I have heard that ride quality on 18" wheels' is best. On the other hand, OZ's has a set of 19's I like a lot compared to its 18" counterpart. So, I was thinking, could I get the 19's and put higher profile tires on the wheels so that the tire profile to wheel ratio is similar to the 18's? This would provide a similar ride. Also, this would tend to fill up the wheel well more so I might eliminate the need to drop the car using suspension changes. I have a ROW suspension. Additionally, my speedo does not display the correct mph so a higher profile wheel/tire combo would get me closer to the correct gear ratio so my actual speed more closely matchs my speedo speed.

Opinions welcome.

 

I am not a fan of using the wrong size tire in order to compensate for ride quality. It just isn't right. If you are already on the ROW suspension, I think you can tollerate the small ride difference between 18 - 19. What you can do is adjust your tire pressure down by a few psi for normal street driving. This will hurt your tire wear and not deliver the optimal performance of the low profile tires, but the ride will be slightly better. I really don't think you will notice that big of a ride difference between the 18 - 19. Just do it right and use the correct tire sizes.

 

just some clarifiction here so were comparing a 18" wheel with the tire size that equals what OEM spec Outer Diameter would be with 19" wheel with the proper tire size to equal OEM Outer Diameter?

roughly half an inch less tire side wall or vertical height ? what size would this be on the 19's 20? or 25? versus 30 or 35 on the 18's?

 

The 996 was designed to use 18" wheels and tires that are are 25" diameter. I have been told by very reliable sources that acceleation, areodynamics, ride quality, speedo accuracy, will all suffer by going to 19" wheels.Some say ABS light may come on. 235's front and 295 back on 19" wheel will be 25.5" roughly front and 26" back.

Having said that, the previous owner of my 996 liked the looks of the 19" Carrera light alloy wheels from the 997 and that is what is currently on my C2. My car is plenty fast, corners as on rails, and rides just fine. No areo problems at speed and no ABS light problems.

 

I ran 18's for the last month while some 19's were being cleaned up I can't tell a difference between the two in terms of ride quality, I like the look of 19 inch better, I guess if you are not racing a 19 will do just fine.

 

18's for performance, 19's for aesthetics. Get both!

 

I have 19's and don't find the ride harsh at all. Recently I did the ROW M030 and now it sits slighly lower and looks even better. I don't track my car.

 

FWIW - I don't think 19's look good on a 996, they seem out of proportion to me, just me $0.02.

 

These 19's look terrible, don't they?

 

235/35r19 f
305/25r19 r

 

I really didn't want to get into the "looks" discussion as I already stated I like the OZ 19's better than the 18's. My question had more to do with the possibility of running a taller tire than most do with their 19's.

Mathism, is that set up what you are running? Do you like it?

 

Would you please post the size of your tires? Thanks.

 

I have 245/35 up front and 275/30 in the back. When I get new tires in a few weeks I will reduce the width up front to 235 and increase the width in the back to either 285 or 295. Those tires came with the wheels.

I think the tire height will depend as much on how much lower than stock your car sits. One thing I like about 19's is the extra 1/2" of clearance means my car doesn't scrape nearly as often as it did with 18's.

 

I have 18's, but the rear tire is taller than normal: 285/35 The extra 1/2" in the back has not caused any problems, and it does fill the wheel well more agressively.

 

My996,

You can only go up to a 235 (or perhaps) 245 ratio tire on 19'' wheels before you have significant rubbing issues.

Deckman,

What champion wheels are thos you posted, what is the diameter in the rear?