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I was asked to help out with a track build that had stud issues. The car has some very reputable shop names all over it which only made me more. Than I care to say.
It was one thing to opt for 80mm studs but the fact that several of these shops had no issues installing and or leaving three non centering spacers per side to space wheels out. One of the shops insisted the wheels would fit properly ordered and sold the owner the wheels. When they didn't fit they installed new longer studs and 3 individual spacers per side I wouldn't put on a civic.
He had prior bearing issues which I can only speculate was a result of this setup resulting in the purchase of a new used hub. So he has one early style hub and one later. A non issue but caught me off guard. The real problem is that the studs were carrying all the weight of a car being pushed quite hard on track exclusively. I also found the wheel alignment and ride height to be a nightmare but that is another story.
So what I found was a badly mangled stud and others that were starting to elongate ever so slightly. I suspect eventually these would have failed although the one stud was already quite far gone.
I pulled both sides and replaced with 72mm studs and spacers from Elephant racing. They only offer a 21mm spacers so I needed to add some shims to bring it out to the width needed.
Just an observation I thought worth sharing but I hope this enlightens everyone when discussing spacers and the need for hub centering vs not.
BTW this is what one shop felt was a good wheel alignment. WIth the wheel far from centered.
so many costumers come in with new wheels wondering why they have a shake when going fast or under braking and the wheels don't have the right hubcentric or missing all together. the wheel studs only hold the wheel on the hug carries all the weight. to hard to make people under stand sometimes
Another lesson; always ask for the before/after printout of your alignment specs! You don't have to know anything about alignments to see the imbalance with that setup.
UGH! 100% you need a hub centric spacer or the hub has to extend enough to catch the wheel lip. For example, on the 997RS they came with 5mm factory spacers with no lip, but the hub extends enough to catch the wheel with sufficient support.
A few months back I was playing around with some spacers on my 964, so I took the non-centric ones from my RS and put them on the front. The front lips don't extend enough to catch the e88 wheels and the front end didn't feel right, quite a bit of vibration...
The challenge on the front is the lip is not indexed or cut like the rear so thinner hub centric spacers won't really work right... :-(
Apparently they made a number of changes to the hubs over the years. The round rear hub appears to be the newer design the other shaped one is the earlier. I have these as well on my 90 but my 93 and 94 have the round versions. The 993 front hubs are far nicer if you ever decide to upgrade. Expensive parts though. They have more material holding the studs in place and are indexed. I started discussing hub centering spacers back about 14 years ago here when the only available hubcentric spacers were expensive and available from RUF. Shortly after that it seemed everyone started manufacturing them. I have to admit the elephant racing spacers were both reasonably priced and a nice quality product.
wallra. There are some low riders around here that might actually think those are a good idea. I don't know how these guys slam the cars so low and don't destroy the underside of their cars. It is funny to watch them drive around autocrossing the pot holes and or usually parked on the side of the road with a broken wheel.
BTW this is a 993 front hub. I found it interesting that the different hubs either have no part markings or the part number is wrong. Usually they are marked 605 instead of 065. Not sure how Porsche didn't pick up on that.
UGH! 100% you need a hub centric spacer or the hub has to extend enough to catch the wheel lip. For example, on the 997RS they came with 5mm factory spacers with no lip, but the hub extends enough to catch the wheel with sufficient support.
A few months back I was playing around with some spacers on my 964, so I took the non-centric ones from my RS and put them on the front. The front lips don't extend enough to catch the e88 wheels and the front end didn't feel right, quite a bit of vibration...
The challenge on the front is the lip is not indexed or cut like the rear so thinner hub centric spacers won't really work right... :-(
08-17-2020, 09:55 AM
My recent experience with non hubcentric spacers
Than I care to say.
WIth the wheel far from centered.
I don't know how these guys slam the cars so low and don't destroy the underside of their cars. It is funny to watch them drive around autocrossing the pot holes and or usually parked on the side of the road with a broken wheel.
