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Sheesh, thank you everyone for your replies and input. Noted about not lowering the rear.
J Irwan - I did take a look at my tires and they are in fact AML. When I look at them from an angle, they do like they are "leaning" inward, as you gusys say stretched. I think if the wall were going straight up it would fill in the gap a little bit and be closer to the look I am trying to achieve. I like the tire/stance of the OEM wheels.
That said, should replacing the tires HRE sold me with the OEM tires be the best solution here?
I reached out to the HRE rep and he said:
Question though, is your GT3 lowered, or at the factory height? The fitment we went with on your vehicle specifically is what is called our F1 Fitment, this is what all customers go with unless requested otherwise. On a vehicle like a GT3, the fitment is already so tight from factory, there is not a ton of wiggle room. The rear tire (315/30-21) does have some stretch to it when mounted on a 21x12.50, but that’s due to the tire availability and what’s out there. The 325/30-21 would not meet any of Michelin’s standards, so we are stuck with the 315/30-21.
He is going to do more research on this situation and get back to me tomorrow.
Here are more photos for those that requested them:
This looks off. HRE's F1 Fitment is usually just slightly tucked. Your rear tire is WAY stretched - that's clearly part of the problem.
I used to have HREs on my 993 and this was the F1 Fitment
Wondering if I could get your input on a set of HRE 501's that I recently installed on my GT3 Touring. Absolutely love the look of them, except for how the rear tire is sitting with the fender. I was hoping for more of a wider/aggressive stance. The "gap" and tire being much narrower than the fender is bothering me. Can't do spacers as these are center locks. When I purchased the HRE's, we didn't go over any of the specs as options, is this normal? I am very unfamiliar with aftermarket wheels and set ups. Maybe I am just being picky, but a good amount of $$ and just want the wheels to be exactly to
It's the tires, y'all. The stretch kills the look on this car. It ain't a Singer, after all. Get that sidewall more vertical and it will improve.
FWIW, I've owned at least 8 sets of HREs, and the fitment is always just a tiny bit tucked, but never outrageous. Scratching my head on why the sold you those tires though.
It's the tires, y'all. The stretch kills the look on this car. It ain't a Singer, after all. Get that sidewall more vertical and it will improve.
FWIW, I've owned at least 8 sets of HREs, and the fitment is always just a tiny bit tucked, but never outrageous. Scratching my head on why the sold you those tires though.
It’s not just the tires. It is also the offset. It’s plainly obvious when you look at where the wheel face is located relative to the fender; it isn’t flush. That is an offset issue.
I recommend you stop talking to the HRE guy about the fitment and find a local shop that knows what they're doing.
In order to get the fitment and look that you want, it's a combination of wheel size, wheel offset, tire size, tire stretch, ride height, and camber. If any of those are off it won't look right. I feel your pain here and have had to purchase additional sets of wheels because we miscalculated or purchased different tires because it didnt look just right to me.
Someone can correct me on the right terminology here, but a good Porsche tech should be able to adjust the lower control arm, or dog bone, (something like that, I forget) ...and push the wheel out a little further and then play with camber. That may help along with a different tire size. We did this on my 991.
The issue is not the offset. Let me share my offset recipe book
Without getting too technical the genera rule of thumb: alower offset number for the same car, with the same wheel width (not diameter) means the wheel will be sticking out more/closer to the fender.
The way to calculate offset is pretty simple. An offfset Zero means the mounting pad of the wheels is exactly in the middle of the wheel width.
But in your case let just focused on the stock/oem GT3 wheels offset vs the HRE.
Below is the OEM GT3T wheel with 12" width with an offset of (+45). The mounting pad of the wheels is 107.45mm from the center of the wheel width.
The HRE has a width of 12.5" width with an offset of (+48). Although the offset is higher but the wheel width is also larger, this put the mounting pad of the wheel is 110.75mm from the center of the wheel width.
What this means your new HRE is now closer to the fender by 3.3mm (110.75mm -107.4mm). Appearance wise this should make your new wheel sit more flush to the fender compare to the OEM GT3T wheels.
Your issue with the wheel gap is the tire not the wheel offset/wheel width.
The amount of knowledge you brought to this thread is a breath of fresh air.
While the tire does seem to be the culprit, have you actually checked to see if what you received was a 21 x 12.5 ET: 48 in actuality? Sales reps, to techs, to designers, they're all playing telephone with a million orders. It's not terribly unlikely your order was messed up.
While the tire does seem to be the culprit, have you actually checked to see if what you received was a 21 x 12.5 ET: 48 in actuality? Sales reps, to techs, to designers, they're all playing telephone with a million orders. It's not terribly unlikely your order was messed up.
Yes. Path of least resistance to make this right. Check it,s correct. If so, then change tires (make sure HRE covers this. No way you should be on the hook for two sets of tires when it was their mistake). The tires do look ridiculous actually. (The angle caused by the stretch...cant believe HRE actually sold it like this).
Then if its still not right, return everything and tell them to make it right.