I see that there are some Wheel Spacers available now For The Cayman/Boxster .what is the a Purpose of these ? Cosmetic Only? Does anyone have them on their car so I can see the Difference. Thanks

 

they increases the width of the car's tire footprint, increasing lateral stability. Of course its only between 5mm per side and 20mm per side.

Also it does look more aggressive. If you have lots of negative camber (like on a track car) the car looks weird without spacers, because the top of the tires are really deep inside the fender line.

If you add spacers of upto 7mm, you have to get longer wheel bolts. If you go thicker than 7mm, you have to change the wheel bolts to studs.

 

Ok That is great Info thanks so much . Boothe Design has a 10MM spacers and the new Lugs to go with it .I am getting 19" Staggerd wheels on my car with low profile tires and Lowering with H&R Springs . Will that help the look ? I have seen the wheels I am getting on another car and there is considerable camber

 

You Car looks great . I really like all the mods you have done (all performance related) do you do all the work yourself?

 

A dissenting view.....

I'm not a big fan of spacers for the following reasons
- they put more stress on the bearings
- they can cause balance issues
- they add to unsprung weight

There is a reason race teams don't put spacers on their race cars.......

If you want to move the wheels/tires out, a superior solution is to get new wheels with more aggressive offsets.

 

The camber I am talking about is from the alignment set-up, not the wheels. On my track car I have set the camber to -3 degrees. If its a street car, you will want to set the camber to nearer to zero to have good highway performance and to extend your tire life. I do have a street CaymanS and do have the camber set to -1 degree.

On my track car, with my suspension, racing wheels, tires, I was unable to use more than 7mm spacers, without getting tire rub on the fender. But I also run 275 street tires and 285 track tires. You really have to try the spacers with the wheels and tires you get.

I am not the mechanic, but I do understand the most of the suspension, as least from the point of view of a track driver. I was not able to squeeze my complete list of mods into my signature. I have focused on cornering performance, weight and engine reliability, rather than HP. The car is pretty fast at the corner exits that people are surprised at the straightaway speeds.

 

Lets think about that......
The 7mm RUF spacers that I installed weigh about 6oz each.
Putting a passenger in the car causes more of a balance issue.
If racing in class, might not be able to modify the suspension width.

Agressive wheel offsets move the tire out and then put the same stress on the bearings as spacers. (no differance)
Agressive wheel offsets change the "balance" of the car by moving the tires out, just like spacers. (No differance)

 

wow... some stuff needs to be cleared up here....


Most of the time spacers are used to compensate for wheel offsets that do mach your carriers. Other times they are used for cosmetics... wether they help performance by widening your track is negotiable. They do add UNSPRUNG weight... which is considerable... even that 6 ounces makes a difference because it is not supported by your suspension. Wether small spacers (<15mm or so) put unwanted stress on your bearings is really up in the air, but theoretically if you throw on a huge spacer you could do damage. FWIW some Porsches come from the factory with spacers as OE. Race teams don't use spacers because they have the funds to have custom wheels made to their offsets... although some club racers use spacers and have no problems... I have 15mm spacers in the rear and 5mm in the front, but thats mainly to not rub my 245 width tires in the front and to miss the spring perch in the rear... I have not had a bearing fail in over 2000 or so track miles... Im sure you can also find spacers cheaper than boothe design... try H&R...

 

Easyc,
I was trying to say that bearings wear from a spacer is not a factor.

BUT, The weight added by a small spacer is also not a factor either.
6oz from a 7mm spacer is VERY little. You shed more weight from wearing down the brake pads, rotors and tires. Compare the weight of the spacer to nearly 100 pounds of unspung weight on each corner from the wheel carrier, wheel, tire, rotors, calipers, brake pads, arms, bushings, etc.

 

I was kinda responding to everyone at one time... I see that you agree with me about the bearings, but spacers are rotating... Im not a mechanical engineer, but Ive read that 1lb of rotating unsprung mass is equal to 10 lbs of sprung mass when you are talking about acceleration. So... for arguments sake a 6oz spacer on all four corners with say 2oz of increase weight from longer bolts would be the equivalent of 20lbs of sprung weight. 20lbs isn't insignificant... its equal to a lightweight battery, lighter exhaust, or sometimes a new light weight seat...I agree with you the number is insignificant when compared to wheels and tires (not so much break pad wear), but wheels should be the first place you look when trying to shed weight.


The deal is though that Cayman GT is never probably going to have to care in the difference, and his only concern is going to fit and cosmetics when concerned to spacers...

 

So you are adding 1.5 lbs to your unsprung weight (not including the weight of the longer wheels bolts). Is there any positive benefit to increasing unsprung weight?

True. My point was versus no spacers, more stress.

You missed my point.

The "balance" issues I refer to are in the overall wheel/tire balance. The spacer must be perfectly balanced and perfectly centered or it can affect the balance if the wheel.

What great benefit do you get by installing a hunk of metal in between the wheel and the brakes that you can't get in a better way by just changing the offset of your wheels.

Spacers may be a cheap solution to moving your wheels outward but they are not a particulalry elegant solution. That is why pro race teams would never use them.

I stand by my comments. We will have to agree to disagree.

 

A lot of race teams use spacers.

(Of course always better if you can get the wheel offsets to match perfectly but go for spacers if needed)

 

i used 8 mm spacers on my rears of the boxster so the offset 19's could clear the shocks. we put them on the 996 as well for aesthetics....to bump out the look a bit. gotta love that wide body look! =)