Awesome - saving the links until I get my ride.
Great look for a cheap mod!

Spacers make no direct difference to the camber.

They do slightly soften the suspension since the suspension arm is lengthened. The car will sit a little lower, so the camber will change a bit, but it's not something that you could notice.

When you look at the stress on the wheel bearings, you typically want the tire to overhang the bearings by an equal amount on both sides. This minimizes the moment in the axial direction of the axle. It basically reduces the force that wants to twist the bearing out of the race.

Assuming the tire is centered on the bearings stock, when you add a spacer, you add to this load. It will slowly wear more on the wheel bearings. The larger the spacer, the larger this load.

Is it significant? Probably not, but it is real.

Eomak,

I have a 2001 986 lowered with HR springs and my rear wheels are 18 x 10 et 65 and I run 21mm spacers in the rear.

I tried 15mm and 18mm first and I had issues with the strut hitting with those, the 21 work great for me. You will also need longer wheel bolts.

The wheel spacers can be both used aesthetically and necessary depending on the wheel you run. Aesthetically, they will push your wheels further out from the car and I think that looks better as it gives the appearance of filling up the wheel wells better. By necessary, my aftermarket Carrera lightweights have a different offset than stock Boxster wheels, so in order to get them pushed out far enough that the wheel doesn't hit a strut or anything else, I had to use spacers.

The long term effects on the suspension for me are yet to be determined.

Mike


http://i12.tinypic.com/30ji2hc.jpg

Mike,

What tire size are you running with these wheels? I just puchased a set of 18x10" turbo twist's ET65 but am planning on running a 265/35/18 and am wondering what spacer I will need.

Steve

I have 7mm in the front and 20mm in the back. Have tracked my car at 6 DE's and 1 AX with no problems. I use the H&R hubcentric on the back and really wouldn't trust anything else with that width. On my 911 I have 2" spacers on the front and 3" on the back, no problems so far. This was necesarry because of the wide body kit on the car. Strictly speaking spacers should make your car more stable on the track and in corners as the stance will be slightly wider.

Skinns101-I don't think you will have any problem at all with the 10's. I am pretty sure you can get by with 12mm spacers but I would get 15's to be sure. The car looks perfect with 15mm on the back in my opinion. I originally had 18" turbo twists with 15mm spacers and it worked fine, not sure what the offset is though. When I got my coilovers I went to 20mm as the tire only cleared the coilover by about 2mm.

i have 15mm up front w/ a 9.5" wheel.

i have 2 spacers in the back, 15mm on the outside, and a 5mm on the inside of the rotor. also a 9.5" wheel.

do spacers put extra wear on various parts? yes, but about as much as getting different wider wheels. it makes no difference if the wheel had the "spacer" built in or not. image if the spacer was a part of the wheel, vs. being a separate piece. same diff.

anything bigger than 5mm, and i would make sure it was hubcentric. not just for stability and making sure you get no road vibrations, but so that its easier to put wheels on the car.

ohh you will need longer bolts. OR. i put long studs on my car, so i have studs with bolts. similar to Japanese cars.

Me;12.5mm rear & 8's in front. Over 20 and your wheel bearings are going to start getting a workout.

I think a stock "S" has (or had) 5's all around.

Regards, PK

So, are the ones running spacers also lowered? I ask since I am considering spacers to bring the wheels out but if the car is not also lowered it seems that the gap at the top of the tire (in respect to the wheel well lip) will be more pronounced (?).

i want to add spacers to my wheels since i might not be buying new ones anymore...anyone know a good size spacer to run on an 02 box S with the 18" turbo wheels? I have no experience with spacers at all. What should i put on the front? rear? i want it for aesthetics, a nice look. you said 15mm looks the best but that sounds a bit big? plus i'm worried about what this guy below is saying, how it might pronounce the wheel gap instead of make it look less?

I'm a bit confused by the talk of wheel bearing failure due to wheel spacers. Wouldn't having the same wheels but with the "correct" offset have the same effect on wheel bearings? For example, my rear wheels have 50mm offset, but I need to run 15mm spacers to clear the shock tower. So wouldn't that be the same as running a wheel w/ a 65mm offset? But no one ever mentions running high offset wheels can affect wheel bearings. Is there something I'm missing?