Hi All,

So here's a couple of questions for you:

1- Does anyone know what size spacers are needed for stock 997.2 Turbo II wheels, front and back, to get that perfectly flush look?

2- Are there any downsides to doing this?

Thanks in advance for all your help.

Cheers,

Karim

 

1) 7mm front 15mm rear

2) No

 

++1 ^^^

 

Thanks guys!

 

Not so sure with those spacers sizes on the .2 guys. Especially not being lowered. The .2 has a noteably better stance with the stock rims than the .1. The rims on .2 def sit better/fuller in the guards. That was one of the first things I noticed when I first looked at the car. I think much more than the 5mm spacer kit will have the rims sitting a bit too far out. I could be wrong but id be personally wanting to see another stock .2 with stock ride heights using 15mm spacers on the rear first. Another thing is if you are pushing high speeds I think there will be a difference felt with the wheel being placed 15mm off centre. Desirably any extra width is shared equally on the inner and outer rim. I'm sure ive read that somewhere on these forums where someone used them on a 997s and had handling issues. I also note P doesn't recommend using any more than 5 mm as more than that on just one side of the rim and it places the wheel off centre of the bearing too far and changes things. Id check with P and see what they say. Vanity can sometimes come with a price.

 

Paul,

Just last week I had a chance to see any number of race cars and noticed (I wasn't specifically checking) that several were using spacers. I can't say how big the spacers were but using 5mm myself my impression was the spacers I saw were bigger than that.

On the track I use 5mm front and 15mm rear and never felt anything adverse from them. I have also run without them (albeit with different tires) and 'felt' that running with them was better. Very subjective and may have convinced myself that wider is better, but I'm sticking with the spacers.

BTW, I run 5mm front and rear on my street setup (larger 12" rear wheel).

Addendum: There is no doubt that having the proper offset is probably superior to adding spacers but we are talking about making do with what we have.

 

I hear you on that Barry and Im not saying spacers shouldnt be used however in Karims instance his is a .2 and, a .2 appears (to me anyway) to have a much fuller and proportionate wheel in gaurd look than what the .1 had with its stock wheels and, are pretty close to the max where they can go before the rims will be too far out. These turbos do bark up the bitumen too when you stand on the gas so kick stones onto the paint etc. Once you use coilovers and change the stance by lowering and alignment settings i would agree spacers can put the wheel back into the right postion in the gaurd so it looks aesthetically better. At stock ride heights if you use big spacers the car looks a bit silly imo and accentuates the ride height. I used my 5mm spacers when i had my stock rims and on the front and they were well and truly on the max so i ended up taking them off although in saying that i did have GT3 lfca's and a bit of extra neg camber on which put the base of the rim out a touch more. The top was the problem as the wheel was outside the gaurd by a bit and looked dumb. Even the dealer said it looked too "out there". Sure, the rears could have done with 10mm and none on the front but no more. 15 on rear would have been a bit too much for sure. P technical advised that when you use the spacers on the stock rims you should keep the spacer thickness the same front and rear....and pref no more than the 5mm..7mm would be max...hence why they offer only the 5mm kit. The 17mm rear spacers they had were used mainly for guys that wanted an offset turbo rim style to go on their narrow body so by adding the 17mm spacer it reinstated the offset back to 67 which was the right offset for that car. What guys use at the track and get away with is another story i would agree, but most of the big spacers ive seen are mainly being used on rims to correct offset issues associated to the non oem rims they are using. Im not advocating that anyone not use spacers either....as each rim fitment allows different options. But there are limits before you start adversly affecting various things. I noticed a slight difference with my 5 mms and i quite liked it. My Champion rf67's run stock offsets but are 11.5' on rear so i noticed they shared the 1/2 inch extra width either side to keep things right. My new offsets on the rear have placed the outer rim approx 9 mm further out and if i show you pics of my rears you definately wouldnt want them out any further....maybe a different story if i lowered it. They look perfect now tho. With Karims his rears look to have less to play with than a .1 JMO. From a technical aspect a rim should sit dead equal over the axis of the wheel bearing. A bit like balancing a set of scales. Move the weight just a touch one side and you will alter things. Ive seen a 997s with 17mm spacers on stock c2s rims all round that was lowered 30mm and it looked quite tough if not a touch out there but the guys said it tracked all over the place on anything but a billiard table road surface. But he liked the look....as i did also. Wouldnt do it to my own tho as i like a car to steer right. With a stock ride height it would have looked stupid though with those 17's.

 

Hey Paul, Barry,

Thank you very much for chiming in with your experience.
I guess what I can always do is experiment.

I can install the 7mm fronts and 15mm rears. If the look is not right or the handling suffers, I can try thinner spacers.

The problem even with the 997.2 is that the wheels are a bit too recessed into the body, hence, the need for spacers to adjust the look a bit, in my opinion.

On the other hand, I haven't seen any thread here with 997.2 guys doing the spacers thing on stock Turbo II rims. So it's gotta be a bit of a trial and error.

I think that going with a wider track look on stock ride height will actually give the car the illusion of a lowered stance too.

I will go ahead and do the trial and error thing. Fortunately, the spacers are not all that expensive and install here in Kuwait is peanuts.

Thanks for your continued support guys. As I've always said, you guys are elite!

 

What am I missing here? This seems so dead-bang obvious to me, so I must be missing something, but.....
1) Spacers constitute the worst kind of ADDED WEIGHT--UNSPRUNG!!!
2) Spacers are ADDED PARTS and so ADDED PROBLEMS
3) Spacers require longer, HEAVIER lug bolts (MORE UNSPRUNG WEIGHT)
4) Spacers screw up the most sensitive parts of "car-meets-road"
5) Do your homework. Get a VERY GOOD wheel manufacturer (there are several)
to build your wheels with PROPER OFFSETS.
6) Spacers=BIG OL' FLAT WASHERS. Would you use flat washers to mount wheels on
your wife's/kids car?

Go forth and speak no more of spacers.

I need a drink.

 

I bought a set of Techequipment Classic (Fuch) wheels for my 997.2. On my request, Wheelenhancement recommended 7MM Max on them rear and none on the front - and it was just enough for a nice subtle flush look. I carried over and installed the same 7MM on rear OEM Turbo 2 rim with none on the front as to me the front is quite nice. It looked perfect to me anyway. They did not recommend anything more than 7mm. My kick at the can.

 

IIRC, the GT3RS comes from the factory with 5mm spacers in the rear with its 12 inch wheel.

 

As does the GT2.

 

Everyone who is obsessed about unsprung weight better be running PCCB's because you'll save more weight there than anyplace else. Spacers and longer bolts may add a pound to each wheel. There's more weight variance in different tires than that.

Spacers done properly don't screw up anything. Widening the track actually lowers the CoG of the car, although from a practical standpoint it is almost immeasurable.

Everything has trade-offs. Spacers are no different but they are not as evil as some make them out to be.

 

Earlier I misspoke on the spacer size I use. When I said 5mm, I meant 7mm.

So it's 7mm/15mm on stock .1 wheels, and 7mm/7mm on the 12" GT2 wheels.

 

Spacers...disasters in waiting......
If you must..
Please purchase a wider wheel!!!!