18" wheels to much stress? Options

[retrotech]

Any opinions, or experience with 18" wheels on street/track 914? Trailing arms reinforced, but thats all.
I am running 17's now. If the Boxster needed changes to run 18's, can a 914 dare?
I want to.

[Mueller]

QUOTE (groot @ Oct 3 2005, 09:59 AM)

Increased wheel weight is a big reason the loads go through the roof with larger wheels.... combine that with shorter and stiffer sidewall and you get incredible loads. One example... modern platform was looking to go from 18" to 19" wheels and the chuck hole loads went from ~30gs to over 50gs in the rear.... they had to redesign the rear suspension. So, let's be kind and say your only increasing the loads by 50% over a 17" wheel, which is at least double the loads of a 15" wheel.... then you have a lowered car, which on some of these 914s leave precious little jounce travel (usually none) before you get into the jounce bumpers. Now imagine transmitting most of that load straight into your strut bearings... and strut towers... How long do you think that will last?

True...GM now specifies and sells specific 20" wheels and tires engineered for "aftermarket/upgrades", in some cases, they want you to install a plate/bracket in the wheel well to help prevent the wheel from coming into the cabin in an accident.

my 20" rims/tires of my truck are lighter than the factory rims and tires (and so is my wallet (IMG:http://www.914world.com/bbs2/html/emoticons/wacko.gif) ) ...most of those flashy/ugly rims sold for trucks wiegh too damn much