Planet 9

rubberman · #1 02-03-2010, 08:14 PM

My Cayman has the 17" wheels on it.
I'm about to get another set for track use, should I get the wider 18's that come as an option or an after market 17" thats wider.. Or is any one happy with oem 17" with dot'rs. Just doing sts POC but the Bridgestones were totally lacking in grip last I tried! Nice slidey fun day!

elh0102 · #2 02-04-2010, 07:54 AM

Personally, I would stick with 17" wheels, due to a broader and less expensive selection of tires. And if you are considering R-comp tires, I would especially recommend the smaller wheel. Low profile tires, especially those with stiff sidewalls, reduce slip angle to the point where the transition from sticky to no traction can come in a hurry. I'm a bit surprised at your disappointment in the Bridgestone OE tire. I found it to be a pretty good street tire for track use.

**KS-CS** · #3 02-04-2010, 08:35 AM

Personally, I would go with 18s - larger selection of wheels and tires to choose from, easier to sell should the time come, and I would still prefer the slightly stiffer, lower profile tire on the track.

My

diverdog · #4 02-04-2010, 10:34 AM

18" NT01's are had to beat on price, grip and wear. Enki wheels 8.5" F 10" R. Cheap strong light & look good

scwaters · #5 02-04-2010, 10:47 AM

First and formost 18" IMHO. 17" too much sidewall, 19" too little. Tires are purely personal preference. (28 track days)

elh0102 · #6 02-04-2010, 12:28 PM

Originally Posted by scwaters

First and formost 18" IMHO. 17" too much sidewall, 19" too little. Tires are purely personal preference. (28 track days)

All depends on the tire. IMO, an R-comp tire with stiff sidewall offers better handling with the larger sidewall. A street tire with relatively flexible sidewall (Michelin PS2) may feel better in the lower profile. As always, it is difficult to offer advice on only one of many related variables.

BillL223 · #7 02-04-2010, 04:53 PM

I agree with those suggesting the 18". A good wheel choice would be OEM Cayman S wheels. These can often be found on the classified ads here as well as Ebay. If you drive to the track you may need to consider a tire which will work O.K. in the rain. Toyo R888 are O.K. as well as the RA1. The new Pirelli P Zero Trofeo will be available in Cayman sizes but I don't know about price or availability.

Tomasz · #8 02-04-2010, 05:41 PM

Definitely 18". Wide selection of wheels, including OEM take offs, tires, including wider than stock. Plenty on eBay and classifieds.

Mike_in OH · #9 02-04-2010, 07:11 PM

+1 on 18" wheels/tires; stock 18" rims are cost effective and will take a number of different tire sizes.

The stock 17" rims are too narrow--6.5" F--to give you a lot of choices are far as tires go. If you wanted to stick with a 17" tire, I'd go with the 17" wheels off a 986 which are a 7" wide rim, then you could go with a 225/45/17 front and a 245/45/17 rear. Many high performance tires come in these sizes.

jmazz · #10 02-05-2010, 07:19 AM

My focus was for autocross and tire size selection was very limited in 18". For that reason I focused on 17" but was having a hard time finding wide 17's for the Cayman. I started looking at older Porsche wheels that are much more available than Cayman wheels. I picked up a pair of 17x9 CupIIs for my rears and am going to use 986 Boxster 17x8.5(rears) as my fronts. My fronts and rears are not going to match but for autocross I don't care. I am still short one 17x8.5 wheel to complete my set but that's mostly because I am looking for a dirt cheap one that is cosmetically challenged. Also, the spec boxster guys seem to have the market cornered on this size. When I get my setup completed I will make a post about it for others.

Porschefile · #11 02-05-2010, 07:34 AM

If you have the ability to trailer the car get 18's and NT01's, if not NT05's or sport cups possibly depending on how much you drive. I don't have a trailer so I ended up getting NT05's, I'll see how they do at CMP next weekend.

**Kestrel** · #12 02-05-2010, 07:35 AM

I have a 2007 Cayman (2.7/"base") that is a dual-purpose car -- daily driver and weekend warrior (I autocross and do DE's / Track days). I have the stock 17" wheels for my daily driving, and I bought a set of 18" Carrera III's for my performance driving. They need spacers in the back, but man are they wide!

I think you'd be fine with either a set of the Carrera III's like I have or a set of the stock 2007/2008 Cayman S 18" wheels. The benefit to the Cayman S wheels is you won't need the spacers.

That reminds me... I need to order new tires for those rims!

rubberman · #13 02-08-2010, 09:07 PM

Great stuff.. Thanks for the ideas.. All valid..Here's where I am now..
Just picked up a set of stock 17's with almost new tires for a good price.. so I will try some super sticky tires DOTs not DOT r's to fit my existing rims.
I will swap out rims and pads for track days.
Word is that the low profile slicks may be too stiff on an 18" wheel so I may look out for some wider 17's that fit good rubber..
And whats with the Brake fade.. I'm hoping racing pads will help pull this baby up... last venue had the slowest corner at the end of the fastest straight (streets of willow ccw).. foot to the floor on that one. tons of run off luckily!

**KS-CS** · #14 02-08-2010, 10:11 PM

Originally Posted by rubberman

...And whats with the Brake fade.. I'm hoping racing pads will help pull this baby up... last venue had the slowest corner at the end of the fastest straight (streets of willow ccw).. foot to the floor on that one. tons of run off luckily!

Pagid yellows and some Racing Brake Fluid and you should be good to go . . . or stop as the case may be.

Mike_in OH · #15 02-09-2010, 08:17 AM

Originally Posted by rubberman

Great stuff.. Thanks for the ideas.. All valid..Here's where I am now..
Just picked up a set of stock 17's with almost new tires for a good price.. so I will try some super sticky tires DOTs not DOT r's to fit my existing rims.
I will swap out rims and pads for track days.
Word is that the low profile slicks may be too stiff on an 18" wheel so I may look out for some wider 17's that fit good rubber..
And whats with the Brake fade.. I'm hoping racing pads will help pull this baby up... last venue had the slowest corner at the end of the fastest straight (streets of willow ccw).. foot to the floor on that one. tons of run off luckily!

If you've decided to go 17", think about this one:
Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Star Spec

Lots of good reviews, not terribly expensive, you can drive these to the track and they come in a size that will fit a 7" front rim and 8-10" rear rim.

A friend has these in 225/45 and 245/45/17 on 986 Boxster style rims (on a 987). $400-500 for used rims, another $500 in rubber and you're ready to go. If I were trying to go with the least expensive tire/rim combo that would fit the car and still perform well, this is what I would choose. To enhance the performance, this tire can be shaved a bit (to 7/32?) and heat cycled by TR for a fee.

Regarding sizes, keep in mind that what ever tire size you go with you need to stay in that 4% window (+/-) of what the stock tire outer diameter is. IIRC, your stock rear 17" 235/50/17 has an OD of 26.6"; 4% of that is 25.5". The 245/45/15 tire is roughly 25.7".

Phat B · #16 02-09-2010, 03:56 PM

With 2.7 you need to be concerned about rotating weight. I'd go with lightest 17 tire and wheel combo you can find.

Will a 16" rim fit over brakes? If its a set of track only wheels that might be the ticket on a 2.7.