I have a friend with an older GTS. He says center locks are a huge pain. Where we live, there isn’t a dealer, and essentially nobody has the equipment to take off one of these wheels. So, if you get a flat, it’s a pain.

 

So I guess you need to buy a torque wrench that goes up to 4xx ft/lbs. etc. Thanx for your input

siberian

 

Yes. One of the owners here said that he kept it in his car all the time. It reminds me of a friend that kept a lead hammer in his trunk for his knock-off hubs on his Sunbeam Alpine.

Are you adding center locks after market?

 

Remember those Sunbeam really well! You'd think they'd include that given the price of the vehicle... Thanx for the inputs, not worth it IMHO

siberian

 

On my last 911 with centrelocks you needed a 600 lb/foot torque wrench...which didn't come with the car, and not available from Porsche. They did have a very nice "looking" Porsche-branded extensible breaker bar that bent after a few uses. There's a very prescribed process for changing centrelock wheels. Technically, the entire car needs to be off the ground, but I would lift a side at a time. Getting the wheels off and on (especially the fronts in a RWD car) will require an assistant to get hard on the brakes - either a person in the driver's seat or a brake depressor tool. Taking wheels off is easy once they're "cracked" but putting them back on requires following correct procedures. First, there are a couple of spots that need to be lubricated (using a specific Optimol product) on a simple swap, and a more complicated locking nut teardown and lubrication process that I would do every second or third time I removed wheels. Wheel has to be torqued to spec, then backed off and re-torqued. Practically, the torquing process isn't hard although it requires some degree of upper-body strength. Cracking the nuts is MUCH easier which a long breaker bar...the longer the better.

If buying a used car that was spec'd the way I wanted it but had centrelocks, it wouldn't be a deal breaker...but having had them I'd not likely order them if there was a 5-bolt option, such as with the 992 Turbo/Turbo S (even though the CLs are the better-looking wheel IMO).

 

Thanx, that was my description above concerning the torquing, loosening and then re torquing to (IIRC) 440ft/lbs. I can't imagine P not supplying such a torque wrench given the astronomic prices they charge. Yes, there are professional or heavy equipment torque wrenches that go that high as well as torque multiplier ones but still.... After 50 years of collecting tools and buying Olga (my bobcat) I was amazed to see that my largest sockets were smaller than the smallest socket needed for to work on it. But I will definitely pass on this option.

Once I finalize on a build (signing the RS5 sales contract tomorrow), my first mod will be installing air jacks as in the old F1 days; I won't be changing tires in 2.8 seconds but at least I won't have to run the jack around as I do with the Touareg and Macan.

Thank you again!

siberian

 

Note that without SPASM you will not get:

• Extended front spoiler lip
• Increased maximum rear spoiler height

Several months ago there was a thread where someone felt “ripped off” when car was delivered with normal rear spoiler height.

 

Good point, thanx. Is there any option to have the "Duck Tail" rather than the Aerokit one?

siberian

 

How does the "Protection Film" option compare to XPEL or other? Is it worth the $2,760?

siberian

 

It doesn’t and it’s not worth it.

 

Thanx, will remove that. BTW having a stripe will that impede XPEL?

siberian

 

Nope. Xpel will go right over it.

 

Thank you kindly.

BTW what are the costs of applying Xpel and are the "average life expectancy" around 5-7 years before the glue yellows?

siberian

 

Price is regionally dependent. XPEL has a 10 year warranty for yellowing, but it will look pretty beat by then even if it doesn’t yellow. 5-6 years or so is my expectation before it requires replacement. I recently replaced the factory PPF on my white Alfa Romeo 4C which had yellowed badly after less than 4 years. Hoping that the XPEL lasts longer than that :P

 

Thank you. So is a replacement (4-7 years down the road) the same price as the original application?

siberian