Offset help.
 

I've done some searching but can't find what i'm looking for.

I don't know this language yet as i've never looked at wheels for my car.
I'm a performance guy, not a wheel guy haha.

I've got an '86 944 turbo. early offset with factory turbo 16inch phone dials.

I've found a set

18x8.5 50mm offset
18x10 60mm offset

Will these fit? do i need spacers? how big? what type?

Thanks!

Yes, they will fit. You will need adapters though. You have an 'early offset car', which means most Porsche wheels will fit with spacers.
For the front, you will need approximately a 27mm adapter (5x130 27mm). For the rear you will need about a 31-35mm adapter (5x130 31mm to a 5x130 35mm).
H&R and Eibach make them.
I'll let the 'experts' give you the details.
You should be able to run 235mm tires up front and 265-275mm tires in the rear.

I've never been a fan of adapters because of the extra hardware.

Also, with stock struts and fenders I'm pretty sure an 8.5" wheel won't fit up front.

Please note that I'm not an expert.

Take care,

i looked at this website

http://www.willtheyfit.com/index.php...et2=60#content

http://www.willtheyfit.com/index.php...et2=50#content

Does this mean i can use 6mm and 12mm spacers and it'll work?

I don't recall if the '86 has the slightly rounded shoulders on the front hub but if it does, you'll probably need at least a 1/4 (7mm) spacer so the wheel will sit flat on the hub. Without it the wheels rocks slightly during installation. If the inside of the wheel has a beveled (chamfered) opening at the hub the spacer may not be needed. Most wheels don't have the beveled hole. Your car looks great.

I have 18x8.5 et52 with 245s up front and I'm running a 32mm adapter and they fit fine...I could probably go another 10mm out and still be safe. Without the adapter they would slightly rub on the springs and sit a little too far in. If you're running 2.5" springs they would work, just look funny all sucked in to the wheel well.

So out of all the answers i guess yours makes sense the most.

So is it worth getting spacers or longer wheel studs?

27-35mm spacers are too long for longer studs. You'll actually be getting 'adapters', which come with their own studs and bolt on with the factory studs.

If you decide to run the adapters they MUST be torqued, then retorqued a 160 km or so later. This requires removing the wheels to do so. I would be inclined to use some Loctite as well.

Weren't the 930 turbo spacers 30mm from the factory and they were spacers not adapters? I've never really understood this. I would think that 2 sets of studs like in an adapter would be worse than one set with a tightly toured plate between (assuming that the spacer is not fitting on a wheel where the contact patch is being moved outboard of the hub)

I'm confused, sorry.

You're saying you rather have longer wheel studs and use a spacer (like a washer) between the wheel and the hub? than having to bolt on a spacer then bolt on the wheel to that spacer?

If I'm correct, I think the ideal offsets for your car is around +23 front and +15 rear. If that is the case then you want to get the offset of the wheels you're considering down to around there. You accomplish that by either using spacers (anything longer than 10mm you should use longer studs) or adapters (no need to change studs and they come built in with them).

At your current spec of +50 front, you'll need about a 25mm or 30mm adapter to get the wheels to sit at a +25/+20 offset.
The rears at +60 will need around 45mm adapter to get it to a +15mm offset.

Hope that helps.

Yes. that is what I'm saying. And I wouldn't be surprised to find that I'm wrong, I just don't know why. For a given thickness (and I would assume they both get worse as dimensions increase) I would think a plate that is sandwiched would be stronger than one that has one set of bolts with forces in one direction and another set of bolts with forces in the other direction.

The offsets you are referring to are actually the offsets for an early 911. The 944 uses matching offsets front and rear. For both the 7" and 8" wide rims (15" or 16" ) the offset is 23mm on the factory rims. The 911 offsets will work, but are not ideal (I have ran 911 Fuchs on mine.)