mdrums

I have a new 997S due in on Wednesday with stock 19" Carrera Classic (5 star open) wheels. I posted this question on another forum but was told to put it here as I might get more responce especially from that track guys.

OK, I searched the forum for my question and all I can find is some posted were people have put various sized wheel spacers on to help give the car a more agressive look.

So far nothing has been said about what wheel spacers do for the handling or ride of the car. Do spacers change the geometry of the suspensions to provide any good or bad handling traits for the car? Do the weight of the spacers add enought weight on the suspension to badly effect handling?

thanks, Mike

tkerrmd

the spacers are used for enhancing the look or fill of the wheel well by adjusting offset. Making the track of the car in general adds to the handling and stability of a track car. the rotational weight shouldnt be significant (of course I have ti bolts so dont ask me)

Now for the IMHO ...... leave your brand new 997 alone and enjoy!! I think porsche has probably done a pretty good job figuring out the place those 19 inch wheels are supposed to sit!

mdrums

Tom, thanks for the reply. I am just currious about certain mods. My car will remain mostly stock except for the Fabspeed Mufflers the dealer is installing. I was thinking about a EVO intake but decided against it.
I just hear about spacers and saw them as a Porsche option in 5mm but I see other putting on bigger spacers and I do not want to lessen the handling quality of my Carrera S.

I will invest on track days instead of thounsands of bits and pieces for looks.

thanks! Mike

tkerrmd

Good plan Mike, enjoy your new awesome car!!

Gary (Fl)

When you replace the OEM wheels you can get the new ones in the offset you want to move out the wheels with no spacers... That is always the prefered way. I would never use spacers... Just get the proper offset from the beginning... If you stick with OEM, like Tom said, leave the spacers to someone else.

Good Luck with your car...

mdrums

Gary, thanks for the reply. I'm in Tampa too. Is there any Tampa Porsche or sports car gatherings around town?

Kiko

My experience with spacers is that more than 5mm spacers will vibrate but most of all on 18mm for instance its changes the cars handling for worst and the reason is simple, it "softens" the suspension behaviour by increasing the suspension arm lever altering the forces and operating range (hitting bumpstops easily). I could clearly feel this and I was told that bearing failures are much more common on cars with wheel spacers for the same reason...

Gary (Fl)

There are a few... Not as many as other places... But there are sure enough exotics to have some..

Check your PM

evolvedaz

Wheel spacers are not a bad thing. Offset just depends on how far in or out your wheel is. Alot of race cars use them. When you talk 3-5mm it is not a big deal. But at the same time if you want better handling, get wider tires.

mdrums

Vivid my 997 C2S has stock 19" Carrera Classic (5star spoke) wheels.

ca993twin

I had a rather odd experience on my previous 993TT with Kinesis 10.5" rear wheels and PSS-9 suspension. I added 3/4" spacers for the looks (and it really did look great), but the handling went straight to hell... lots of oversteer. I thought this was a weird affect but somebody explained it pretty well above. On the other hand, The Ruf, with Ruf suspension and 3/4" spacers on their NB offset 11" wheels (the Ruf factory setup) handles great. Go figure.

Garey Cooper

I have TechArt wheel spacers on my '01TT with stock wheels.....I think the cars looks are considerably improved by filling out the wheel wells as Tom indicates above. The handling I don't think was affected much one way or the other, although I would agree that "all things being equal" a little more track width won't hurt you. Mine are small spacers but I can't remember the width.

I have seen "crazy" wide spacers and there is every chance in my humble opinion that these would/could adversly affect handling and over time the wheel bearing life.

A nice plus to the TechArt spacers. They use the stock bolts to attach to the hub. Then offset to those are studs that use the older style 993 type lug nuts. These are sooo much easier to use when taking wheels on or off, nearly worth it just for that fact.