mffarrell

I had new set of tires mounted at the dealer yesterday as well as an alignment.

Upon further inspection of the rear wheels the lug nuts looked like they were from a 1970's 911. I removed the rear wheel, there is a spacer mounted using original lug bolts.

My question is this safe? Why would someone do this? Also, if I remove the spacer will this screw up my alignment?

I believe I have stock techno wheels.

Thanks!

splitime

That is a pretty healthy spacer, they work just fine and shouldn't affect your alignment if removed.

Double check the width/offset on your wheels though, they might be a non-stock width/offset and this was the correction piece. Could also just be there to widen the stance some, my car (and many others) have the traditionally answer of a 7mm front and 14mm rear, but wider works depending on lots of factors.

manimal

The Sport Technos require spacers on the rear for widebody fitment -- so I think that's factory.

See https://www.suncoastparts.com/product/996XRC.html. Note that the Sport Technos have an offset of 63mm (vs. 45mm for regular twists), which is why they require a 17mm spacer.

So, don't remove them! Unless you are swapping to lower offset wheels, of course.

s65e90

Not to mention those bolts are meant to work with the spacer. You'd need OEM length bolts.

mffarrell

So this normal with the sport techno wheels! It just seems weird that the spacer is attached
to the hub with original lug bolts and one security bolt.

Then wheel attaches to the hub/spacer with 1970s gloss black magnesium nuts.

ANJ-911

Yea it is a little strange that the lug bolts are black on yours, I have the sport techno's on my car with the same spacer setup, however I have silver lug bolts for the wheel.

mffarrell

So, does your spacer use the same kind of lug bolts like the front wheels and security bolt to attach to the hub?

Do your rear wheel silver lug nuts have a security nut?

Just seems like kludge job.

ANJ-911

The silver wheel lug bolts don't have a security nut, and appear to be made of a lighter wieght metal, aluminum maybe?

As for the wheel spacers, I think it's the same setup that you're showing with the standard lug bolts and then one security bolt but I'm not certain if the security bolt is in there. It's been a while since I've had the rear wheels off but am doing a full wheel off detail on the car so I can get some pictures in the next few days.

I also remember the setup seeming odd, but after some searching on here learned that the sport techno's do need a spacer. I think I read somewhere they were manufactured to narrow body 996 offsets, and then when people ordered them for the wide body C4S or Turbo the spacer is added. 10K miles and 3 years and I've had Zero issues with mine.

32krazy!

by using the lugbolts to attach the spacer to the hub you can use stock oem length bolts to attach the wheel. its a common practice to keep the length of the lugbolt to a minimum so they dont crack with torque specs or stress from cornering

im not sure if the sport technos use cone lugbolts though. i would think they use a ball seat like oem rims do. and thats a security nut which needs a lugbolt key to remove. the black ones are cone not ball seat

techweenie

Somebody in the past installed an "adapter" instead of a "spacer." the conventional way to mount Technos or other wheels wanting spacers is to just buy longer bolts. Whoever did this bought standard over-the-counter hub-centric adapters for an earlier Porsche using lug nuts. Nothing really wrong with it, it works fine. And BTW, those are ball-seat lug nuts in the picture.

mffarrell

These are the wheels that were ordered originally with the car.

32krazy!

doesnt porsche oem lugbolts have a 2 piece ball seat

mffarrell

I looked on PET, and it shows a 17 mm spacer with studs, but doesn't show how the spacer is bolted to the hub, and the wheel nuts. Dealer doesn't know. lol car is about as old as the techs.

geetee

Those are factory 17mm "adapter" for optional sport techno as sport techno is 11 wide 63mm offset used on narrowbody without adapter. Very rare...hard to find....During that era Porsche used 5mm "spacer" but 17mm was "adapter".The regular "lug bolts" that were on most Porsches were used to hold the "adapter" just like the picture you have. The wheel is held on by "lug nuts" that were silver in color. Yours appears to be painted black or from an older porsche or aftermarket.

mffarrell

Do you think that the black lug nuts are safe to use? This is all new to me. The car is completely stock, so I am not sure why the black lug bolts were used. Does the silver lug bolts look like the black ones that I have?