Replica Rims

[seabass]

My CTT came with the factory 21" GTS rims and winter tires. When I started the hunt for summer tires, for a 21 inch rim I only found true summer tires. The tire shop mentioned that summer tire start to harden and lose performance at about 9 deg Celsius, by contrast winter tires are good up to 15 deg C. Quite frankly here in Canada it could be a low of 9 deg C any day of the year. Since I have seen snow in the mountains the summer months, I did not like the idea of the CTT be hobbled by a tire that could not handle the changing weather when we are out touring around.

The solution I found was High Performance All Season tires. The drawback they don't make them for a 21 inch rim. I like the look of the GTS rims on my Cayenne so I found a set of replica rims except 20 inch instead of 21 inch.

The result is I could jump into the world of HP All Season tires which seem to be a good fit for Canadian Weather.

The new rims are 20X9.5 5X130 +53 with 433 MHz tire sensors. I chose the GENERAL 275/40/20 GMAX AS-03 to go with them.

The old rims where 10J x 21 ET 50 with Perelli snow tires 295/ 35 R 21

The new replica rims and tire combination are 10 lbs lighter per tire and wheel. I believe the weight was 55 lbs for the new and 65 lbs for the old.

Overall the replicas look ok. Something unexpected is all the finishes that you see are paint. Mine are a bright silver, on the inside of the rim they are black. So I would say it is a completely unfinished aluminum, my guess is that over the years they likely will need touch ups. The finish though was perfect, no imperfections to speak of. If the silver does not hold I might change them over to black. For a cost comparison they are very inexpensive choice for rims, about 800 for 4 with centre caps. They balanced easily with little weight.

Side view with replica 20" rims

Side view with OEM 21" rims

Comparison of width, from 275/40 to 295/35, the v trend pattern are the general 275/40

Comparison of hieight, I could not see the difference between the two.

[SXN]

I'd still stick with the 21s as they look better. I have those in a 22 and they look great