KarlM100

Here I go again. New member new car 1985 928S.
Long story short. I bought a set of real Porsche Carreras III wheels.
They are 57 front and 58 rear offset. The part #'s are stamped on the inside and the offset and width are in raised numbers on the sides of the valve stem. I have no reason to suspect these are not made by Porsche. Unless I am crazy it seems the driver side is further away from the hub than the passenger side. Looking at the car from the rear it looks like the passenger side needs a very very small spacer....maybe 3-5 mm. To bring the wheel out flush with fender lip or in my case rolled lip. I did not notice this when the stock rims and tires were on the car. This is a one owner car with no accident history.
Am I crazy?
Karl

KarlM100

One more thing. I was told "no problem" fitting 275's on the rear.
I have 265,s and they rub. 265/35/18 with a 58 offset.
No way will a 275 fit even with a fender lip roll.
Thanks
Karl

Glen McCartney

Karl, I have the same wheels on my '85, with 285/30's on rear without rolling the fenders. Did you take the rear spacers off?

Hilton

Carrera III's should fit just fine - but if you're rubbing on the outside with 265's I suspect your car has the "wider track" option of the rear spacers. Does your car have the factory option of the bolted-on 21mm spacers?

KarlM100

Wow. I feel like a total idiot.
I just took the wheels off and bolted the new ones on.
I just went to the garage and without taking the wheels off I could have a spacer....looks like maybe 1".
Now.....if it is a spacer how is it attached..?
Thanks VERY much
Karl

Rob Edwards

Spacers either slip over the existing studs directly and you then mount the wheel on the existing studs. Or, thicker spacers tend to have their own set of studs and you bolt the spacer to the existing hub, then bolt the wheel to the spacer's studs.

The 'catch' with bolt on spacers is that you have to make sure that the wheels you're going to mount have recesses in the hub face into which the spacer mounting nuts can fit. In my experience the factory Porsche wheels are pretty good about this, dunno specifically about Carerra III's.

Here's a 15 mm bolt-on spacer:



And the recesses on a factory Cup I wheel:



Vs. the recesses on an aftermarket Cup 4 wheel (no way are they working with a bolt-on spacer....):

h011yw00d

The factory spacer on the '85 just slips over the studs. Tap it off with a hammer.

KarlM100

Thanks to all....
I appreciate it very much.
Karl

pcar928fan

Your lug nuts will no longer work after the spacer is removed... They are not open lug nuts and will top out (or is it bottom out???) before they even touch the wheel. I have seen folks use a full set of open lug nuts and then put the "regular" lug nuts on top of them... NOT OPTIMAL, but will work. The proper way to deal with it is pull the hub and put on shorter studs. Thank goodness my '85 EURO car didn't have the spacer! My CLW's just bolted right up.

h011yw00d

Or you can use open lug nuts and paint the studs black.

dr bob

Two hundred bonus points to Griffindor for creative use of the 32V cam alignment tool!

DougM

Are you saying you think the wheels are slightly different or are you saying they sit slightly different in respect to the wheel opening? If it is the latter, I have the same issue. My guess is the body and frame don't sit perfectly together on all cars. When I put some 11" Carrera IIIs on my car, I noticed a few mm difference in space between the tire and the lip.
My car is straight and never been wrecked and aligned perfectly.

77tony

Have someone who has done it before cut your studs to the proper length while on your car. It's best to have open lugs on there first just in case the threads get a little bit damaged. Backing out the existing open studs should help clean the thread up pn the way out. T

KarlM100

Thanks Doug. I'lm glad my car is not the only one!
Spacer removed......problem solved!
The lug nut problem was simple.....grind the top off
Not much grinding. No loss in the integrity of the lug.
The spacer looked like part of the hub. Enough road grime filled the gap and the spacer was not noticeable. That's my story and I'm stickin to it!!! Until I wear out these tires I think I want a 15 mm spacer with the 265,s until I get 285's.
I was wondering who to order the spacer from?
Thanks Again
Karl

Rob Edwards

Vertex has a good selection of spacers:

http://www.vertexauto.com/ShowItem/4...2015%20Mm.aspx

They also sell open steel lugnuts, I would splurge for a set to replace all the ones you've just compromised.

http://www.vertexauto.com/ShowItem/4...Lug%20Nut.aspx