Smaller Wheels!

[jcelee]

Swapped my steam-roller 19" Carrera S wheels over for some 987 17" Boxster II wheels last night. My car is a manual 2.7 Cayman without PASM, Sports Chrono or any such gizmos. It certainly looks far less bling bling.

Found the traction control light for the first time! The steering feels significantly more feelsome and possibly a bit more direct (surprisingly), the car feels like it has a little less weight to push around - those 19s were comparatively very heavy...

Hoping it will make the car more alive with less grip, more slip, more throttle adjustability without being scary (no high speed mid bend snap oversteer I'm hoping!) It has a reasonable set of Michellin Pilot Sport (2?) on it so hopefully they are nice and progressive.

Anyone else "downgraded" their wheels?!

[Biggles111]

Hmm - I'm currently in the process of taking off the 18" split rims that my 964 came with and swapping back to OEM 17" Cup 1's, which are in for refurb and new tyres. Hoping for a similar improvement, I found the 18's looked nice but were a bit crashy - a bit more tyre profile is sometimes no bad thing.

[spareparts]

I think the maximum permissible diameter of an F1 car is 13" ?

Big rims look blingtastic, but there are many downsides.

[Actus Reus]

Considering a set of 17s running winter tyres as opposed to my 19s - less grip, less unsprung weight, cheaper tyres...apart from the looks, what's not to like?

[Steffan]

Hallelujah!! I have been suggesting for years that the current strip of rubber approach to tyres which fit on hopelessly oversized wheels was bad news and self defeating. The fact is that with the dreadful state of modern roads in the UK and plethora of speed bumps and other such devices oversized wheels made a good car much less driveable and much much less responsive and subject to tramlining at every opportunity.

Some may say that oversized wheels look good. To which I say really? All that gitters..... Not if you actually drive the cars thus abused. It does not work. Good to see others are getting the reality message.

[jcelee]

The ride quality is transformed too of course, especially on patchy roads.

I've now got 3 sets of wheels - none of the bling brigade wants 17s so they're pretty cheap... Just takes up some garage space!

So I bought a set of Boxster II wheel for summer tyres and a set of 987 Cayman Gen 1 17" for winter tyres. For some reason the Germans seem to throw out a lot of lightly used winter tyres so I've bought a set of Porsche approved Conti-Wintercontact tyres to go on once the temperature dips. Running winter tyres on my previous 968 transformed it in snow so I'm hoping they will bring the same benefits on the Cayman.

[kitesurfer2]

In my opinion and experience most Porsche road models for the past 50 years drive and handle better on the smaller option diameter wheels, most owners who have tried both will agree with this.

[Steffan]

kitesurfer2 said:

In my opinion and experience most Porsche road models for the past 50 years drive and handle better on the smaller option diameter wheels, most owners who have tried both will agree with this.

Precisely reflects my experience not just with Porsche but with every modern car. Oversized wheels on pick ups and 4x4's are absolutely hopeless and make driving difficult. Tramlining becomes a real bugbear. The car manufacturers provide the best compromise they can find at enormous cost. IME that is also the best wheel for general road use. Cars are surely meant to be enjoyed on the road not wallhangers?

[juansolo]

Yup, one of the first things I did with mine.



Better ride, less understeer/more pointy front end, more playful handling. There is no downside.

[benjj]

jcelee said:

For some reason the Germans seem to throw out a lot of lightly used winter tyres...

This is because it is illegal (not just frowned upon but actually illegal) for a tyre to be removed from a wheel and put onto another. There is zero market there for used tyres. Thus we see a lot of used DE tyres for sale in the UK. Its great (for us)!

[MogulBoy]

jcelee said:

For some reason the Germans seem to throw out a lot of lightly used winter tyres.

Depends what you mean by lightly used I suppose...

In my experience, when they appear to be only half worn (i.e. still with 4mm of tread left) they are no where near as effective when conditions are truly wintry compared to when new or nearly new so many folk ditch what appear to be servicable tyres because their primary objective is to maintain a degree of confidence that they will cope with extremely dicy conditions that can crop-up. Saying that, there still occasions, particularly involving gradients, when only chains will deliver!

Edited by MogulBoy on Tuesday 10th September 10:11