've got 17" wheels, but, I fancy either 18s or 19s, but, have a few questions:
1 - What difference in performance and handling can I expect going from 17 to 18/19"?
2 - What sizes can I fit on a 986 and do I need smaller front and bigger rear?
3 - Can I fit wheels from a 987, Carrera or other Porsche models?
4 - What's this I hear about N rated tyres?
And, before any body says 'Use the Search Function' I have used said function and found a few posts about Boxster wheels, but, not really enough detail with regards to the questions I have
Here's a pic of my new toy:
1 - What difference in performance and handling can I expect going from 17 to 18/19"?
2 - What sizes can I fit on a 986 and do I need smaller front and bigger rear?
3 - Can I fit wheels from a 987, Carrera or other Porsche models?
4 - What's this I hear about N rated tyres?
And, before any body says 'Use the Search Function' I have used said function and found a few posts about Boxster wheels, but, not really enough detail with regards to the questions I have
Here's a pic of my new toy:
Edited by srsmith73 on Thursday 29th August 17:42
srsmith73 said:
2 - What sizes can I fit on a 986 and do I need smaller front and bigger rear? - 17" or 18" were standard fitment to various models, same size front and rear
3 - Can I fit wheels from a 987, Carrera or other Porsche models? - you'd need to check the offsets for a 987, but other models won't fit corectly (different offset)
4 - What's this I hear about N rated tyres? - only a concern for people running a Porsche warranty
Edited by Twinfan on Thursday 29th August 19:58
srsmith73 said:
88racing said:
The 986 was never intended to run on 19” wheels.
Ok, thanks for the heads up. I’ve seen on a couple of forums and the wheelbasealloys web site that some people have thinner rims on the front and wheelbase only supply wider rear rims in their sets. Any idea why this is?I'm sure 19s will bolt up but they look wrong and may cause premature wear or adverse handling
IMO there are many naff 986 wheels but you have to stick with 986 wheels really or it looks very wrong
The below are IMO the nicest, they might be called Carerras, there was one called 'carerra classic' but I think that was from 9X7 Generation
ETA IMI A referenced them above X post
1 - What difference in performance and handling can I expect going from 17 to 18/19"?
These cars are very sensitive to tyres. So changes here will make a difference. More so if you have tight or newer suspension. Most older cars have tired suspension arms, bushes, top mounts, springs and dampers and are referred to as baggy. The main differences between the 18 and 17 are the tyre walls which are bigger on the 17 to make the overall diameter of the bit which touches the road the same or similar. The other main difference is the tyre widths too which also affects the tyre wall so you have a double wammy here. Fronts on your 17 should be 205 50 17 but some people fit a 225 45 17 to give better turn in and less understeer. The 205 50 17 has a very soft tyre wall compared to the 225 40 18 which come on the 18. The rears are less different going from 255 40 17 to 265 35 18. What will you notice, well there will be a lot more booming and banging on poor surfaces with the stiffer tyre walls. Not only due to the stiffer tyre walls but also due to the heavier wheels and tyres. Heavier wheels and tyres will make the car accelerate and decelerate slower. That's the bad news. The good news is that the car will have more grip with the 18 setup. I had one of these cars about 15 years ago without the Porsche Stability Management and I never managed to get the car out of shape no matter what I did. It just had so much grip and I'm clearly not that brave or talented. I have a 1998 911 which uses the same 18 and 17 tyre sizes. It came with 18 but I changed down to 17 and I prefer it. The steering feel is a bit better with the thinner, lighter softer tyres. 205 might sound a bit thin and it is but still has way more grip than my brain. So you should notice a better ride, more feel and less noise with the 17 setup. You should notice the opposite with the 18 setup. Outright grip on a smooth dry road will be higher with the 18 setup but you'd need to be really really pushing to notice that. The 17 setup is a bit too thin at the front and wide at the rear and makes them less willing to rotate or spin. That's good for the average driver but some driving gurus prefer to run them with smaller 225 45 17 on the rear or even 225 45 17 all round.
Finally all this is very tyre dependent. A good set of quality 17 tyres will be night and day better than a set of average or budget 18 tyres.
2 - What sizes can I fit on a 986 and do I need smaller front and bigger rear? Covered above.
3 - Can I fit wheels from a 987, Carrera or other Porsche models? Yes. They all share same bolt pattern. Some people even use 18 panamera wheels on the boxster. You need to check offset which is how inward or outward the wheel sits in relation to the hub or brake discs.
4 - What's this I hear about N rated tyres? Hmm I'd say on an old car like yours ignore this. The n rated tyres will have been superseded by more modern tyres. So for example ps2 and ps3 were n rated by Michelin but most people will tell you the ps4 is a better tyre. You cant get n rated ps4 for your car but you can get n rated ps4s for some of the newer cars I believe.
I do prefer the look of the Carrera wheels as others have mentioned. Dont forget the anniversary model with the grey wheels is lower than yours and runs spacers making them look even better.
I'd say stick with your current wheels and invest in some nice new decent tyres - but that's just me. The fronts hardly wear at all but the rears will go quicker. For now just keep an eye on your tyre pressures. Small changes here can affect the car. I think the Porsche recommended pressure is a bit high and can result in the centre of the rears wearing out first which to me says only the centre is making contact with the road right?
Let us know what tyres are on there and what your pressures are when you check them.
These cars are very sensitive to tyres. So changes here will make a difference. More so if you have tight or newer suspension. Most older cars have tired suspension arms, bushes, top mounts, springs and dampers and are referred to as baggy. The main differences between the 18 and 17 are the tyre walls which are bigger on the 17 to make the overall diameter of the bit which touches the road the same or similar. The other main difference is the tyre widths too which also affects the tyre wall so you have a double wammy here. Fronts on your 17 should be 205 50 17 but some people fit a 225 45 17 to give better turn in and less understeer. The 205 50 17 has a very soft tyre wall compared to the 225 40 18 which come on the 18. The rears are less different going from 255 40 17 to 265 35 18. What will you notice, well there will be a lot more booming and banging on poor surfaces with the stiffer tyre walls. Not only due to the stiffer tyre walls but also due to the heavier wheels and tyres. Heavier wheels and tyres will make the car accelerate and decelerate slower. That's the bad news. The good news is that the car will have more grip with the 18 setup. I had one of these cars about 15 years ago without the Porsche Stability Management and I never managed to get the car out of shape no matter what I did. It just had so much grip and I'm clearly not that brave or talented. I have a 1998 911 which uses the same 18 and 17 tyre sizes. It came with 18 but I changed down to 17 and I prefer it. The steering feel is a bit better with the thinner, lighter softer tyres. 205 might sound a bit thin and it is but still has way more grip than my brain. So you should notice a better ride, more feel and less noise with the 17 setup. You should notice the opposite with the 18 setup. Outright grip on a smooth dry road will be higher with the 18 setup but you'd need to be really really pushing to notice that. The 17 setup is a bit too thin at the front and wide at the rear and makes them less willing to rotate or spin. That's good for the average driver but some driving gurus prefer to run them with smaller 225 45 17 on the rear or even 225 45 17 all round.
Finally all this is very tyre dependent. A good set of quality 17 tyres will be night and day better than a set of average or budget 18 tyres.
2 - What sizes can I fit on a 986 and do I need smaller front and bigger rear? Covered above.
3 - Can I fit wheels from a 987, Carrera or other Porsche models? Yes. They all share same bolt pattern. Some people even use 18 panamera wheels on the boxster. You need to check offset which is how inward or outward the wheel sits in relation to the hub or brake discs.
4 - What's this I hear about N rated tyres? Hmm I'd say on an old car like yours ignore this. The n rated tyres will have been superseded by more modern tyres. So for example ps2 and ps3 were n rated by Michelin but most people will tell you the ps4 is a better tyre. You cant get n rated ps4 for your car but you can get n rated ps4s for some of the newer cars I believe.
I do prefer the look of the Carrera wheels as others have mentioned. Dont forget the anniversary model with the grey wheels is lower than yours and runs spacers making them look even better.
I'd say stick with your current wheels and invest in some nice new decent tyres - but that's just me. The fronts hardly wear at all but the rears will go quicker. For now just keep an eye on your tyre pressures. Small changes here can affect the car. I think the Porsche recommended pressure is a bit high and can result in the centre of the rears wearing out first which to me says only the centre is making contact with the road right?
Let us know what tyres are on there and what your pressures are when you check them.
I have a 986 2.7 and it came with the BBS Sport Classic wheels fitted as shown below. I like them a lot but they are mighty pricey, even second hand, so I'm careful not to kerb them! They'd look good on a Boxster S IMHO.
The twist 18" alloys you should be able to get, with or without tyres on ebay. If you buy a set from a 987, the tyre profiles are a slightly wider diameter.
The twist 18" alloys you should be able to get, with or without tyres on ebay. If you buy a set from a 987, the tyre profiles are a slightly wider diameter.
Yeah all the later cars after the early boxster use a larger rear tyre - larger circumference. It's my view that this happened when they stopped giving you a spare wheel. So it didn't matter if the rears were bigger in overall circumference. Most cars with a spare have similar circumference all round. Otherwise you'd need 2 spares right?
srsmith73 said:
I think I’m looking at it from a far more aesthetic perspective and would like to have less tire wall visible. Are there lower profile 17” tyres that I could get?
Yes but then that will give you a smaller overall circumference and make the car sit lower, fill arches much less and affect the car's geometry. Porsche spent a lot of time and money designing the car. You can go all stretched scene on the car but you're throwing away a bit ( or a lot ) of that research and development. If you want invisible tyres but keep the circumference then you need to go to 19 or maybe even 20. Porsche didn't design the car for 19 but I'm sure if they had their time over again they would add a 19 inch option. They're always adding bigger and bigger wheels to their cars, is that fashion or are they genuinely better.Wheel and tyre sizes are in your handbook.
Porsche publishes a list of currently approved tyres, not all of which are available, e.g. 17" Bridgestone SO2.
https://www.porsche.com/uk/accessoriesandservice/c...
We have a 2001 on 17" Sport Classic wheels and have recently fitted Michelin PS2 N3 which are excellent and still highly rated from what I have read in other topics. There will be later tyres which will have their advocates but not N rated. When I say later I am not implying that the PS2 are old stock as they are not and are still being made.
The 18" Sport Classic wheels shown earlier are 3 piece wheels which look good, better than the 17" but bring problems and costs with age, for instance if being refurbished. !7 or 18" are difficult to wash because of the lattice effect.
Porsche publishes a list of currently approved tyres, not all of which are available, e.g. 17" Bridgestone SO2.
https://www.porsche.com/uk/accessoriesandservice/c...
We have a 2001 on 17" Sport Classic wheels and have recently fitted Michelin PS2 N3 which are excellent and still highly rated from what I have read in other topics. There will be later tyres which will have their advocates but not N rated. When I say later I am not implying that the PS2 are old stock as they are not and are still being made.
The 18" Sport Classic wheels shown earlier are 3 piece wheels which look good, better than the 17" but bring problems and costs with age, for instance if being refurbished. !7 or 18" are difficult to wash because of the lattice effect.
I really like these wheels and if you must go 19 I think they would look good. You need a proper 5 spoke on a Porsche in my opinion.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/254320243616
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/254320243616
Plenty of Boxsters owners full of info if you need more technical advice about the car over here. Don't let the name put you off.
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
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