996 max wheel size

[Curtis427]

The picture was before the PSS9's. 

[Tony356993]

very good. pss9 is an excellent street/track choice. think spring.

[Larry Herman]

Ian, I know someone who runs 265s on the front and 315s on the back of their 996, but I do not think that you will want to spend the money that it takes to do that.

Other than roll the fenders, I think that GT3 wheels would be a relatively inexpensive way to go.  You could also go with CCW wheels as they are probably around $2200 ~$2400 for your car (last time I checked).

[ninjabones]

I am thinking about another wheel set as well.  I've been scouring the boards for a few months and always a minute too late (thanks Nick for scooping the MY'02s on Rennlist).  Almost ready to break down and buy new. 

I got a quote from Chip at CCW last week for $2,800 for a set of any of their corsair series (C14 and C2K models are pretty sweet).  He'll anodize the set in black for an additional $100.  http://www.ccwheel.com/files/wheelprofiles.php

There are some good deals on new Fikses right now, but a bit above my price range.  Paul at Radial Tire quoted me $3,650 for any 18" Profil or FM model (shipped). 

Less expensive options include porsche OEM MY'02 5-spokes (8x18 ET50 & 10x18 ET65).  They can be had for $1,000 - $1,500 used.   Other used cheaper option is hollow-spoke turbo twists (7.5" or 8" fronts and 10" rears) 

However, I personally am a bit reluctant to buy used wheels, unless I have a detailed history and trust the seller. 

Give me a buzz if you end up moving in the CCW direction, maybe we can work on a group discount. 

 

[bobt993]

Glen,

CCW's are good rims.  Darren has been running them for years.  I have 4 sets of rims including Fikse's:  Sprint new tires, practice, practice qualifying, full wets.   I use Porsche factory rims for the practice and full wets.   Your other option is a set of newer NB 18inch rims.  Porsche has offered on the newer cars some very lightweight wheels and guys are selling them cheap: 997 rims in particular.    ET65 rear with camber, you can go a bit wider offset, ET50-52 front.  Fenders rolled.  There will still be some minor rubbing.  Watch the oil line on the back right wheel.

[Darren]

Curtis427 wrote:

Can I get 9x18 on the front and 11x18 on the rear and what offset would I need.

As mentioned, I have this setup on my car, but it requires a lot of compromise.

I vowed to stop giving away secrets but I can't help myself sometimes. This isn't for the feint of heart, if you don't want to take a hammer to your pretty car then you haven't gone down the slippery slope enough yet, do more track days. CCW made my wheels and they knew the right offsets to do this. They have been very good to me, so I highly recommend them.

1. Splash shields have to go

2. Have to roll the fenders (this chips paint if you don't do it right)

3. Some of the studs that hold the splash shields have to go

4. 265 in front you need to put a 2x4 in front of the tire and turn the wheel bending everything out of the way.

5. The 265 will rub the front coolant hard lines at full lock. I have a Kalani trick custom part for this, patent pending.

6. 315 rear will rub the vertical seam on the top of the wheel well (smash that thing flat)

Probably more I'm forgetting. Hopefully I talked you out of that. It's just not worth it.

As Steve mentions, I think you'd be fine running 245's in front with a smaller wheel. 245/295 Hoosiers is probably the way to go. At the end of the year Hoosier sells unused Grand Am tires in these sizes so pick up a few sets. They are the same compound as regular Hoosier R compound tires -- even though they are not DOT legal and they are slicks, they are not sticky like race slicks. (confirmed with Hoosier)

I ordered new springs for my PSS9 -- it's "sort of" a street car still, but there is no rubber on the car. The springs will get it a little closer to race mode.

I think out of the box the front spring rate on the PSS9 (and stock susp) is way too soft and the front end washes out. Normally soft front springs would make the car oversteer but in the case of PSS9 it makes the 996 understeer because the contact patch is so screwed up.

As an aside, soapy box, this is a great example of how most people fix the wrong end of the car. I know guys that will have the PSS9 understeer and so they will put on a smaller rear tire! Stupid stuff. The problem is that people believe these somewhat false rules-of-thumb about suspensions which aren't always true, e.g. less tire pressure means oversteer/understeer. Stiffer springs cause over/understeer. If things are adjusted too far it can have the opposite reaction.

Your Avatar picture looks like the second to last right hander at Pocono North. Very easy to get that inside tire up in the air with either stock suspension or PSS9 because of the proportionally weak front springs. The rear sway bar could also be too weak or disconnected.

For a killer street setup I'd get rid of the rubber bushings, get spherical rear upper trailing arms, solid radius arm bushings, spherical rear toe arms, and run 245/295 Hoosiers. It's also MANDADORY with PSS9 and grippy rubber to have spherical camber plates because you will rip out the factory rubber bushing. Unless you're slow, then you won't. Probably looking at $3k or so worth of stuff without wheels.

I'd also suggest upping the front spring rate (no warranty here) to ~350 lbs, leaving the valving the way it is. Please confirm with Bilstein the strut can handle that -- they told me it could.

The springs on the 996 PSS9 are 70 mm ID which is unusual. Not many companies make these -- I bought them from King Motorsports -- the brand is Swift Springs and you can find their webpage and catalog from Google.

Anyway, more information probably than you wanted, feel free to PM and I'll give you my number if you want to talk more about it.

In the end you're always better off getting as much track time as possible rather than upgrading. If you're like me though -- I like to play with settings and tweak things and I get at least as much fun out of doing that as I do driving.

[bobt993]

Darren , 

With the time you took to write this you could have fixed your car and helped us down at Thunderbolt today!!!!!!!!!  TRACK SEASON  IS OPEN.  We took the 997 as the 993 is under major surgery to race at Summit Point NASA.

[Darren]

I should have...didn't fix my wheel bearing until today though.