There you go!:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/60293300@N06/6779589570/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/60293300@N06/6925705229/

 

You have moved up quick from the B8 S4 lol. I followed you on Audizine and to see you are now in a 2012 Carrera S is amazing!

Congrats and enjoy!

 

The S4 was a kind of revelation for me:
1. I have always loved cars but never indulged myself in putting more time and money in it as a hobby (and I have always had a company car which got me stuck in 'rational' choices )
2. Once I got started with the S4, I kept wanting something faster and got myself the Cayman R (not straight line faster but more agile)... until the 991 came out and this was the car that had everything: comfort (when needed) and speed.

I hope I'll be reasonable and stop trading in cars for a while. Until the 991 turbo comes out?
Back to the S4, I loved it and would make the same choice if I had to buy a 4-door sedan again.

 

OEM spacers

Just installed 5mm OEM spacers. I am not a big fan of spacers (mostly cosmetic, risk of vibrations, etc) but had them on the Cayman R and Porsche's OEM kit is of such quality that I did not regret it.

Put the car on jacks...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/60293300@N06/6927130007/
Without the spacer:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/60293300@N06/6781010896/
With the spacer:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/60293300@N06/6781011934/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/60293300@N06/6781011292/
And here are before-and-after pics. 5mm do not make a whole lot of difference, but still a nice subtle improvement

Before:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/60293300@N06/6781011706/
After:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/60293300@N06/6781011126/

 

What do the spacers actually do? Is it purely cosmetic?

 

100% cosmetic - like paint, which I also like

 

Yep! On my GTI I had to install spacers in order to get the BBK to fit under the OEM wheels but obviously not the case here
On the 911, I would nonetheless not go for more than 5mm as I do not want to take any risks in terms of vibrations or wobbling.

 

Technically, spacers widen the track of the car, which will improve handling. While most of us wouldn't feel the difference of 5mm all around, i suspect that there are some drivers that would.

The track is important - as an example, one of the differences between the 991 and 997 is the wider track in the front, leading to less understeer.

I think I just told the truth...

 

Do the dealers normally install the spacers? Do you pay more as an aftermarket item?

 

From a performance standpoint, isn't there a difference between truly widening the track, suspension and all, vs simply pushing out the wheels?

This subtle mod looks good tho.

 

I have not seen the spacers as an option on new cars on the website, and I would think that it is a dealer installed option. In any case, you would be better off buying from Suncoast and installing yourself

 

This is correct as far as I know. Nothing changes in the car's geometry, but there is probably a very slight benefit in stability/cornering.
I wanted to check if there was any vibration or wobbling and I can confirm that the OEM kit is perfectly OK up to at least 140 mph.
The conditions of the test were of course perfectly legal.

 

The spacers are an option under wheels on the Porsche website. $490.00 is the price.

 

Thanks for the info. $348 online with Suncoast.

 

Just logged onto to this thread and all I can say is WOW! Congrats and looked forward to your ongoing journal. Hopefully you decide to go with some new black Hre p40s conical one day