Woody's build thread

[BruceH]

Originally Posted by itsnotanova

I weighed the rear wheels of all my wheels with tires.
The factory 987 17 inch wheel/tire 45#
The black knock off 18 inch wheel/tire 55#
The arena red knock off 19 inch wheel/tire 60#

That is a huge difference! No wonder you felt the difference, time to find something lighter I do still like the looks, but looks aren't everything

[itsnotanova]

I wouldn't be too afraid of wheel spacer. I've had good luck with them in the past and didn't have anything go wrong. I had a set of wheel spacers on a Chevy Malibu that I had turned into a pro-touring beast. 355hp, 405 ftlbs, under 3000lbs and tubular suspension. I had 3 inch spacers on the back of that car and I use to beat the tar out of it. I completely F'd up on the boxster and shouldn't have done the things I did. I got those spacers/lug bolts off a Boxster that I had dismantled. Whoever put them on that boxster used liquid nail or something similar. I used a putty knife and tapped it with a hammer to get them off. Yes using no spacer is better than using one but I wouldn't hesitate to use spacers if you need to. Just don't be a dumbass like me. Nothing wrong with spacers. Heck even Ford uses 4-6 inch spacers to turn their front Dana 60 single axle into a dual rear wheel axle to use on one ton trucks.

[78F350]

... I was considering buying cheap spacers and lugs for my Carrera wheels, but you talked me out of it. ...

Originally Posted by itsnotanova

I wouldn't be too afraid of wheel spacer. I've had good luck with them in the past and didn't have anything go wrong. ...

Right, I didn't mean not to use spacers. I meant that I had been thinking of using the cheapest ones I could find on eBay that fit. Now I realize that material and design of the spacer and lugs really does matter.

[Nine8Six]

Originally Posted by 78F350

Now I realize that material and design of the spacer and lugs really does matter.

^ Correct. My 2cents RE spacers:

I actually make those “custom” for teams and other track cars here (not only Porsche) and have a little business going on in JP also. We get orders in the 13mm spacers as much as we get them in the 18mm and do custom adapters also. For info the Porsche wheel hub assembly tolerance is /-0.05mm (concentricity and parallelism, from factory of course). I know… hard to believe. Go ask them they’ll confirm that with pride (it’s a Porsche you have Sir!).

So when your friend Markus tells you, no paint, no dirt, get rid of the rust, etc… he is NOT joking. If they are not installed ‘permanently’ flat then both the wheel and your safety will soon be compromised. Although I don’t see Woody’s silicon being the main culprit in his little adventure. I mean look at the spacer; no hub support (floating?!), open PCD, and possibly the wrong alloy, silicon or not my guess is they would eventually have brought in trouble (Asia rocks for other things, not Porsche spacers!).

So when you’ll be out to score wheel spacers, buy them from those who knows what they are doing lolll H&R in Germany for instance, they are two others that I know who also machine theirs within TOL and uses the correct 7075 alloy mix. No comments for the rest of the manufacturers… we’ve actually seen quite a few actually. Illegal s h i t e I tell ya lollll

RE materials; we have to import ours from Austria here as the local 7075’hardness is literally near the same as the 6061 grades anodized/heat treated or not. No Go for “performance” spacers. The local stuff simply deforms & compresses. Use local grades alloy and you’ll have to re-torque your wheels every bloody weeks simple as that.

So… you see. Nothing is simple :/ You’d think a spacer is just a silly dumb plate and bahh it’ll work man. Possibly just fine for cruising down the neighborhood, going to buy some milk at the store etc (I actually agree) but the reality is its not always like that, one day you’ll need to maneuver that Porsche car and its at that moment that you and your passenger will appreciate your properly engineered and machined spacers.

Keep away from Asian spacers (please, folks)

wheel spacers

[Nine8Six]

Nearly forgot, anything thicker than 10mm needs to be hub centric (to tolerance also loll). I.e. the orange highlight in the following grab

No No floating thick style spacers folks



ps: I'd really like to market those but it is near impossible to compete with those in the industry already. When you account from sml qty material imports and custom precision machining, they end up costing an harm and leg Maybe one day if we have to make 100+ pairs then prices may get a tad better, until then, we cave here lolll (custom orders only)

[scoper]

I lost a wheel in similar fashion back in the day. Used the wrong lug nuts on a '77 Celica, retrieved the wheel and took 1 lug off each of the other wheels to limp home!