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I had significant problems with vibration when driving my 2003 Boxter S after I put 15mm spacers in the front and 23mm spacers in the rear with NEW chrome Victor Equipment Turismo wheels.
Here's what I initially discovered: The tires were not balanced correctly on the wheels. Once I had the tires balanced correctly, the car was vibration free up to 80mph. Faster than 80mph, vibrations would return again, big time, the faster you would accelerate or just cruise. This was very annoying!
After reading for several hours on the internet about spacers, vibration, tire inflation pressure, etc., I decided to try a few more techniques that I learned before either giving up or investing in more exotic remedies.
The first thing I did was to remove all four wheels and make sure there was no debri on either the wheels or the mounting surfaces. I actually used steel wool to clean the mounting surfaces on both the wheels and hubs, bringing them to a nice shine.
Next, I followed the advice I had read about mounting the wheels and the spacers. More specifically, what was recommended was as follows: While the car is on the jack and completely off the floor, tighten the wheels and spacers to the hubs in a "STAR" pattern. (Do NOT mount them in an arbitrary or random manner!) Next, lower the car partially, or just enough so that the wheels don't turn when you tighten the bolts a bit more. Once that's done, go ahead and lower the car completely and finish up tightening the bolts to specs (I tightened my bolts to 96 foot pounds). Maintain tightening the bolts in a "STAR" pattern throughout the mounting process.
Lastly, I inflated my front tires to 35lbs and rear to 45lbs. (I realize there are many opinions of tire inflation levels, however, this worked great for me!) When I went on my test drive, I was ecstatic! No more vibrations, AT ALL!!! There were no vibrations at low or very high speeds. No vibrations cornering, braking or accelerating. It was as if I were one with my car again. That was a great feeling! I hope sharing my experience will prove useful to someone else who, like me, felt helpless and hopeless with unwanted vibrations after adding spacers to their Porsche.
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