Mixing wheels

[DannyLee]

My 996 has 18 inch wheels. I have a 'spare' set of 17 inch wheels with worn out rubber.

Is it allowable/sensible/legal to migrate back to 17 inch wheels one axle at a time?

Tyres for the 17s are about half the price of the 18s and I presume the ride is a little softer too.

Danny

[teeerex]

My 996 has 18 inch wheels. I have a 'spare' set of 17 inch wheels with worn out rubber.

Is it allowable/sensible/legal to migrate back to 17 inch wheels one axle at a time?

Tyres for the 17s are about half the price of the 18s and I presume the ride is a little softer too.

Danny

Er... IMO not recommended at all. For one it will look odd (assuming your wheels are the same 'design', if not, then it will look horrendeous !) - but on the safety side then it's asking for trouble even if the tyres profiles 'should' even things up. I'm sure an insurance assessor would have something to say about it come pay out time when you end up backwards in a ditch... :(

Replace all the wheels with 17" (better for winter driving due to higher profile tyre) and keep the 18" for summer (with lower profile tyres).

[rpf996]

Why would 17 up front & 18 in the rear be bad? On C5 Vettes the stock wheels are 17 up front, 2454517s & in the rear 2754018s. This gives the car a lower front versus rear stance. Is there something incompatible with this on a 996 suspension?

[teeerex]

Why would 17 up front & 18 in the rear be bad? On C5 Vettes the stock wheels are 17 up front, 2454517s & in the rear 2754018s. This gives the car a lower front versus rear stance. Is there something incompatible with this on a 996 suspension?

If the car has been 'designed' to run like this then fine - in the above example on the C5, then I would imagine the front suspension is slightly harder than the fronts to make up for the lower tyre spring in the lower profile rear tyres - in other words keep it all balanced.

Another way to put it is to say use 15" wheels on the fronts with full sized no tyres and 20" on the rear with /25 etc tyres - how would that handle ? (same rolling circumference - but radically different grip/roll characteristics. ) In a straight line, likely no difference at all, but I'd hate to see what happended when I took a corner at speed .. ;)

[iponline]

I agree that it wouldn't be an ideal option, but I also don't think it would be horrible. Assuming you have the proper size tires - match the outside diameter and rev's per mile as close as you can - it should handle decently. If you do this, start with changing the front's to 17's.

You know, another option is to sell the spare 17's on ebay and use the money to buy new 18" tires. In all honesty, the prices of the tires is not that bad in either size.

You won't have any problem with insurance once you wreck. There is no exclusion for supidity.... j/k

[RF5BPilot]

It seems that part of the question is, "Would you get unusual handling characterisitcs from different width sidewalls, front and rear?"