I am reposting this as it's own thread because a lot people messaged me thanking for the info. Over the years I've wasted a lot of time playing around with this **** (3 kids, so lots of time in the garage and not enough on the road)

This info is what I learned playing with my own 996TT.

There is always this trepidation by people who haven't done spacers to do 7mm front and 15mm rear. 15mm all around fits with NO mods. 21mm rears if your roll the rear fenders. Generally speaking, it doesn't matter if you car is lowered or what kind of suspension you have. The wheels generally do not go any further up into the body on a lowered car under compression (like when going over s speed bump). They just start closer to the body and have less total travel.

For the record the factory rolls the rear fenders on the GT2 to accommodate more wheel in the rear. All front fenders are factory rolled. As Mr white mentioned, I also ran 7mm (45-7 = 38 offset) spacers on 12" GT2 wheels (45 offset) /tires with 315 tires with great success (no rub).

To roll fenders, just buy a 2lb mallet, cover the striking end with duct tape so that it doesn't chip the paint, remove the rear wheel, and beat back the fender lip gently. 5 minutes later the fenders are rolled all the way back.

If you're super worried about fit, put on the desired spacers and drive one wheel of the car up the steepest curb you can find. This will "cross up" the suspension putting a lot of weight on two wheels compressing the suspension and let you closely inspect fit before driving into the sunset kissing your new found wider track.

I went H&R Hub Centric Spacers and bolts available here: http://www.automotion.com/catalogsea...R+wheel+spacer

Factory wheel bolts are 45mm so you will need 45mm + wheel spacer longer bolts. IE 45mm + 15mm spacer = 60mm bolt

BTW trial and error (and good advice from Speed Gallery) has proven that you really want the right size wheel bolts + maybe 6mm max. After that, you end up with the wheel bolt intruding into the space for the parking brake (in the rear).

The stock Porsche bolts are a BALL SEAT. Some aftermarket wheels use a CONE SEAT. Make sure you're using the right bolts!!!

OK just thumbed through the automotion catalog:

H&R DR Series wheel spacers:
909570 7mm
909571 14mm
909572 15mm
915346 23mm

Weltmeister Turbo star spacer:
910651 21mm

H&R DR Series Wheel Bolts (these are all ball seat bolts):
910261 52mm (for 7mm spacer)
910262 60mm (for 14 & 15mm spacer, these work fine for 7mm in my experience)
910268 68mm (for 21 and 23mm spacer)

Enjoy

 

Great thread Ari, thanks!

 

Went with these as well- nice kit through Vivid. Along with lowering and alignment makes for a mean stance.

 

Can anyone tell me the stock lug bolt thread pitch?

 

14 x 1.5 ball seat

 

Still Porsche shopping, but I flagged this for future reference. THANKS!!!

Great information

 

if you wanted to fit 996 gt3 wheels, could you roll the front fenders even more?

 

Great info, thanks for posting.

 

RSS also makes quality hub centric spacers that come with longer ball seat bolts. They also come in black.

 

ari, I love you right now. I have like 6 tabs open looking up different wheel spacers and bolts until I saw this lol. You should throw this link into the Knowledge base thread.



And also, repped.


edit: regarding the lug bolts, would these work?

http://www.amazon.com/German-Bolts-14mmx1-5-60mm-Shank/dp/B001F0C89U/ref=sr_1_1?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1308244683&sr= 1-1

Also, anyone know if there's bolt locks available for 60mm? Tried searching McGard but only came up w/ radius seat. Thanks.

 

Thanks for the info. This really helps with my C4S.

 

Very helpful thread as mentioned above. Thanks. Adding rep . Ordered from Damon at Tirerack... who was very helpful BTW, very swift transaction.

 

I'm thinking about getting some new wheels

I'm playing around with spacers beforehand to see what offset I like the look of

Can somebody help me with the various spacers that are available?

I've seen some have just five holes in them and are fitted with longer bolts
But some have studs pressed into them and the wheels are then held in place with nuts

Cargraphic, for example, have both types available

Are different types used for different thicknesses, or is there something else which impact this?

Thanks guys

 

We need to know the rim width and offset before recommending spacers.

It's always best to get wheels that don't need spacers, but given the fact the Porsche factory, RUF, etc... all use spacers it's more than safe to use them if properly fitted.

@ant_8u unless you need bigger than 23mm spacers, the lightest option is to get a spacer and longer bolts. IMO anything bigger than 23mm spacers and you're really overdoing the spacer deal. At some point you're just running the wrong wheels

 

BTW trial and error (and good advice from speed gallery) has proven that you really want the right size wheel bolts + maybe 6mm max. After that, you end up with the wheel bolt intruding into the space for the parking brake (in the rear).