I am interested in getting the look of a wider stance. i have 17" cup wheels on my car. Can I add 1/4 -1/2 inch spacers to this car without any problems

 

Depends on the rear tires, lowering, and springs - but normally, yes - 1/2" is okay.

 

Nope, you'll need longer studs; there's not enough threads remaining after you add a spacer. Also you'll change your wheels' effective offset which will mess up your steering geometry. Spacers should really only be used to restore non-standard offsets back to stock.

 

Bah humbug - wider is better!

spacers is the phat shizazz beotch

 

i think the spacers give the 944 a subtle more aggressive look. wider is better, indeed.

 

Yes, wider is better and I'm not denying that. I'm talking about HOW you get that wider stance. I recommend getting wider wheels that place 1/2 of their extra width on the outside and 1/2 on the inside so you preserve your suspension geometry and bearing loads. AND you get wider for better as well...

 

Thanks for the responses. FWIW I drive the car on the street with a very occasional autocross event. The rear tires are 255 17"s. the fronts are 225 (or 235?). I have the stock non MO30 suspension except for rear koni yellows. I am planning on adding front koni yellows and perhaps after market springs. I am not sure what weight springs I should use...but that's another subject entirely.
I just like the look of the wheel filling out the well just a hint more than stock. I am sure wider rims and tires would be best to maintain more accurate steering geometry, but that is MUCH more costly than 1/2" spacers and longer studs. Can I replace the studs myself? Or would it be best to buy bolt on spacers.

Again thanks for all the help with my question

Ross

 

i've got 18/45/225's on the back, michelin pilot sports.. they stick like glue, but how much of a difference would 255s or so make?

also, how severely would smallish spacers in the rear throw off my suspension? i know 18's aren't recommended, so i don't wanna do anything else to upset the ol girl. she would look nice with a wider stance though.

ross, do you have any pictures of your ride man? i love em in yellow.

thanks all
ian

 

Danno, totally agree - was being a bit funkay. 1/2" won't make too much of a diff, but I concede that it will change the steering geometry a bit. That said, I run 21mm spacers on the fronts using my Cookies shod with Hoosiers - seems to work well, and I have run them with and without the spacers.

Ross, If you're not wanting to touch the rear torsion bars, stay with 200 or 250 at the most for front springs. Since you are wanting to go to 1/2", you can use the H&R spacers that bolt directly to the original hub - no mods needed - but, they are a bit pricey. Otherwise, you'll want to pick up a set of studs from the 930 (66 front, 72 rear). The fronts are relatively easy - just pull the rotor, separate the hub, pound out and press in. The rear are easiest with the hub off (with is a big job and requires special tools), but Danno reported a way to use the E-brake cable input hole to pound them out without having to remove the hub - it's in the archives here - I've never tried it... did mine while the hubs were off for new bearings.

Ian, 255's won't be night-and-day, maybe more like evening-and-night. They certainly do feel good on the higher hp cars - I've never had much use for them on an na. The machismo factor is certainly way up there. Spacers in the rear won't affect steering, so you're left with the bearing load thing - multiplied by your heavier and harsher 18's. More of this depends on your wheel width - I'm surprised you're running 225's on the rear with those 18's - what's the width? If lower than 8", you can't fit the 255's - ideally you want 9" for that.

Good Luck!

 

skip, they're 8" wide. when this set of pilots goes, could i just pop 255's on there or what? i've gotta say, i don't know a terrible amount about tire width as such. also, how much do the H&R spacers run generally? thanks much for your help.

 

You probably won't be able to use bolt-on spacers (the kind with studs built in). Right now your studs probably stick out at least an inch beyond the mounting surface of the hubs. Suppose you get 1/2" spacers. The studs from your hubs will stick out 1/2" beyond the surface of the spacers, and your wheels probably won't fit flush against the spacers.

I learned this the hard way. I got 1" bolt-on spacers for my '86 944 and late-offset phone dials. The studs from my hubs stuck out enough that the phone dials wouldn't fit flush. Fortunately, the company I purchased the spacers from (Crow Automotive) gave me a full refund toward the purchase of 1.25" spacers.

 

Danno

You told me how to do the spacers a while back. I've still only done it to the front so far, but can I use wider spacers? You told me to get the spacers off the back of a pre 86 944 and put them on all four wheels with longer studs.

Do they make wider spacers? Does what I've done affect my steering a lot?

Thanks...

Jordan

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Originally posted by Danno:
<strong>Yes, wider is better and I'm not denying that. I'm talking about HOW you get that wider stance. I recommend getting wider wheels that place 1/2 of their extra width on the outside and 1/2 on the inside so you preserve your suspension geometry and bearing loads. AND you get wider for better as well... </strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">

 

And how close to stock do the 21mm spacers make an 86 944na?

 

</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Originally posted by mrmunky:
<strong>skip, they're 8" wide. when this set of pilots goes, could i just pop 255's on there or what? i've gotta say, i don't know a terrible amount about tire width as such. also, how much do the H&R spacers run generally? thanks much for your help.</strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana,Tahoma,Helvetica">Ian, I think 245s are the widest you can fit on an 8" wheel. 255s would really be stretching it and like Skip said, you should ideally have 9" wheels for this application.