Wheel bolts

[Mike in CA]

The bolts that come with the Porsche 5mm spacer kit are identified as M6x15. What do the numbers signify? What is the designation for the stock bolts? How much longer than stock are the special bolts? One reason I'm asking is that my Kinesis wheels have thicker centers than the Porsche wheels and the lug bolts have less of a "bite" on the hub....a little more than one bolt diameter when I think about 1.5 diameters is ideal. My autocross wheels are Carrera take offs so it's not an issue for racing, but I'm wondering if I have an adequate safety margin for the street (although I've not seen any indication of a problem). Can the longer bolts be ordered separate from the spacers? If I used the longer bolts and spacers with my Kinesis wheels would I be gaining anything, ie. are the spacer bolts more than 5mm longer than the stock bolts? So many questions, but you probably get where I'm coming from with this. Any thoughts, Loren?

[Loren]

Mike,

The Porsche 5 mm spacer kit uses 5 mm longer wheel bolts (911 GT3, P/N: 996 361 203 90). These GT3 wheel bolts are marked with GT or with a red color on the head surface of the bolt head, or the rotating spherical cap is galvanized in red. The distance from the bolt head flange (not the rounded washer) to the bolt tip is approx. 50 mm. The standard wheel bolts, P/N: 996 361 203 00 are approx. 45 mm. I'm sure you can order them separately.

5 mm spacer kit

[Mike in CA]

Thanks, Loren. God only knows where you get this info. :lol: So obviously using the spacers with my Kinesis wheels won't resolve the issue since the extra length I would gain would exactly be made up by the spacers. Any idea whether the longer bolts would would work without the spacers? I wonder how deep the bolt holes are in the hub? I think I'll call Wheel Enhancement tomorrow and ask them about this.

[Guest Gert]

The "M6x15" you are referring to are the small bolts that keep the spacer plate to the wheel hub.

"M6" = Metric bolt size 6mm and "15" is the length of the bolt in mm's.

[Mike in CA]

Thanks Gert. I obviously didn't pay close attention to the info on your site or I would have seen the lug bolts listed separately. :(

[Guest]

Are spacers machined to tolerances sufficient to avoid "unbalancing" the wheel. IOW, if the spacer on the hub is not perfect does that cause the equivalent of a wheel that is out of balance...and if so how do you correct? :huh:

[Loren]

Factory spacers should be balanced. They are screwed onto the hub so they become part of it and should maintain the balance. If you are using aftermarket spacers I would be tempted to have the wheel balanced on the car (good shops can still do this when needed). That way the wheel weight would offset any balance issues. All JMHO... as I've never seen one out of balance. ;)

[KarlS]

Mike,

There is a guy who advertises in either Pano or Excellence named Ralph Boothe. He makes and sells custom spacers and lug bolts. He can make you any size you need. When I got my Fikse's, they were 2mm deeper than the stock wheels on my 996 and I ran the GT3 spacers, so I had Ralph make me up a set of 7mm longer lugs (52mm).

If you get the magazines, just look for Boothe in the advertisers index. If not, I can find it when I get home tonight.

Karl