In the automotive world it is clear that a large emphasis is placed on wheels. Most individuals tend to first notice the wheels of a car and then see the body, making the wheels an attention grabber even if they are dull and damaged. In the end, wheels can have the largest effect on the way a car is perceived. When I first saw my 968 for sale, I thought the 18” turbo twists were a good fit for the car. Once I saw the car in person, my opinion changed, but I was not exactly sure why. Maybe it was because the wheels seemed too large for the 968 or they seemed a bit too slab sided for a car that has rounded curves. I decided to begin seeking out wheels that would fit the 968 more appropriately.

The first point of debate is wheel size. Modern day performance cars have been moving toward larger wheel diameters. One of the primary reasons is to accommodate larger diameter brakes. To package larger wheels in a set envelope, lower profile tires can be used at the expense of road comfort since lower profile tires are less compliant. The suspension geometry and damper/spring specifications have been designed around a specific tire and wheel combination. Electronically controlled dampers and suspension articulation add another dimension to all of this. That does not mean larger wheels shouldn’t be installed on a car designed for smaller wheels. It just means that thoughtful modifications might need to be made to achieve desired handling/comfort characteristics. My plan is to tailor this Porsche 968 more for the road than the track. Unlike a track, the road surfaces I will be dealing with will be uneven, rough and degraded. With all these factors in mind, I decided to go for a 17” wheel. This should give a good balance between tire compliance and handling performance. Further reinforcing my decision, the 968’s were optioned with 17” wheels out of the factory.

The two wheels that came as an OEM option for the 968 were the Cup 1 and Cup 2 wheels, 7.5” front width and 9.0” rear width. To match these wheel widths would be a good baseline starting point. The problem with this, as many people have found, is the availability of the 9.0” wide rear wheels. Coupled with the demand for these wheels on 911s, the prices are not low. Replica wheels are cheaper and easier to find, but personally I would prefer to have OEM wheels due to the reduced weight and potentially higher manufacturing quality. A website that I have found to be very beneficial in the wheel search is 944racing.de . This website has a long list of many Porsche wheels with weights and part numbers, which confirmed that replica Porsche wheels tend to be much heavier than their OEM counterparts.

Another point of debate is style. This is an area that is almost entirely opinion, but after looking at many pictures of wheels installed in vehicles, I may have found a method to the madness. My theory is that the wheel should match the curvature of the sides of the vehicle. If a vehicle is slab sided, a wheel that is flat would fit it well. For example a 964 with Cup 1 wheels. If a vehicles sides curve inward, a wheel with a matching curve would fit it well. For example a 993 with Cup 2 wheels. If a car has curvature to the sides but has running boards or rocker panels that stick out, a wheel that has a large lip would fit it well. With this thought process, the Cup 2 wheels would be a perfect candidate for the Porsche 968. The 968 has quite a lot of curvature to the sides of the vehicle. The problem I have found, is that the Cup 2 wheels look very good from a side view, but when looking from a 3/4 view, the spokes come off as very thin and do not match the car very well.

It wasn’t until I was scanning Ebay and found a 968 with wheels I never considered, and then I knew what wheels I wanted. The 996 Carrera 2 wheels look like a blend between the Cup 2 and turbo twist wheels. These wheels on their own never appealed to me, as standalone images made the wheels look asymmetric and excessively wavy. Turns out that from any other angle the wheels seem to work for me. In the end, it is not often that I would be able to look at the wheels dead side on when they are installed. Another substantial benefit to these wheels is price and availability. Since these wheels came on the 996 and Boxster, these wheels are not currently in high demand and prices can be low for OEM examples.

Within a day I was able to find a set with tires being sold locally. The wheels were posted on Pelican Parts but were officially listed on Throtl.com, a nifty site that I will talk about later. The wheels were coated with plastidip and painted black but for less than half the price of my current turbo twists, I figured I could bring these wheels back to life with little effort. The only downside is the widths of the wheels, 7.0” fronts and 8.5” rears. Since both fronts and rears are half an inch off of what I was looking for, I can play with the tire sizes to get the right balance. Even with the wheel widths being undersized, I can still use the OEM 17” tire sizes. Once I got the wheels home, I went ahead and began removing the coating. The initial larger sections came off with ease, revealing a decent finish with some deep scratched at the protruding sections of the spokes. In the areas with more curvature, the coating did not come off with ease. I have read that using WD-40 or a petroleum solvent can help with removing the pastidip, but I have not tried that yet. At this point I am still debating if I should use the wheels as is, re-spray them with Wurth wheel paint, or refinish them completely.

In the process of buying these wheels I discovered a very useful website for finding parts for the Porsche. Throtl.com can be best described as a search engine for car parts. The site not only shows listings from Throtl, but also pulls classified ads from Porsche forums like Pelican Part and Rennlist. In fact, it is much more enjoyable to search through classifieds on Throtl instead of the forum classifieds, as it’s possible to quickly scan the ads without opening up each one. Definitely a site to add to the daily list.

Front Wheels – 17 x 7.0 ET55 – 996.362.124.00

Rear Wheels – 17 x 8.5 ET50 – 996.362.126.05