I was looking to put wheel spacers on my '00 C4 with sport design wheels. Has anyone tried this before? Any experience with the H&R Spacers? How large can I go in the front and the rear? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Specificall looking at the H&R DR series:
7mm for fronts
14-15mm for rears
What size bolts would I need?


Thanks in advance...

 

The proper size wheel bolts for a 7mm spacer is 38mm and the 15mm spacer needs a 46mm custom made wheel bolt. I think boothe design just might have some of those.

 

Most experts tend not to recommend any spacers more than 5-7mm because of the stress that having the wheels so far out from the hubs creates on the wheel bolts and hub bearings. I have read so many posts from guys with 10-15mm spacers that have had wheel bolts strip out in the hub, and have had hub bearing failures. You also will wreck havoc in realigning the wheels.

Porsche does not offer any spacers wider than 7mm for front or rear.

IMHO spacers are better left to 62 chebies with 13" whitewalls.

 

WRONG, WRONG, WRONG, ORIENT EXPRESS. I showed PORSCHE our spacer/adapters at their invitation. Their written reply was that they WOULD NEVER approve adapers. Did you notice that they became O.E.M. equipment on the 1997 993 Porsche? They are still sold by PORSCHE ever since. Did you also not notice that the 930 TURBOS had spacers on all four corners. The most prominent "Go Fast Engine Builder" in the world, said that he had no quarrel with using spacers. We make from 4mm spacers to 3 inches for all applications of wheel swapping and performance. Hope this clarifies your misunderstanding of the function of spacers.

 

But, my point is that it is not prudent nor recommended to use a spacer thicker than 7mm on a 996 hub because of the stress to the bolts (thread failure at the hub) and hub bearing failure. Porsche agrees and does not offer spacers and bolts thicker than 5mm to the general public.

If the goal is to put wider rims on the car, then the rim should have the proper offset. If the goal is to simply stick the wheels out further from the centerline of the car, then thicker spacers can be used with the understanding that the integrity of the wheel/hub/bearing interface and alignment/handling will be compromised.

With that said, it can also be said that a sucker is born every minute, and there is always a market for this sort of thing, which in turn creates work for people to manufacture and sell them, for mechanics to install them, and other mechanics to repair the damage caused by them. From the defensive tone of your post, it appears that your business may market this sort of product, which is fine. In the end everybody takes the suckers money.