Wheel Spacers - What Have I Got ?

[sundayjumper]

Picked up some s/h 5mm spacers to try out on my car but having tried them I think they're for a more specific application where they're mounted between hub & disc. Here's a photo of each side of one of them:





The weathering on the first pic matches exactly with the shape of the hub flange. The other side is all clean - it clearly has not been up against the back of a wheel. The o/d is slightly smaller than the face of the disc where the wheel sits so I tried them inside a spare brake disc and they fit perfectly. They have concentric grooves around the main holes just like the discs do. They also have the four smaller holes like the brake disc has - two countersunk for mounting, two threaded for (I assume) removal by using jacking screws. They're steel and seem quite well made.

So what are these meant to be used for ? To make discs from a different vehicle fit ?? I'm hoping they're rare and priceless...

[DT398]

I thought they simply sit on the inner face of the alloy when you bolt them to the hub, so that the wheels fill the arches a bit more. It's subtle but it does make a difference if you look at side by side cars.

[s_mcneil]

Look ok to me, including the recessed grub screw hole for securing to brake disc.

[David Hype]

These do not look like the Porsche `Distanzring` therefore they are probably aftermarket spacers. Of the two countersunk holes, these are used to mount the spacer to your hub. Just remove the two countersunk screws from your hub and get two longer ones from Porsche (or your favoured suppier)line them up and screw the spacers on.

You will need longer wheel bolts too and a set of longer locking wheel bolt to prevent them being stolen. They will give you a more agressive stance and possibly improve your cars handling if you get everything set-up to reflect the changes.

HTH

Edited by David Hype on Sunday 24th March 22:19

[sundayjumper]

Thanks guys, but I do know how a spacer works

What I was trying to get across is that these ones are designed to be (and clearly have been) mounted behind the disc. It would mess up the brake alignment if I fitted them to my car like that so there must be a specific situation where you'd use these. I'm not planning on keeping them and just wanted to be able to descibe them accurately.

[_gez_]

There is difference in height between 2wd and 4wd front brake hats but its not 5mm, more like 2mm. I'm talking about 996s. So, I have no idea what they could be for.

[Wozy68]

sundayjumper said:

Thanks guys, but I do know how a spacer works

What I was trying to get across is that these ones are designed to be (and clearly have been) mounted behind the disc. It would mess up the brake alignment if I fitted them to my car like that so there must be a specific situation where you'd use these. I'm not planning on keeping them and just wanted to be able to descibe them accurately.

Behind the disk? In the first picture it has the dust/wear outline of the inner face of a cup2 wheel iMO

[sundayjumper]

Wozy68 said:

In the first picture it has the dust/wear outline of the inner face of a cup2 wheel iMO

Got a pic of some Cup 2s ? Looks to me like they would leave five even "pads" where they touch the hub:



Whereas a hub looks like this:



Which matches the marks on the spacers.

[Ian_UK1]

sundayjumper said:

Picked up some s/h 5mm spacers to try out on my car but having tried them I think they're for a more specific application where they're mounted between hub & disc. Here's a photo of each side of one of them:





The weathering on the first pic matches exactly with the shape of the hub flange. The other side is all clean - it clearly has not been up against the back of a wheel. The o/d is slightly smaller than the face of the disc where the wheel sits so I tried them inside a spare brake disc and they fit perfectly. They have concentric grooves around the main holes just like the discs do. They also have the four smaller holes like the brake disc has - two countersunk for mounting, two threaded for (I assume) removal by using jacking screws. They're steel and seem quite well made.

So what are these meant to be used for ? To make discs from a different vehicle fit ?? I'm hoping they're rare and priceless...

All I can think of that would make sense is if these 'behind-the-disk' spacers were used to make standard disks line-up with non-standard calipers that have a different offset from the hubs.

Could someone, for example, have had a car with PCCBs and decided they wanted to use cast iron disks again for cost (or other) reasons? Maybe the spacer was required to get the standard, iron disk to line up centrally in the PCCB caliper? Or maybe it's part of an aftermarket brake upgrade that also requires different disk offsets to work correctly?

ETA - Or some f-wit just fitted them wrongly and had the world's worst brakes afterwards!!

[Bennachie]

Probably the latter.......

[Wozy68]

sundayjumper said:

Got a pic of some Cup 2s ? Looks to me like they would leave five even "pads" where they touch the hub:



Whereas a hub looks like this:



Which matches the marks on the spacers.

Stand corrected. Small IPhone screen and too much Sangria makes a Porsche fan a fool.

[sundayjumper]

Ian_UK1 said:

ETA - Or some f-wit just fitted them wrongly and had the world's worst brakes afterwards!!

I was hoping that anyone dismantling the brakes on a Porsche would have some clue about how to put them back together properly, but you do have a point unfortunately...