Hey rennlist pros. I have s 991.1 GTS and yesterday for the first time I took the wheels off to replace my brakes and rotors. It was a learning experience to say the least, but one of the issues I encountered were with the centerlock bolts.

1. Every DIY video I saw showed the bolts coming off the wheel in one piece. Two of mine came off in their components. I had to figure out how to put it back together, but a pic is attached here. Have any of you encountered this, and is this a problem?

Half the bolt came off. Half the bolt stayed on the hub.

The half that stayed on the hub came off easily when I took off the wheel.

2. More frustrating was putting the wheels back on. All the DIY videos showed the locking mechanism locking flush against the teeth in their first try like so:


I did the standard torque to 450 or so, then untorque by 90 degrees, then retorque back to 450. I did this probably at least 5-6 times on each wheel until the bolt finally locked. It was a great workout, but it was so frustrating that it gives me pause on wanting to do this again (probably will do it againg though given how much they charge inthebay area). Anybody have similar problems putting the bolts back on? What am I doing wrong?

Thanks in advance for helping a noob!


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The nut should not come apart like that, it should have come off in one piece. The cone part should be locked into the nut with the locking ring. When you put the nut back on the wheel, did you put the nut components back together as one piece like the two good ones?

 

Yes I did. They for back together pretty easily.

I noticed, though, when I was torquing and untorquing while trying to out the not back on, there were a couple times I took it off all together and the same thing happened again.

 

When putting the wheels back on, after you do the torque, untorque 60 deg, retorque. Sometimes that locking mechanism comes all the way out like it should, and sometime it doesn’t. But no big deal if it doesn’t; all you have to do is use the back of the tool that you used to pop the center caps off and just jiggle it clockwise/counter-clockwise as you push in/out a tiny bit, then it will pop out as expected.

 

Damn. I wish I knew that before I started. I probably wouldn't feel like I had done a 10 hour CrossFit session.

 

My 2 fronts came apart as well. A service adviser at the Porsche dealership that was a Porsche tech before becoming SA said that this happens About 20% of the time. When it happened, the o ring needed to be popped out and everything put back together. I will be doing a wheel swap in the next weeks and will see if it happens again. The stiction from the Castrol anti seize seems strong.

You can wiggle the bolt an it will pop into place.

Search on an older thread of mine on this. We posted a LONG Center lock official Porsche document that you should have to have a good understanding of the whole assembly and on and off process.

 

Jack F,
Just did a search and printed out those documents. They are really really helpful, as was your description of your experience. It sounds like you and I had the same thing happen. I kinda freaked out when I saw it because I also thought that the bolt sheared in two. The only thing that gave me pause as I was trying to put it together was where to put that O ring, or C clip as some have called it. I noticed a groove in one of the halves of the bolt (the part I took a picture of) and fit it in there. The other half seemed to fit on top smoothly. It's strange how none of the documents mention where that ring goes.

After reading the document, though, I think I'll redo the grease again before going to the track. I don't think I put on as much as they recommended. Man, that grease is a real pain though. Gets everywhere and is really tenacious stuff.

 

I’ve never had a problem with my centerlocks. It looks to me like an insufficient amount of anti-seize paste could have caused this problem.

 

Just to circle back and close the loop, i had the dealership order a circlip for each front. The foreman knew what the cause was and I told him that i cannot be rebuilding this centerlock if I’m on the road. He knows that I swap winter wheel sets and will be flushing brake fluid. They were replaced and the problem was solved.

 

Here is Porsche docs on CL wheels, it tells you everything you need to know.....