Just had spacers installed by the local dealer at a not so cheap price. Specs are 997 C2S Cab with Classics. The spacers are H&R Track+ (7mm fronts and 14mm rears).

Prior to the installation of spacers, the car had zero issues, just about close to perfect. Had about 23kms on the odo and brought it in for its '30k' maintenance as the engine warning for routine maintenance countdown began.

As I said, no issues, no niggles, not even a rattle for crying out loud.

Thought it would be nice to have spacers installed, Service guy says they can install 7s and 14s as they had it in stock. Picked it up and looks great!

Problem is, at speed around 90km - 110km a noticeable wobble is translated to the steering wheel.

Brought it back in for correction, Service guy tells me that they tried different set of wheels/tires and the wobbling disappeared. But my contention was, my own wheels/tires never had a wobble prior to the spacers! Service guy insists that due to spacers, width increased and pronounced, thus, wobbling may be more apparent now.

They brought it to a tire balancer and said that tires need to be balanced BUT (with a big BUT) it won't eradicate the wobble. Huh??

His advice was to change my still decent tires to new ones...whoa...wait a minute, spend another $1000+ for a problem that never existed before???

Dealer by the way, is not willing to take back the spacers which they charged $955 installed!

I have yet to decide whether to change my tires which have a good 1.5 years left in them or do the wheel balance and alignment or just don't throw good money after bad and remove the spacers altogether.

I don't mind paying for "Porsche installed" mods to stay within the Porsche extended warranty rules...but couldn't they at least make it less of a head scratching experience?

Your valuable advice would be much appreciated.

Regards,

Slim

 

What a rip-off. A pair of spacers with bolts go for about $150 for the 14mm size, and less for the 7mm. There is virtually no labor to install them. If you can change a tire, you can install a spacer.

Since you feel this with the steering wheel, it sounds like the fronts are causing the problem. Not sure but I believe the 7mm spacers are not usually hub centric. In any case, why not just remove the front spacers and re-install the wheels again and see if the problem goes away? If the dealer installed longer studs for the spacers, he hopefully gave you back the standard ones to use without the spacers.

If this is the (only) dealer in your area that I've heard about, it doesn't surprise me.

BTW, I grew up in West Van. Love it and wish I could afford to move back.

Good luck with resolution.

 

you might want to check to make sure the spacers are seated on the hub correctly, and the rim seated correctly on the spacer. does the 7mm spacer have a small lip or no lip at all?

 

I would BET that the 7mm spacer has NO lip(mine do not)....and a centering ring IS needed for the wheel!


Stacy

 

Just to throw in something that may be obvious, but can still be overlooked. Did the dealer torque the bolts correctly?

 

That price is a total rip off...you should be able to buy the front and rear spacers close to 300.00....since I just did this install in 30 minutes that means dealer charged you a crapload for part itself or 700.00 for install on a 1/2 hr job...1 hr tops.

I would take the wheels off and remove and then re-install the spacers again...start over from scratch...if wobble doesnt go away I would take them off and sell them on ebay since they dont seem to be defective(according to your dealer anyway).

The fronts dont have lip(I used 5mm OEM) but rears do (I used 15 mm H & R).

Also, make sure you use those 2 small screws to attach to spacer to the hub and this aligns the bolt holes also.

 

As previously mentioned, centering rings may be the cause.

Any top of the line tire machine will tell you the runout on the rims AND tires. Often you can index (match high spot on tire to low spot on rim) and hide minor bends in rims.

Either way, it'll give you information to speak with the dealer about.

 

Before we all "blame" the spacers, I would say that an unbalanced wheel will become more pronounced with the spacers. If the tires have a lot of miles on them, they could probably be rebalanced. But heck, for the price they charged to "install" the spacers, they should have rebalanced your damn wheels. A hubcentric spacer is always better as well. I've seen hubcentric 7 mm spacers, but I have no idea about those particular H&Rs. If you love the spacers, I'd rebalance the wheels. Why a rebalance wouldn't solve the problem, yet new tires would, utterly baffles me.

 

Mine are H&R's and they have are NOT hub centric....


Stacy

 

Slim, did they supply longer bolts?

Have you tried removing the front ones only and test drive it? Then try the back ones?

I run 7+15mm on my car, have tracked it with the spacers, and have never had an issue! I live in Edgemont, and if you want to get together and have me take a look at them, let me know. I am not a mechanic, but have taken my wheels on and off too many times to count. I also have an extra set of OEM 19" wheels and tires that can be tried.

You could also take it to Weissach in Vancouver, or Scan in North Vancouver for a second opinion.

 

Something is definitely wrong.
You should get your wheels rebalanced, as there's a likely chance that:

-One or more of the wheel weighs fell of when doing the work if they were clumsy.
-The wheel that was on-car balanced for the driver's side is now on the passenger side, etc. This can have an impact with these cars, which have a tight suspension and very precise steering and handling. If it ran perfectly after a hi-speed on-car balance, and the wheels are now on the opposite sides, that could be it.
-Believe it or not, the locking bolt should be put back in the same spot it came out of, or the wheel balance can be impacted.
CATTMAN

 

Thanks all for your insightful responses.

To Keninirvine: the original/standard studs are in the box and will test it sans the spacers
To Idrvsio & 808c2s: dealer claims to have triple checked the seating and bolt torque
To Justatoy & Mact333 : unfortunately, my knowledge of and dexterity with things mechanical is very limited...might just take up NorthVan on his offer to eyeball the setup
To Atr911, Ryem3 & Cattman: yes, will have to bring this to an appropriate balance/alignment shop
To NorthVan: thanks for the offer, let me know when is a good time to link up via PM, in the meantime will also look to Scan or Weissach to provide a second opinion

Thanks again Guys for taking the time to post.

Cheers,

Slim

 

Now that is going above and beyond, kudos to you ED.

 

PM sent Slim