superloaf

For those of you out there using spacers on an '86 (or earlier) to allow later offset wheels to fit, I would love to know your spacer sizes and the offset of the wheels you are using. I've seen on the Racer X site that 21mm spacers in front & 28mm in rear will do it, but I'm curious if these will work with all of the later offset wheels or if it's just a starting point. It seems that the later offset wheels are anything from 47mm to 65mm offset which is quite a difference, but i"m not sure exactly how the width of the wheel affects the measured offset.

So it would be great to hear some first hand experience with this problem since I've already bought the 21mm spacers and want to make sure I'm on the right track.

(Many thanks to Danno for previously emailing some info about his Racerx site and wheel offsets.)

pikey7

If you fit wheels of a same size but different offset to a car, you only have to make up the difference with the spacer. If you are fitting different widths, then you need to account for the fact that the offset measurement is taken from the centre.

For example, if you're using 8" ET20 wheels, and you want to fit 10" ET40 wheels (I picked the numbers to make the calc easy to see, not to represent the 944!), you need to account for the fact that:

A. The wheel offset is still taken from the centre, so you have 1"(25mm) each side increased from the centreline.
B. You have a 20mm increase in offset. This will pull the outside of the wheel INBOARDS by 20mm, therefore giving you 5mm of the extra width on the outside, and 45mm extra on the inside.
C. This is where it gets expensive, or you have to trust people. It gets expensive if you want to try 17 sets of wheels!. You have to KNOW how much you can increase the overall width of the wheels (from side to side) without rubbing on the fenders. Most cars wheels and tyres will sit inboards with a relatively large degree of safety from rubbing on the fender lips, and so you can increase the overall width by this amount. You can actualy increase this width OVER the amount, but then have to fit a "borderline" tyre to bring the sidewall back in to stop the rubbing again.
D. Once the outside now fits, you have to determine if the INSIDE can take this increase. The easy way is to measure the space that you have from the current fitted wheels. Remember though to turn the wheel from lock to lock to see all turning conditions, and add a bit to allow for suspension travel.
E: So for the given example, you will have 5mm extra to the outside and 45mm to the inside. Go put the car on axle stands and measure it up to do the math, or rely on the info on Danno's pages and the search button here to see what fits.

It's all been done before, so the info is here somewhere!

superloaf

Yeah, that's why I started this thread: to hear the set ups people are running (I mean there's only so many offsets available for our cars, especially if you stick to OEM or 1 piece wheels which is my plan.

So those of you running spacers, please reply with the spacer size and wheel offset, plus any problems , complaints, etc. you may have with the set up.

Also, with the late offset wheels, how many different offsets has Porsche used? I know some late offset wheels don't fit Boxsters or sometimes people refer to narrow or wide body fitments. A little expertise here would be appreciated.

icat

I don't think this will help much since you are inquiring about odd sizes, but I'm running 17" 993 Cups on my 86 951. I used Danno's recommendations and went with 21mm in front and 28mm in rear. The 993 Cups are 52mm offsets all around.

superloaf

No, that's exactly what I want to know. So the 21 & 28mm worked well with the 52mm wheels? Will they also work with 55mm & 65mm wheels? I'm just trying to find out what spacers everybody out there is running and what wheels they have, so anyone with any spacers, please list your sizes.

pieball

'86 951 with 2002 Carrera 5 spoke lightweights(18x8+10) and 1" definitely in the front. As for the rears, anything from 1.5"-2.5". The 2.5" will rub on the fender lip if your lowered or have stock springs on hard bumps. I went with 2" on the rears, lowered about 3/4" and have stiff coilovers now. No chance of rubbing now. You can convert my #'s to metric and get away with at least a couple of mm either way. Hope this helps.

EVOMMM

I have a set of custom made spacers they were used for about 4 months then i went to custom rims bigger
they were made for my 1986 951 to fit a set of 1995 993 cup rims these bolt on NO vibration or shimmy as with the lesser products
these cost me 300 I will take $200 shipping included!!
E-mail me at( mudballz@aol.com) or call my cell 917-691-2020
Mike

Danno

" So the 21 & 28mm worked well with the 52mm wheels? Will they also work with 55mm & 65mm wheels?"

They'll work with 55mm wheels just fine.

For 47mm offset wheels, you'll want a 15mm spacer in front and 21mm spacer in the rear. May bottom out the lug-nuts on the studs, so you can use open-ended ones or drill out the centers of yours.

For 65mm offset wheels, you'll want to put a 28mm spacer in front and a 35mm spacer in the rear. This will require putting in longer studs from the start than what I have listed on my website; 72mm front and 80mm rear should do.l

Then again, you're not going to find 65mm offset front AND rear wheels, most likely 55mm front and 65mm rear. In which case, you'll want a 21mm spacer in front and 35mm spacer in the rear.

But... this is just a generalization because it also depends upon the rim-widths you're using. Going from 16x7/8" stock wheels to 17-18x8/9" wheels will require a certain effective offset, like +5mm over stock. Yet an even wider set of 17-18x10/11" wheels will need a different effective offset of about +10mm over stock to place most of the extra width on the inside.

Then there are some 40mm offset rear 11" rear wheels for widebody 911s. These can fit directly on the rear of the '86 951 without spacer for a 265mm tyre. A 285mm tyre may need a 10mm spacer to move the wheel out a tiny bit so the tyre doesn't rub on the spring-plate.

So sorry, there's no easy black & white, yes/no, all-or-nothing clear-cut answer for you. It really depends on the particular wheels you're looking at.

superloaf

Danno, I figured I'd post a thread here rather than keep bugging you with questions. I figured that there were different choices depending on actual wheels used and their widths. Also, I figured there would be a margin of acceptable spacer size for any given wheel, depending on how far within the fender you want to run it.

So thanks Danno--those examples give me a good starting point. But I would still love to hear from people out there running spacers. It seems that there is a large number of '86 951 owners on this site and I'm sure 90% of them have larger wheels, so most of them must have spacers. So lets hear some examples.

DivineE

Sorry to yet again bend a topic but it was too relevent to a question I have to start a whole new thread. I have an '85 car (non ABS which I assume is identical to the '86 model?) I currently have a set of 17" cup 2 replica wheels with what I assume to be the correct set of spacers (I'v had no problems anyway.) what offset would I need to run a set of deeper dish wheels such as the 18" 3.6 turbo cup wheels or a set of 17" BBS Super RS with 285 rear and 235 front tires?

Also if I removed the spacers could I change the offset to make the wheels appear deeper dished? I really like the look of deep wheels on the 944 but I know nothing about offsets! (obviously)

Ben

Andre

I got a set of boxster wheels, rear is 8.5 wide with 255s and 7 wide fronts with 215 on them. On the wheels it says 17 and 55 on the front and 17 and 50 on the rear, i think, i might have those backwards. they are the twists, not like the 993TT twist but the boxster kind of twist. I am still kind of confused aswell and not sure what to put on for spacers. I dont want it to rub obviously so whats the range of spacers that i can put on especially in the rear as i want them to fill out the fender really well

EVOMMM

I have a set thta I used for 3 months and now have sold the rims they were made to fit a set of 17*7 and 17*9 cup rims I will take 200 for the set it cost me 325 they came off my 1986 951
mike

Andre

what are the sizes?

Porsche-O-Phile

Who was that masked man?

EVOMMM

I the sizes are 22mm and 35mm they are hub centric and they are super strong if no one is happy with them I will refund thier money
Mike