Cup 1 wheels - real or replica? And other questions!

[zcacogp]

Chaps,

My S2 has cost me a small fortune of late. New cylinder head (which is excellent), new Bilstein suspension (which is also excellent), newly rebuilt wishbones (which are also excellent), Road Tax (which is necessary although sadly not excellent), insurance (see comment under "Road Tax"), new clips for the boot carpet, trip to Spa to help Tom and Gerry drive their S2 'round in circles (no they didn't win but any European trip necessitates the purchase of a bottle or two of red which is now more expensive than printer ink given the rate of £ to EUR). You get the picture.

Given that I am therefore brassic (really? Really? Honestly, you young chaps don't know anything these days! http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=brassic) I can't afford any new rear tyres for the old girl. No sireeee. Not at all. I am NOT going to give BlackCircles* my credit card details in exchange for a nice man coming to fit some new tyres to my car; rather I'll just carry on going everywhere sideways, and doubly so in the wet. You haven't tried it? You should - it's hilarious. Bring on some snow and ice (which wouldn't be unexpected this weekend given the summer we're having) and I'll be laughing all the way to the ... erm .... ditch, probably. Or A&E Unit. Thank goodness junior Doctors don't go on strike, eh? Oh, wait ...

The flaw in this parsimonious plan is there there is a chuffing MOT due in a month's time. And those threadbare excuses for rear tyres may just cause me some grief now that those nice boys at www.mot-by-post.co.uk have gone out of business. So what does a chap do? Need for new tyres but no pie mash (http://lmgtfy.com/?q=pie+mash+rhyming+slang) to pay for them with? Well after some thinking I came up with an idea. Which could be a cracker if I can just pull it off! It goes like this .... buy some fancy-dancy new alloys which come with new tyres and then the problems likely to be caused by the old worn-out tyres at MOT-time go away! Genius! [] I knew there was a reason Mensa offered me lifetime membership at the age of 11! Maybe PCGB could also recognise my vast abilities and offer me lifetime membership of their little club too!

So. New alloys. The ONLY non-standard alloys I have ever seen on a 944 that I like are the 17-inch Cup 1's. Modern alloy styles don't work. Cup 2's don't look anywhere near as good. 16-inch Cup 1's don't work either. If I'm swapping my D90's for another wheel then the only option is the Cup 1. However I've discovered (with the help of that good tutor in all things desirable known as 'eBay') that Cup 1's come in two types; "Replica" and "Bl00dy Expensive". Hence this thread; how pony and trap (you're googling that one yourselves you lazy hounds) are the replica ones? I'm assuming that they look the same as the real deal but how much heavier are they? And is the quality sufficient to ensure that they are properly round and aren't dangerous? I don't want any wheel vibration or any nasty spoke-detaching-from-the-rim incidents when sliding into those ditches. I'm guessing that there may be more than one manufacturer making replicas in which case are there good (or bad) ones to look out for? Also, what size would I need for my S2?

Thanks for your help - 'tis all greatly appreciated!


Oli.

* - Other purveyors of high-quality tyres are available. This is an equal-opportunities post which does not seek to persuade you into any opinion about whom to buy your rubbers from.

 

[Digi944]

This post just made me laugh out loud. Brilliant writing. Nothing to add on the wheels but had to congratulate you on an excellent post.

 

[blade7]

Putting bigger wheels on an S2 will show up your diddy brake discs [].

 

[zcacogp]

Awww, fanks Michael! Oscar Wilde said he could live for two weeks on a compliment! If I could trade compliments in for cash then I wouldn't need to cook up this ridiculous buy-wheels-to-save-the-cost-of-tyres plan!

 

[zcacogp]

Putting bigger wheels on an S2 will show up your diddy brake discs [].

Like unnecessarily large egos, unnecessarily large brake disks win no friends ....

 

[blade7]

Putting bigger wheels on an S2 will show up your diddy brake discs [].

Like unnecessarily large egos, unnecessarily large brake disks win no friends ....

Disks belong in a computer....

 

[zcacogp]

What happened to your earlier post about willy sizes? I was just doing some >ahem< measuring when you edited it ....

 

[Digi944]

Why is it that people measure by the size of their turbo? It's ok, i'll see you in a minute once the lag has finished.

 

[zcacogp]

A minute? You'll need a calender not a watch to measure when a laggy turbo catches up with a well-driven S2. If his hairdryer doesn't break beforehand, that is ....

Anyway, back to the original question. Replica Cup1's vs. real ones. What's the skinny?


Oli.

 

[Waylander]

Love it Oli, great post and a good amount of man maths to justify bigger wheels and more expensive tyres

 

[Eldavo]

I fear that you may find that nearly all Cup1 reps are early offset - however they were made under licence by Mille Miglia in Italy and given how many of them are still (a)round then I can only assume that they are significantly better than cheap Chinese replicas from the "MeLoveYouLongTimeSpecialPrice" factory.

Alternatively, send me £400 and I'll send you a set of genuine Porsche wheels with almost new Avon ZZ-R tyres on. Of course, the kicker is that they're not the wheels you're looking for (17" Twists - aka Cup3s) and they're not the colour you're looking for (gloss black) but in the spirit of your usual helpfulness I thought that you'd appreciate that

 

[bmnelsc]

The link following discusses Mille M wheels but as number one to avoid - claims they are soft.
http://tires.about.com/od...Aftermarket-Wheels.htm

 

[Monkeythree]

I'm sure Mrs Oli won't grumble too much if you default on a few mortgage payments and stump up for something to keep you on (or perhaps off?) the road.......

http://www.camskill.co.uk...ass%3A_2_Noise%3A_71dB

 

[zcacogp]

Chaps,

Thanks for all the love, offers, kind messages and bunches of flowers but I started this thread to get information about wheels, not for the fun of it. (OK, that may not be entirely true. [])

Dave, your offer is wonderful and kind but those wheels really don't appeal. If they come with a set of magic glasses that make them look like Cup1's then I'll take you up on it (although it would need to be several such pairs of glasses in order that I could hand them out to anyone standing by whenever the car is parked) but you didn't mention them so I'm assuming not.

Your comment about them being early offset is however much more wonderful. How do I tell an early offset wheel from a late offset wheel? Can an early offset wheel fit on an S2? I generally ignore all wheel threads on this forum but I think I read one once that said that S2's are late offset .... is this true? If I can't make an early offset wheel fit an S2 then is my only option those ones in the Bl00dy Expensive category? (Or your Cup 3's with a set of magic glasses, natch).

Bruce, thanks, I'll avoid ones that are marked "Mille Marshmallow", "Haribo" or "Cotton Wool, hand wash only."


Oli.

 

[zcacogp]

I'm sure Mrs Oli won't grumble too much if you default on a few mortgage payments and stump up for something to keep you on (or perhaps off?) the road.......

http://www.camskill.co.uk...ass%3A_2_Noise%3A_71dB

I see what you did there Tom. Yeah - 'Landsail'. Do they come out of the "MeLoveYouLongTimeSpecialPrice" factory that Dave knows about?

 

[Monkeythree]

You can put late offset (ET52) wheels on an early offset car but will need spacers to correct the geometry.
If you put early offset (ET23) wheels on a late offset car (inc S2) you will get the Carlos Fandango effect (and probably some very strange handling characteristics).

 

[Monkeythree]

I'm sure Mrs Oli won't grumble too much if you default on a few mortgage payments and stump up for something to keep you on (or perhaps off?) the road.......

http://www.camskill.co.uk...ass%3A_2_Noise%3A_71dB

I see what you did there Tom. Yeah - 'Landsail'. Do they come out of the "MeLoveYouLongTimeSpecialPrice" factory that Dave knows about?

I found some even cheaper ones on Camskill but decided that would just be insulting.

 

[Suffolk944]

Oli, my car has replica Cup 1's though I don't know how much heavier they are than the real things (and of course it being a turbo the car would barely notice any additional weight what with all that power and booost going on !)

What I do know is I bought them must be eight years ago and as of this moment they are still perfectly round and intact so no worries on that score from me.

I believe early offset refers to non abs equipped cars so your ultra modern S2 will no doubt need late offset !

I got my wheels from Design911 who are in East London so your neck of the woods and having just had a quick look at their website they appear to still do 17" Cup 1's. No idea if they are made by the same manufacturer as mine but might be worth a look ?

 

[zcacogp]

GREAT! Now we're getting somewhere! Thanks Tom - this is just the sort of information I need!

My car is an S2. (If anyone doesn't know that then you must be new here so be welcome, McNulters is our gracious host and looks after us all very well, toilets are on the left and please wipe your feet before going into the house). Given that it is not a Ford Anglia and Carlos Fandango wheels are not what I'm after (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqqZ28m8uCo) (although I do like a nice Havana with a glass of single malt) then I need late-offset wheels, which are ET52, and I can't make anything else fit. This is nice and simple and JUST the information I need.

Good, ET52 Cup 1's here we come. What's all the 8J and 9J biz about then?

Thanks again Tom. That's the first properly helpful comment on here .... I take back all of the nasty things* I said about you.


Oli.

* - Only joking buddy. I take back some of them, not all of them.

 

[Monkeythree]

Handy cut-out-and-keep guide from "the internet" (therefore warranted to be 100% nearly accurate)

http://www.944racing.de/wheelweights.php