Neotorque

Hi all,

I bought my 997 about 6 months back and it came with a set of Victor Equipment 20 inch wheels and the original 19 inch Carrera Classics. The Victor wheels have been on it, and they're doing fine, but they're a bit too big for my taste (it's not just the 20 inch size, they also stick out a bit and make it easy to scrape them). However, they are black, which I think works really well with my white car with tinted windows and aerokit (I also might add carbon fiber mirrors ... just a thought).

So, I am strongly considering having my Classics painted either black or a dark gray. Any experience and/or thoughts? What I really should do is just order a new set of OZs or something, but I can't stand to throw away two perfectly good sets of wheels.

Much appreciated.

JW911

Yes those wheels do look a bit cartoonish. I would think your car would look great with black carrera classics. Consider keeping the outer rim silver and the centers black. I am a bit partial to that look.

USMC_DS1

I've considered powder coating my Carrera Classic wheels black as well but find myself drawn back to the original arctic(silver) at times. One thought was to get two sets - one powder coated black and the other in it's original skins. My son recently introduced me, however, to plasti-dip in spray can form from Home Depot. He used it to coat his Tacoma TRD wheels black. At first I was horrified by the thought of a spray can, plastic, and my Carrera in the same sentence. But the more I pondered the concept the more I found myself drawn to the appeal of safely removing the black colored coating at a later date when/if I get tired of black... and/or to sell the car and need to go back to the wheel's original color.

My son has had black plasti-dip applied to his wheels now for 2 months and it's holding up very well so far. Again this sounds like a primitive solution for a Carrera especially when we're all accustomed to dropping a few hundreds dollars to thousands anytime we make a slight mod to our cars... but if my son's wheels hold up after 6 months I have to give credit where it's due and consider this a viable solution just for it's temporary merits alone. And if I like the look of black after 6 months on my Carrera Classics then it may warrant a permanent powder coating afterwards.

2K7TTMIA

Install the Carrera Classics, sell the victors. OZ's are sweet, Superleggeras are pry the better 19's to try on. not sure if the graphite would work; there's always plasti-dip

X51

If you decide to peddle the Carrera Classics, I might be interested. PM me if you do.

Neotorque

Thanks for all the advice. The plasti-dip is an interesting option but I'm pretty sure I'm sold on the color, so I'll be looking for a permanent solution.

X51 - I'll shoot you a PM, though I have no idea what a fair price is for used Classics (to be honest, I've never even seen them - they're still sitting at the Dealership, though supposedly in pretty good shape - I'll see if I can get them to email me some pics). If there's a way to get you a good price on them, I'd be happy to do that and roll that plus the $ I would have spent painting them on a set of OZs.

X51

Sounds good. Thanks.

Spokane5150

Powder Coat or Black Chrome would be nice for the Classic Wheels. I think the HRE's are the sickest wheels out. Forged mono-block design that is lightweight and strong.

http://www.hrewheels.com/category/street/

PTParks

AAAAK! Please, no more black wheels.

INCONEL

If you don't mind touching them up every year or two, painting them can definitely work, however I would probably recommend powdercoating and having the tires reinstalled by a competent and careful shop. Powdercoating shouldn't be more than $600.

boolala

I wonder if you can paint that, not so distinct, lip on the carerra classics. It needs to be a deviating color (silver, red etc) to provide some contrast and differentiation from the tire itself. Otherwise an all black setup looks like ugly steel wheels to me.

USMC_DS1

INCONEL, would you share a few photo's of your guards red(?) Carrera with the black wheels. I'm contemplating black powder coat on the Carrera Classics wheels for my guards red C2S.

pissedpuppy

looks great IMO - but I guess I'm partial to the cartoonish look of OZ 20s in black

Neotorque

Thanks, everyone. Your OZs look terrific, PP. Maybe another reason for me to consider going that route.

I'll sleep on this for a while and make up my mind. The current wheels have done me fine for 6 months, I can make it while longer to make sure I make the right call.

Aerokitted

I'd definitely put the classics back on there. Calling a spade a spade, the victors or whatever are substandard wheels especially for a 911 and they look really awkward at stock height given the added visual size of non-lipped 20" wheels which look bigger than lipped 20" wheels. The 19s will look more proportional with your stock suspension setup. Plus, I imagine the victors are markedly heavier than the stock 19s?

Wet painting them will give you a broader range of color options and will make gloss black truly gloss black whereas powder coating has its limitations. Powder coating is more durable, but if the shop who does the wet painting does them the right way, it'll last just as long. And the factory wheels are simple, one-piece cast so no sweat.

And as for your "aerokit", based on your pic, all we can see is that you added the front lip and painted it. Either add the rear wing or remove the front lip as they're designed to work together, not one or the other. Yes, the rear wing is very expensive.

Thanks for giving us the opportunity to provide input.