Tire and wheel package for street/track 86 944 NA

[DM333]

Hey, I'm somewhat confused with all the info on tire and wheel options for the 944 from what I've found on here and rennlist. But I'm looking to see what my options are for the best tires and wheels on my 944 for track and street, i have the 15" phone dials and tire options on tire rack and at my local dealer are a bit slim, so what's everyones opinion on the best wheel/tire size and tire models for the 944? this is a second car so dealing with snow and rain is not too much of a factor.

[JScaramella]

I just purchased an early 944 to set up for DE. My plan is to have two sets of 15" wheels. One will run a dedicated track set either a toyo or hoosier. The street set will be a three season tire that wears well. On dicount ttire direct a set of kumos or sumitomo (cant remember) was around 300.00. Id like to put together a decent street set for a budget of 600-800 wheels and tires, so this is likely my choice unless I find something in sale. Street will likley be 215; again just looking for something that will wear well. If your focus is an extream summer setup then your budget will be higher. I assume your phone dials are 7" x4; that said some threads say you can get as large as a 225 on them. IMO I'd rather have the 8".
As I'm in an early car i belive the best set up is a 15" based on the track times from the 944 series. A larger wheel tire combo on the early cars just slow them down IMO. Dont get me wrong, late wheels look great but my car is slow enough already 😄

[smudo]

Originally Posted by DM333

Hey, I'm somewhat confused with all the info on tire and wheel options for the 944 from what I've found on here and rennlist. But I'm looking to see what my options are for the best tires and wheels on my 944 for track and street, i have the 15" phone dials and tire options on tire rack and at my local dealer are a bit slim, so what's everyones opinion on the best wheel/tire size and tire models for the 944? this is a second car so dealing with snow and rain is not too much of a factor.

I an not sure whether your 86 944 has early or late offset. If it has the late offset, then there might be more options, e.g. 16'' phone dials with 7 and 8'' rims, that you could use with 205/55 and 225/50 tires respectively. This setup increases litle bit the understeer, thus optionally you could put 225/50 on all corners, which is what I plan do for my 951 next year. You could also try to find some 17 inch Porsche wheels, ideally with 7.5'' rims in the from and 9'' in the rear with an ET around 50 and use with 225/45 and 255/40 size tires. There are many Boxster wheels options, however, if I recall correctly, you might have to do slight modifications to those rims to fir them (maybe it was center bore?) I would suggest to use the search as that way you could also see how the certain wheels look on 944.

My favorite option from original wheels would be the cup wheels that came on turbo s. As for tires if this a weekend driver for fast cornering and you do not put a lot miles on it, I would suggest to use something like Yokohama ADVAN Neova AD08 or other "performance" tires. For more track use I would consider some semi-slick street legal tires like Kumho Ecsta KU36. They will be louder and less comfortable but the corner speed will improve significantly.

[DannoXYZ]

The '86 NA uses 23.3mm early offset.

One good option is '86 951 PhoneDial wheels in 16x7/8". Pretty cheap at $200-300 used.

Or you can get a set of bolt-on spacers and then you can use 52.3mm late-offset wheels.

[flash968]

keep in mind that any weight you add to the wheels can have up to 4 times the effect of the same amount of weight elsewhere in the car. 6lbs per wheel (a very average jump when bumping up tire and wheel size) can quickly add up almost 100lbs effective weight. that's nearly a tank of gas in equivalent weight. we all know what that feels like. this will affect both acceleration and braking. while acceleration may be a viable tradeoff against the improved grip, reduced braking results in heating up the tires more as you try to maintain speed in the corner, and can quickly offset the grip improvement of the bigger tires.

besides the obvious safety issues of spacers (they are banned in most sanctioning organizations) they add weight, especially the bolt on ones, which are about 4# each. i would avoid those.

there are wheel charts out there showing the weights of just about every wheel available. i would go over those and find something that doesn't increase weight too much.

then, even more significant, i would look closely at the tire chosen. tire weights can vary a lot within the same size tire. tread width can too. you can easily pick a tire that has less grip and more weight than another, but in the same size, and cost you a lot of potential. tirerack has good listings of specs. look carefully at those, and don't focus on price. a cheap tire can cost you your car, or a hospital visit, or worse.

[ckelly78z]

The phone dials you are using now are extremely heavy compared to some race wheels. I think for your situation (which is about like mine) I would get a lightweight set of wheels and a dedicated set of track tires. The older cookie cutter wheels on the early cars are not neccesarily much lighter, but can be bought for low $$ if budget is a concern.

[DM333]

Ok thanks for the help guys, now here's my next question, where's the best place to buy said tires and wheels? outside of craigslist i've looked into the dealership i work at which orders through tire rack and offers hardly a discount on tires for employees.

[flash968]

for tires, there aren't a lot of options, and tirerack is probably the most reliable. the markup on tires is very low. you won't find a lot of bargains. when you do, they are often older stock. keep in mind that tires only last 6 years, and aren't allowed to be sold after that age. a lot of the discount houses are selling tires that have been sitting for a while, reducing the useful lifespan.

as for wheels, try the classified here and other porsche sites. you can usually find what you are looking for, though you do have to know what it is that you are looking for.

good luck

[Rasta Monsta]

Wheelenhancement.com

[flash968]

agreed - great guys - tons of knowledge - tend to be a bit pricey. if you go there, buy there. don't go there, glean the knowledge and then not reward them with the sale. i'm lucky to have them practically in my back yard.

[DM333]

Flash, what are some of the safety issues common with wheel spacers? I've not heard of any issues from the few people I know who use them, one of which has a set on his 944

[flash968]

they don't retain torque as well. SCCA banned them long ago, due to wheels flying off the car.

p.s. - aluminum lug nuts are also not allowed in many organizations for the same reason.

[Dantilla]

I use 15x7 Cookie Cutters with Hoosiers for racing. I won't use Hoosiers for simple lapping days- Only for competition where every tenth counts. No sense burning up the "good ones" for just having fun.

Keep the antennas up, and a set of cookies can be found for $200 or so. Cheap and very light.

For street driving, I've gone to 17" wheels for the better choices of high-performance street tires.

For 15" wheels, your tire choices are either expensive R-compound tires that wear quickly, or junk that don't do much more than keep the wheels off the ground.

Also- There is a difference between spacers and adapters.

Spacers are just that- Longer wheel studs must be used, and these will usually pass a track tech inspection.
Adapters are spacers that use the stock studs for attachment, and have their own second set of studs for the wheel. these are not allowed on any track I'm aware of, as it is impossible to check the torque of the inner studs.

Regular DE days will usually allow stock aluminum lug nuts. For racing, lug nuts must be steel, and must be open on top to verify adequate engagement of the threads.