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I'm gonna go for the standard 18's.



FWIW I like the look of those 19' Carrera Classic wheels slightly better, but think that the handling/grip/balance compromise will be better on 18's than 19's. Also it means that I can check the box for PASM...



Might well be proved wrong though!
 
I love the stock Cayman wheels, but I want 19' because (my understanding is) the work better on a track. I want no compromise sport. My dealer says the Cayman look wheel is not available in 19', so I chose Carrera Classic, like on the yellow car in the 2nd post.
 
I love the stock Cayman wheels, but I want 19' because (my understanding is) the work better on a track. I want no compromise sport. My dealer says the Cayman look wheel is not available in 19', so I chose Carrera Classic, like on the yellow car in the 2nd post.


Just my .02.......Porsches own test drivers prefer the 18' wheelsfor the track (slightly less unsprung weight I believe). Also it is my understanding that R compound tires are a bit rare for the 19's at this point in time. If you like the 19's just for looks that's a different story.
 
I love the stock Cayman wheels, but I want 19' because (my understanding is) the work better on a track. I want no compromise sport. My dealer says the Cayman look wheel is not available in 19', so I chose Carrera Classic, like on the yellow car in the 2nd post.


Chris,



The 19' Carrera Classic wheels are heavier than the 18' Cayman S wheels, the only 19' wheel that stands a chance of being lighter is the Sport Design (which is lighter than the Carrera Classic or Carrera S wheels). As Atlas mentioned, getting R-compound tires in 19' is both difficult and expensive $$$$. I have 19' SD's on my Boxster S and I'm switching back to 18's because of the ease of finding R-compounds and the ease of cleaning as the SD's are a pain to keep clean. UItimately if you want pure sport you need to go with lighter forged wheels anyway, some HRE's or Forgelines, etc. Less unsprung weight is a better thing. As for Walter Rohl prefering the 18's to the 19's it was because the 19's they were asking about were the heaviest (and ugliest IMHO) 19's the Carrera S wheels, Walter never gave an opinion about one type of wheel vs. another across the whole family of wheels offered in the Porsche line up. I've also heard, but not had technically explained, that you want to dial in more negative camber with 19's vs. 18's and that the factory set-up doesn't have enough.



Hope that helps...



Oh, and yeah, if you are buying on looks then buy whatever you think looks best!
 
I'll stick with the 18's for practical reasons. I sometimes drive on poor quality roads and the additional sidewall height will protect the wheels and suspension. Tire replacement cost shouldbe more affordable also. The 19's will be easier to clean around the calipers. It was tough to get my washing gloved fingersaround the calipers on my Boxster S 17's. We'll see how it is with 18's.
 
Wheel Enhancement weighed them all. The SD's are two piece forged/cast combo I believe instead of cast all around (if I remember correctly). The weights came in in the following order:



Lightest

19' Sport Design

18' Boxster S

(assuming 18' Cayman S is similar)

19' Carrera Classic

19' Carrera S

Heaviest



I don't recall the exact weights now, but I know it was darn close between the SD's and the standard Boxster S wheels, the heaviest by far were the Carrera S wheels.



Remember those 5 spoke Carrera 'lightweight' wheels of a couple of years ago available on the Boxster S and 996? Well those came in between the Boxster S and 19' Carrera Classics, so they weren't all that light weight, but I guess certainly lighter than the turbo twist style (non hollow-spoke)



Keep in mind we aren't talking huge differences between these wheels, it isn't like a 12lb Forgeline wheel vs. a 28lb turbo twist, I don't think more than a couple of pounds separated all of the wheels from each other.
 
I had a tough enough time this past spring geting MPSC's for my GT3 with 18' sizing. The 19's will be even worse so if you want to track,forget the 19's for a while.. I chose the 987S/997 new classic wheels. You know the funky chunky ones with the cut outs. other wise I would have gone with the standard 18's.

Boxster
 
Performance depends on the following:



wheel weight

wheel strength

tire contact patch

tire compound

suspension geometry



A larger wheel is not 'per se' better than a smaller one, all of the factors must be taken into account. As of yet I don't know of anyone with a default 18' Cayman S wheel weight. Maybe someone can ask in Frankfurt next week.
 
The Porsche website, in the section addressing Boxster wheel options, indicates that some portion of the 19' SD wheeles are made of titanium. If titanium is any significant part of the wheel, that would explain why the SDs weigh a good bit less than the other 19' wheels, and perhaps a bit less than the 18' wheels. The ride dynamics of titanium can be a bit different from aluminum as well.



Because I ordered with PASM, I was concerned that even in the normal setting, the SDs might be to harsh a ride for city driving.



JHellow
 
Is the contact patch wider on the 19' SD's versus the standard Cayman 18' wheels? Are the 19's wider than 18's -so do they offer more mechanical grip even if the contact patch was the same? I guess I'm a little confused. I have the 19' SD's on my 997 Carrera, I'll probably stick with the standard 18's for the Cayman. I didn't know that the 19' SD's were that light, relative to the other Porsche wheels.
 
I have opted to keep the standard 18' wheels for all of the usual reasons. Roads aren't the best here, and tire availability better. Since I won't be using car on the track did not think I needed the larger size.
 
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