Hi guys. What I want to do is purchase a set of wheels and tires from someone that has a 911 997 Turbo and put them on my Cayman. I am wondering if these wheels and tires will fit the Cayman.


Turbo Wheel Specs:

Front wheels and tires: 235/35 19

Rear wheels and tires: 305/30 19



looking the owners manual, it appears that the front wheels and tires match the specs for the Cayman, however the rear wheels and tires do not.

Thanks in advance guys.

I think the offset is wrong. You might be able to do it with spacers. But you can buy the Cayman version of the 997 Turbo wheels from Porsche. These came on my car from the factory and i love them. They are almost the same wheel other than offset and width (911 version are obviously a little wider)... or try contacting Welcome to Räderwerks, please enter and see if the 997 turbo wheels they make will fit a cayman. good luck.

Ps.. here is a link to Suncoast, they sell the oem cayman version of the 997 turbo wheels.
Suncoast Porsche, Audi, & VW: 19" Turbo Wheels & Tires

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"I couldn't find the sports car of my dreams, so I built it myself" - Dr. Ferdinand Porsche

I think the width is maybe too much in the rear?

What is the best widest possible tire/wheel setup for the rear?

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Seat of the pants dyno

I cringe every time I read such words as: "What is the widest possible tire/wheel setup for the rear?"

I'm assuming that you don't care how the car accelerates, brakes, and handles afterward, but really want the widest rear wheels and tires that the car will roll down the street on. If so, my guess would be 11" rims with 295 width tires maximum; and that would be cutting it very close, even with the perfect width spacers (somewhere around 14 or 15 mm). You may wow the kiddies at the car show with that, but the car will accelerate slower, and understeer more. What works well on the 997 does not always work well on the Cayman.

Personally, I wouldn't use any more than 8.5" rims in front with 245 rubber, and 10s in the rear with 275 rubber. With proper offset wheels, there will be no need for spacers; at least that's what people have reported. For more discussion on this topic, read the threads under "Similar Threads" below.

+1 Jim. You nailed it.

LOL
LOL thnx. My thoughts were to immulate more of the setup of the 997. I figured the difference between the CS tire setup, and that of the 997 was part of Porsche's desire to keep the CS as an under performing family member. I do look forward into finding out the factual reasons why this doesn't work... I hope there are some!

Jim, with the existing body fenders, I don't think there is any easy way to really distinguish rear tire size in a CS. The CS is hardly a lifted Camaro showing off its rubber. I hope this will help relieve you from your future "cringe" anxieties. I am sure this condition must be quite uncomfortable for those of such fragile constitutions.

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Seat of the pants dyno

Just one quick question - why would you want to emulate the 997 set up when the Cayman is better handling, balanced sharper and overall, the better set up car and the engine is in the right place

I think UR question may be rhetorical rather than genuine, but I think you will find that the existing Cayman is configured relative to its existing power and speed potential. I have every intention of changing this equation considerably. I hope the possibility of changing such established fundamentals doesn't create too much imbalance in your personal enjoyment of your own Cayman.

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Seat of the pants dyno

Bodhii: I'm no expert, but I read a lot. Here's what I think I know. The main difference between the 997 and 987 relating to how much rubber is needed at the rear is engine location and power. With the engine weight over the rear axle, the 997 needs the extra rubber, so a 2.5 or 3" width stagger works better on a 997 than on a 987. The limited space for wheel/tire width in the front in both cars actually places constraints on what will work well at the rear. An 8.5" front rim means a 11" rear will work well on the more powerful rear-engined 997, but the mid-engined 987 will have better handling balance with a 10" rear rim. Also to be considered is the extra unsprung rotating mass of the wider wheel and tire on the less powerful 987. Thus the extra weight will also slow acceleration and reduce braking efficiency.

In addition to this excellent description, the additional stagger on the 911 series cars is also Porsche's reaction to mitigate the inherent oversteer characteristics of the rear-engined 911 - this is partially a reaction to a lawsuit that PAG lost back it the 1990s, where a jury judged the rear-engine design of the 911 to be "inherently dangerous." PAG would much rather all the models have understeer as their main "at the edge" handling characteristic rather than oversteer, (essentially, if you're going to go off the road, they would prefer you do so going forwards, not backwards) so various methods are employed to do this: front-to-rear tire size, suspension geometry, and factory alignment specs.

brad

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21-year PCA Member
PCA DE Instructor

I have been researching this topic for a bit, and here is what I found. (please note I am not delving into having a wider rear tire and problems it may present)

Some on here run 11 and 11.5" wheels on their cayman. Using a 14mm spacer on the 19x11ET51 turbo rear wheel, it is possible to fit on the car, if you use a 295 tire.. How well it fits (aka is it sticking out from the fender) I really dont know; people that run such wide wheels say it doesnt, but I had some ill-fitting fikses and they stuck out too far (and doing the math of their size and offset compared to where an 11" wheel would be, they were about the same).