spender

I am just so totally confused about this, and need some help and input from the Porsche experts here - please!

I have a 2003 Carrera 4S, and I just put my winter wheels on, but I'm concerned about the job the shop did, they added 14 mm spacers to mount the wheels described below but I'm concerned that it was too much. Now, the rear wheels have a noticeable negative camber that I have never noticed before and that concerns me. (For the record, the front are just fine, and thusly why I'm not asking about them ).

According to my Porsche manual, the rear wheels (for snow tires) SHOULD be 265/35 R18 tires, 10 J x 18 H2 rims, with a 47 mm rim offset.

However, I bought my set of snow tires second hand, they are good Continentals on Victor Equipment "Le Mans" rims. Victor Equipment makes aftermarket wheels, only for Porsche. The rear wheels I have carry 265/35 R18 tires (i.e. exactly the same as spec), but the rims are 9.5 x 18, with a 49 mm rim offset.

According to the wheel/tire size comparison tool (available here), this is how they compare:



The only comment/warning the tool gives me when I compare my wheels against the wheels recommend in the manual is that it says "Package is 2 mm (0.1'') closer to suspension/brakes components. Acceptable for most cars."

Anyway, the shop (which is known to be a shop that has some expertise in these things) put on the wheels, but with H&R Trak+ 14 mm (yes, FOURTEEN mm) spacers.

All seemed well when I picked the car up, and it feels fine on the road, but i noticed tonight that the there seems to be a noticeable negative camber on the rear wheels (tops leaning inside, towards each other). This concerns me.

I am concerned that the big spacers (which I'm not sure I really needed) have given me a nasty negative camber, which in turn could lead to premature tire wear, excessive stressing of my rear suspension, and even possibly erratic driving characteristics / an accident.

So, my questions:

1. Did I really need 14 mm spacers on the rears? I'm thinking i could have gotten away with much narrower ones (5 mm?), if I needed them at all.

2. Is it possible that putting the spacers on has given me a greater negative camber?

3. Is it going to hurt my car, tires, or me to drive around with this setup?

4. Am I overanalyzing this?

Thanks everyone!

gota911

IMO, the 14mm spacers (slightly more than 1/2") are getting the outside of 9.5" wide wheels in about the same position as the 10.0" wheels without spacers.

The spacers should not be impacting your camber.

I think you are overanalyzing this.

spender

Good points - thanks for the feedback.

Reading up on the 'net, a few things are apparent.

1. If you use good spacers, it's no problem.

2. Putting on spacers will not change camber, but lowering or raising will.

3. Pcar owners (especially the track crowd) go to great lengths to get and increase their negative camber.

4. It's possible that tire wear on the insides could increase, but this is an issue with these cars anyway.

Conclusion - I'm probably taking this too seriously, time to go have a beer!

okbarnett

I dont know why they would put the spacers on except to space out for brake caliper clearance. If it wasnt necessary it would be more effective to remove them to reduce the camber and straighten up the rear again. you could try it and see if it makes any difference. If it looks the same youve satisfied your question. The spacers are a good +$100 so it is advantageous for a shop to sell a few sets when possible.

spender

Thanks for the input! I may try to remove them.

From my travels on the net, the use of spacers seems to be a bit of a "dark art" - it's hard to get a straight answer on the pros and cons. I agree that unless I NEED them (for brake clearance), I don't WANT them just for the same of appearance. And yes, while they are good, German-made, Porsche specific ones (H&R Trak+), the shop did charge me around $300 for the spacers and the longer bolts needed.

JDSStudios

Spacers have nothing to do with camber.
I use 15 mm all around (2002 C4S).

However, if I were to buy new rims, I would not want Spacers, I would just get the proper rim size and offset.

okbarnett

Well, it does effect the whole geometry of the car when you change the offset of the wheel and tire from the way it was aligned. if you change anything on the wheel or tire you will get different readings on the alignment for every change made. It may not be much or you may not be able to tell driving it. But the numbers are visable.