I need new tires, and so I was thinking of upgrading to 20" rims on my 2010 Cayenne S. I was thinking of something like these. solely because they look neat in the pictures.

It seems to be just a little bit more expensive than getting 4 new tires.


Are there any cons to do this? And can I do this at home, or do I need to go to a tire shop or the dealer.

Currently I have 255R18s.

Thanks for the tips!

 

You should be able to do the swap at the house. Provided the new wheels and tires have been balanced. I would also get an alignment done to prevent unusual tire wear.

 

What about transferring the TPMS? Is that also something that I can do? Are there any settings I have to change to ensure the speedomer is accurate, or is the overall circumference of the wheel the same.

 

I forgot about the TPMS. Mine was not equipped with it. You will probably need a computer to set that up. I think someone like walmart can do it. I have gotten into arguments about it with them in the past. As long as the tire size is not to different from the original you should be ok. But there will be a difference unless you have the ability to change tire sizes in the menu.

 

My Cayenne S has 22" rims with 285/35 Pirelli Scorpion Zero tires. Compared to stock 255/55/18, the car not only looks but also handles much better. Cornering and grip is awesome for a such a heavy beast.. On the downside, ride is very harsh when driving over speed bumps etc.

 

Their eBay listing says the wheels come balanced, but they don't include TPM sensors (which they apparently offer at additional cost).


So the bottom line is that you already have sensors in your existing wheels that can be transferred to the new wheels, but in order to do so, you will have to have a tire shop demount the tires from the new wheels in order to transfer the sensors over. Depending on what a shop would charge you for this work (demount, install sensors, remount and balance), you might be better off just having the eBay seller install new sensors on the 20" wheels before they ship them to you.

 

One important note is that changing the wheels will exaggerate the size of the gap, so you may want to consider coilovers also.
See my side by side pics here of 2 Cayenne's with 18 & 21 in rims - and also my own install findings.

http://rennlist.com/forums/porsche-c...s-of-pics.html

Also would highly suggest looking for some used OEM wheels on forums or eBay.

 

Pros: Looks, Handling
Cons: Price, Pot Holes, Tire Prices, Tire Wear Faster, Not many "all-season" tire selections

I have factory 21's on my 09GTS. Having the air suspension helps, can easily change the mode of the suspension to soften it on bumpier roads. Tire prices are insane once you go 20+, be sure to buy truck-rated tires. As mentioned, alignment is a must when you first get them installed. I rotate mine every 5k miles now to prolong life, I had a set of Continentals that barely lasted 8000 miles, I'm now on Vredsteins and much happier with the treadwear.

Pot holes will kill you, as much as you try to avoid every single one, you will eventually hit one that will rattle your teeth, especially in the Northeast. I had my rims re-finished once and they found that three of them were bent but easily repaired.

In the end, there are more con's then pro's, but in my opinion it's worth it. I have a set of 18's for winter use, but in the 5 years I've had my GTS I've only installed them for one winter. When it snows we use my wife's Q7. It was too much of a pain to change the tires and really didn't care for the look... If you have summer tires, forget driving in winter, the truck literally turns into a sled, no traction at all. Might want to hold on to the other set and keep winter tires on them... but once you get used to the look of the larger rims, you're gonna hate seeing all that rubber on a set of 18's.

I picked up a 3-ton jack from sears for $100 to do the tire/brake changes, much faster and sturdier then the factory jack. Completely possible to do it at home, not much do it.