New 928 Owner: Wheel Offset Question

[CJFusco]

Hi all -- longtime Pelicans might recognize my screenname: I used to post here all the time when I had my 944 and 951. Anyhow, I recently bought a 1983 928S to keep my 2007 987 Cayman S company in the garage. I'm in the process of getting it sorted out -- it's cosmetically a very nice car, but has a small handful of mechanical needs.

One of my first priorities is sorting out the wheels on the car. Eventually, I want to find a set of original-equipment flat dishes ("manhole covers") for the car. It currently has 986 Boxster wheels... which appear to have the wrong offset (the center caps won't fit onto the front wheels). In the meantime, I was thinking that spacers on the front would at least be a temporary solution to the wheel offset situation. I know that spacers aren't a perfect solution, but I figured it's better than driving around on wheels with the wrong offset!

I want to make sure that my info is correct here.
Original equipment: 16x7" ET65
I believe the wheels on there (correct me if I'm wrong) are:
Part# 986.362.124.00 17x7" ET55

If so, then 10mm spacers would bring the wheels to the correct offset, yes? I'm a bit hesitant, as the front wheels pretty much fill out the wheel well as it is. Advice welcome.

[CJFusco]

I'm hearing from some other online sources that the wheels I have on there are already the equivalent of having 10mm spacers on the car, and to bring it to the correct offset, I'd have to space the wheels IN (which is obviously impossible). Is this correct?

[husker boxster]

Beautiful shark.

Here's a video that does a nice job of explaining 'negative offset' and how to solve it.

https://youtu.be/bRcfNjodLA4

[76FJ55]

Originally Posted by CJFusco

I'm hearing from some other online sources that the wheels I have on there are already the equivalent of having 10mm spacers on the car, and to bring it to the correct offset, I'd have to space the wheels IN (which is obviously impossible). Is this correct?

That is correct. you would need a negative spacer to get the wheels where they should be. run them like they are until you have the opportunity to pick up a set of manhole covers. For reference the fronts are all the same (16x7et65), but in 87 with the introduction of the S4 rear manhole covers picked up an additional 1" on the outboard side, aso are 16x8et52.3. You can mount the S4 rear wheels on an early car with no issue. the challenge with the 8" rear is the correct tire size of 245/45-16 is getting pretty limited.