18's or 17's? Can't decide on wheel size . . .

K- I tried an exhaustive search on this forum and others to try and get real world info on wether an 18" rim or a 17" rim was better for a daily driver.
I've found great deals on 18" OEM Porsche rims, but not so many on 17's, yet
17" tire sizes seem more plentiful than 18's.

Looking for the best option for a 87 944 with a 5.3.

Anyone got any advice? Or if this topic has been beaten to death already, can anyone point me in the right direction?

Many thanks-

- j a s o n

Boils down to preference really, i have two sets of wheels that i run. 17's for track and 18's for street.

I run the MY02 5-spokes with i think are probably the best looking factory 18" wheel for the 944. You can go very wide on the tires with these. Downside is the ride quality suffers a bit due to the low profile tire. Comparable tires are usually slightly more expensive also.

My track wheels are 17" CCW classics. If you want to go wider than a 275 width tire, you are actually fairly limited with sizes unless you go with an r-compound. I prefer the 17" on the track because they are lighter and feel more responsive. Also on the street the extra sidewall helps if you have a stiff suspension. Tires are also marginally cheaper also than an 18".

If it were me and the roads by you were decent (not pothole riddled like the north east) i would go with 18's mostly because i like the look.

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I run 18 x 10's all the way around, and drive to auto x and then drive back, no problems, car rides really well. I have full coilovers and no torsion bars.

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ive been having the same dilema, 18s are cheap and plentiful, but dont know if they look too big for the car. after looking through pages and pages of wheel pics on rennlist, i think im going with 18s. 

now on that note, what 18" tire sizes work well on our cars? and how big actually fits under the car without issues?

Thanks all-

TechnoDuck, I love the look of the 5 spoke 18's!
What can I expect to pay for a set of used?
What size tires are you running?

And yeah, I am in the northeast, so potholes are an issue.
Really want it to be comfortable on the street- or at least not annoyingly spine crunching.

Why is it that 18's are so much more available and cheaper?

There is a set of Panamera 18's on eBay that are very tempting.
Not sure if there would be issues with fitment- but seem to be same measurements.
as a boxster.

Just dropped off my 944 @ Furches Performance for engine tuning, exhaust, and a combo expansion tank/breather box housed in the stock battery location.

Home stretch . . . So excited to see what a year of wrenching all adds up to-

Wow, 99sierra4x4: love the look/stance of your car-
What are:
-the brand of rims? Tire size?
-the hood?
-the nose?

And lastly, thoughts/reasons for not doing staggered fronts/rears?

Thanks-

Wow 99sierra4x4, 10J-18 up front? Are you running a 285 tire on the front and can you run appropriate camber with that much front tire?

My rims are Enkei NT03+M, they are 18 x 10 with +60mm offset.  I am running 285/30/18 Dirreza Star Spec II tires.  The reason i went square was the car is mainly just for auto X.  I do have full coilovers all the way around, and there is just a smidgen of clearance for everything to work.

The nose panel came from Lindsay racing, and the hood is from IFC Racing, its full fiberglass.  I bought it because i got a new LSXR intake, but it had too many problems and I just kept the hood.

I am running 3 Deg in the front and 1.5 to 2 Deg in the rear.

Andy

Are those fenders stock or widebody? Any rolling required to put a 285 on there?

One of the guys in our club just went from a 285 ZII to a 275 RE-71R and he says it's still worth the loss in width.

All stock body work, i have not rolled anything.

Ya I bought the ZII's before I reallized the RE-71's came out. Its ok, car still does good.

99sierra4x4,
Do you have more pics of the whole car?

Sure. I am working on taking that molding off on the doors, and the car will eventually get a full re-spray, there are some sections that are pretty bad.

Andy

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Andy,
Car looks good. What spring rates did you choose for the driving you do?

Thanks Sam

And what is that front nose? Source?

Cancel that- missed it first time. Lindsay.
Thanks

Right now i believe that I have 600lb up front and no torsions in the rear with 700lb springs. So far i have to run 30 psi rear, 32 psi front at auto cross, and i can accelerate through the corners and the car sticks like no ones business. I just bought a new adjustable front sway bar.

My factory set up has a lot of lift in the front and squat in the rear. I started with 450 in front and 600 in rear with torsion bars removed. my coil overs don't arrive until the 26th. what are you running for sway bars?

I have been running the stock ones.

However i just bought an adjustable race one from Elephant Racing for the front, and the rear I have delrin bushings and aluminum mounts with adjustable end links.

I ran auto X in the rain today. 0 traction.... Too much power for the rain

I run 450 front 700 rear, no torsion bars, 968 M030 swaybars, shocks have been rebuilt and revalved for these spring rates.

I'm pretty happy with the handling, very neutral and I can steer the car with the throttle. If I didn't drive the car on the streets I'd put the 700 rate springs in the front and run 800's in the back...