Porsche RS Spyder center lock wheels now available for the street
Click above for a gallery of Porsche's new center lock wheel
One of the ways that Porsche became the most profitable automaker in the world is by learning how to offer customers a wide range of customization options for their cars... for a premium prices. The latest in its line of performance-oriented parts is a new wheel available for the 911 Turbo. The new 19" forged aluminum roller has a design based on the RS Spyder LMP2 race car. Porsche has apparently devised a new center locking mechanism that uses a bolt rather than a locking nut. The wheels are certainly attractive, but they won't come cheap. Starting in January, European 911 Turbo owners will be able to get the new wheels from a price starting at €2,950 ($3,700). There's no word on whether Americans will be offered these wheels officially, but there's no doubt that anyone willing to drop enough coin at the counter at their local Porsche store will be able to get them somehow.
Gallery: Porsche RS Spyder design wheels
[Source: Porsche]
New 19-Inch Wheels in RS Spyder Design with Innovative Central Locking
Stuttgart . Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, now offers new 19-inch RS Spyder wheels exclusively for the 911 Turbo models as an absolute highlight in the range of highly specialised, customised features available exclusively on new models (ex works). The most outstanding feature of these forged aluminium lightweight wheels with their seven U-shaped double spokes is the unique, newly developed central locking. Instead of the wheel nuts generally used in motorsport, these very special wheels come with wheel bolts fastening the new 19-inch RS Spyder wheels firmly and safely on the wheel bearing.
The innovative security mechanism on the wheel bearing is made up of a cartridge fitted in the wheel hub with spring-mounted security bolts. Standing out clearly and impressively, the bolts on the new central locking are eloxy-plated in titanium colour and thus differ clearly and distinctly from the silver-coloured paintwork on the 19-inch RS Spyder wheels.
The special design of the new wheels is derived from the wheels on Porsche's RS Spyder racing car, the sports prototype from Weissach which only recently won all titles in the ALMS American Le Mans Series for the third time in a row.
A further outstanding achievement of the Porsche RS Spyder is that it won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in its class right from the start in its very first try and also brought home the winner's title in the European Le Mans Series.
The new wheel will be available as an option on the 911 Turbo as of January 2009, selling at a base price in the Euro countries of Euro 2,950.-. The retail price of the 19-inch RS Spyder wheel in Germany including 19 per cent VAT is Euro 3,510.50.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Menice 2:41PM (10/29/2008)
pretty cool, even has directions to Tighten >>>> and Loosen
Reply
dukeisduke 2:56PM (10/29/2008)
I'd like to see an exploded view of how all the pieces fit together. I assume that the gold nut is like a McGard lock, so there are different "keys", and that they have left- and right-hand threads for different sides, like in the knockoff wheel days.
Reply
AC0 3:00PM (10/29/2008)
The wheels are pretty cool on their own, but for me, the Turbo already has some of the nicest looking wheels you can get on a car, and i'm not sure i'd pay to replace them with these.
Reply
MKULTRABLIZZARD 3:06PM (10/29/2008)
+1
naggs 6:11PM (10/29/2008)
these are worth every penny
chiohmann 3:00PM (10/29/2008)
righty tighty, lefty loosy (:
Reply
JD 3:49PM (10/29/2008)
Huh? What are you saying this for?
Rick 3:03PM (10/29/2008)
Any performance advantage? Would like to know if there's an increase or decrease in unsprung weight.
Reply
TheClassic 3:11PM (10/29/2008)
I'm pretty sure that usually a center nut is slightly heavier than 6 lugnuts, but more so if you have to use a kit to retrofit the hub. However, this wheel looks extremely light, so it might offset the added weight. My understanding is that the only advantage of a center nut is speed of tire changes. I could be wrong, so please correct me if anybody knows better
Mattias 3:11PM (10/29/2008)
Ooops, the price quoted is per wheel. I was already wondering about cheap Posche parts. For two and a half Porsche wheels you already get a Dacia Sandero here.
Reply
Sean Flanagan 3:25PM (10/29/2008)
Oh! Good news! The Dacia Sandero will have electronic brake force distribution!
Fooman 3:54PM (10/29/2008)
I thought the same thing, I was like that is cheaper then a set of BBS lm's, sign me up!
Gary 3:18PM (10/29/2008)
What a waste of money.
Reply
JD 3:33PM (10/29/2008)
Wow, those look really clean on the Turbo. Those rims look badass without the 5 holes for the normal nuts. If I had a spare $140k around, I'd spring for a 911 turbo and those rims.
Reply
Dean 3:46PM (10/29/2008)
The RIMS do not look 'badass', frankly, they're rather generic. The WHEELS, on the other hand, are quite well designed. If you had the spare $140k lying around, and you bought those RIMS for the car, you wouldn't be able to do much else with them, as they wouldn't be able to fit on the car, without the rest of the WHEEL.
bob 4:42PM (10/29/2008)
Dean,
I nominate you for the biggest douche in the universe.
Quan 4:53AM (10/30/2008)
hahaha
Alex 3:37PM (10/29/2008)
When Porche gobbles up all of VW we'll see Audi's where the owner bought this kit.
Reply
Fooman 3:54PM (10/29/2008)
Just realized this... They are identical to BMW's e46 M3 CSL Rims. Which means these are probably spun cast BBS rims.
Reply
Dean 4:10PM (10/29/2008)
When are you people going to start using the correct terminology? The RIM is PART OF THE WHEEL! A WHEEL has a RIM. A RIM alone cannot be mounted on a car.