SPACERS

[scherb]

I like the stock wheels on my 97' 986 and wont change them anytime soon. I have seen some box's on the street with wider wheels maybe with spacers... so I am thinking about 5mm spacers. I would like to get your comments on both Con's and Pro's.

Main concerns:

1. are these 5mm spacers going to affect the travel of the suspension and potentially ruin the body/ body

2. What is the effect of opening the gap betheen the wheels? (i.e. grad racers have a small differential and I have heard this gets fast response from the wheels,,, then again just conversation..)

Please comment on all other concers I may be up against here...

[Loren]

1. No, when used with the proper wheel bolts (Porsche sells a kit) they are fully approved by Porsche.

2. A slightly wider track. You may notice a very slight improvement in low speed cornering - 5 mm is not very much.

[Tool Pants]

Come to one of our local events and you will see cars with spacers. 5 mm is nothing. That is what is used on on 550 special edition.

Technically they are used to clear the suspension from certain wheels. But most people do it for the cosmetic look.

[GWLS]

I run 15mm rear and 7mm up front with longer bolts (gt3) bolts, had them about a month now and haven't experienced any problems of note.. although I ma thinking about getting the wheel alignment checked soon. I'm running 18" Carerra's with standard width/profile tyres as recommended by Porsche.

If anything I agree with Loren slight improvement in low speed cornering can't say i've noticed anything drastic, but I love the way the look.

[scherb]

Thanks for the comments. My move would be for Cosmetic. Will be there on Saturday 25th. Thanks.

[kam]

I used 7mm spacer and Porsche wheel bolts for the 5mm spacer on my 2000 996.

I got vibration at around 70mph. The vibration is gone when I removed the spacer.

Anybody know what caused the vibration with the track is widen?

[mrmickeymouse]

Unbalanced spacer, if it is not balanced [more metal on one side then the other]; it is similar to an unbalanced tire except harder to fix.

The only way to fix this problem [economically] would be to balance the wheel on the car, if you can compensate for it [good], usually you have to add more weight then you really should.

If you have a friend with a Porsche, let them try it and see what happens. rule out the paper thin spacer.

Usually those types of problems don't appear until you get really thick spacers, and poorly made.

The adapters are notorious for this due to so many variables being thrown in with different [cheap] bolts, quickly made, etc...

Scott

[kam]

Scott:

Good point. I never thought of the spacer!!

Kam

[KevinC]

Are you using aftermarket wheels?

I had a vibration problem with the 7mm spacers needed to clear the rear suspension after installing the euro PSS9 coilovers. The problem was related to my Kinesis wheels. Those wheels have a beveled center hole. After the wheel was pushed out 7mm, the "tangs" of the hub no longer contacted the center bore of the wheel, but touched the beveled portion. This allowed the wheel to droop down when mounted. I was able to re-center it, but it was a PITA. Scott Burrow pointed me to "hub-centric" 7mm spacers available from SCarGo. They have extended tangs welded to the inside which fit between the tangs of the hub. They are expensive at $125 apiece, but they completely solved the problem and made it much easier to mount the wheels.

However, I wouldn't think you would have this problem with Porsche wheels since the ones I have seen have almost no bevel at the end of the center bore. Then again, unless someone made them in their garage, I would be very surprised if a 7mm spacer could be significantly out of balance.