Wheel spacers on an '87 Carrera

[GSpreeman]

Can I put on wheel spacers without fear of wrecking the tires on the fender wells? My car is completely stock except the PO had the front end lowered by 2".

[JDaniel]

Probably... What size tires are you running, wheels, and of course how thick are the spacers?

[expat]

My 87 has stock wheels and tyres, no fender rolling.
On the rear I have 22mm spacers (could have probably gone to 25-27mm) but I like the look of the 22mm just fine. The front is lowered too and I have been disinterested in spacers there due to concern over spacing but I reckon without fender rolling I've got maybe 10mm with no drama/

Here's a picture


Cheers
Mark

[Don Plumley]

My '87 has 21mm H+R spacers in the rear and plain 1/4" shims in the front. Photos here.

Nothing rubbing.

[FishExpat]

You are going to want to mount these and test rotate the tires first for the fronts.

I put 7.5 x 17 Cup wheels on the fronts adn 17 x 9 on the rears.

Rears and front right have no problem---front left is another story.

On the first hard right turn, I heard this loud vibration grinding sound coming from the front, only to realize it was my fender rubbingon the brand new Continental Sport Contact tire (205/50/17). Arrrrrggggggg. I am still trying to roll the fender to avoid contact. The body shop I talked to would not guarantee that rolling the fender would not crack the paint, so I figured I could crack the paint for free instead of paying them $$ to do it.

Just my $0.02......

[Eric Coffey]

I am running 28mm rear (H&R) spacers without rolled fenders, using the stock 7 x 16 Fuchs, and have had zero problems.

[Epster77]

For those of you who have added spacers,, did you notice am improvement in the ride or a decline in handling, I am just curious because it looks great when you fill in the wheel well

[expat]

Personally can't say I've noticed ANY differences other than cosmetic. Some advice will say you might be putting more load on the w/bearings (not sure about this...maybe do a search). I'm not terribly adept at noticing the small changes some others might. I feel my car understeers heaps (with and without spacers) so I've got other problems I suspect.

I put some new tie rod ends from a Mercedes Benz (amazing how much Benz stuff fits a Porsche! and a gazillion times cheaper!) and my steering lightened up heaps so I'll be ordering new turbo rods from Pelican in a few weeks. This is the first change I've made that I really noticed.

Just 2c from a hack

Cheers
Mark

[adamnitti]

jimmy, i have 16x7.5's in the front and 16x9's in the rear on my '85. the handling is definitely better, but the ride feels much stiffer, for some reason. i feel the bumps more with my bigger wheels. it doesn't really bother me, but someone looking for the 'cushy-cushy' might not be as satisfied.

btw, i see you are also in atlanta. what part of town are you in?

[Epster77]

Hey Adam,
Thanks for the input.
I live in Marietta,,,,how 'bout you??

[adamnitti]

jimmy, i'm in lilburn. email me if you ever want to hook up to see my wheel/spacer setup.

ajnitti@mindspring.com