Strange discovery...

Just finished installing PSS9s and to my bewilderment the front wheels (8.5x18 with 52mm offset) won't go back on the car . The back of the tire touches the strut. This was not an issue when running stock struts with H&R springs. I'm guessing the only option, short of buying a set of new wheels, is to run 17mm spacers? Does that sound right?

17mm on the front? that definately won't work.. i have 5mm on the front with 18x8.5" and 1 more mm and it'd stick out.. and look really really bad..

I had the same issue when mounting BBS 18x8.5 wheels on the front of my car. The inner wheel lip rubbed against the adjustable spring plate. I first put on a 10 mm spacer, but I didn't like how the car felt. We solved the issue by cutting off the helper spring and moving up spring plate upwards. We had to tie the main spring to the tower.

It'd be a shame to bastardize a perfectly good set of pss9s. How did you tie the main spring to the tower? Also, where did you find 10mm spacers? Closest I found for a 996 are either H&R 14mm or OEM 5 and 17mm...

Make sure you have the right shocks, everything should clear.

Drill. Zip ties. The helper springs are now being used as pen holders. Can't tell you where I got spacers as my mechanic let me borrow them for a couple of weeks.

what are the stock front and rear offsets.

Chris, These are correct, as they came of another 996...

Ruf makes 10mm spacers......I think.

i'm looking to do coilovers on my car too. i have 19's. what offsets are a safe bet. right now i'm running: 19x8.5 ET 40 19x10.5 ET 52 based on this, should mine clear the new suspension pieces?

Insteresting. Thanks for posting this. Surely would help future members looking on the same mod

not sure i understand Tying the main springs to the tower? you mean just remove the helpers and move the mains up to achieve ride height, right? the springs would still set in the upper mounts the lowers would be threaded up to replace the tenders and the divider piece eliminated. The PSS-9's came off of my car - but i was running 8"s and did not have this issue even at extremely low ride height settings.

May have to scale down to 19x8s...

Eli - H&R has spacers in 7 & 14mm +++ Chassis Bolt Pattern Center Bore Bolt/Stud Thread Type Spacer Type Width Notes Part Number Sug. Retail Coupe, Cabrio, Targa 5/130 71.6 Bolt 14x1.5 DR 7mm 3 7 14957161 $ 58.95 Pair DR 14mm 3 7 28957161 $ 95.00 Pair DR 15mm 3 7 30957161 $ 95.00 Pair DR 18mm 3 7 36957161 $ 99.95 Pair DR 23mm 3 7 46957161 $ 99.95 Pair

Ralph Boothe has any and all sizes of spacers, I have a set of 6mm that I use for my snow tires and rims.

I think I was one of the first to have this problem with re's 8.5. It's the offset. We had to run something like a 15mm spacer to make them clear. The result was terrible. I ended up having wheel enhancement trade my wheels back for a set of 02 5 spokes which cleared the pss9's. This is because I made the purchase of the re's expressly conditional on them clearing the pss9's. I now have a set of 02 take off's with no problem. The old gt3 wheels - sport classic 2's also have the proper offset and clear. That is what I had for a while as loaners, plus a set of stock 17's for a bit also. I was Pissed to say the least as I loved the bbs. It is a really bad design to not only make one offset, but one which will not clear a forseeable aftermarket suspension. The lame thing also was that this should have been a known problem when I bought the rims, and I should have not only been told about it but steering towards something that would work after the pss9's were installed.

I'm installing PSS9s on an 02 cab I just bought next week and plan to buy new wheels soon after. Does anyone know the max possible backspacing or the max offset with 8.5 inch wheels that will work? I'd hate to make the same mistake. Thanks, Jim

i just contacted cargraphic. they make my wheels. my pss9's are going on an 02 cab too. they said my front wheels 8.5x19 et40 should fit fine. one of the peopel at cargraphic has an 02 cab with the same wheels and she is running some very agressive cargraphic coilovers with no problems.

I hope your right... It sounds like a design of the PSS9 coilovers... It does not matter if PB is running cargraphic coilovers, they may not be of the same design which caused the problem above. You would expect maybe rubbing issues due to lowering.. This does not seem to be because of lowering. Maybe your offsets will work fine..

this particular problem appears to more in the offset of the original poster's wheel. erik at cargraphic said that the offsets on their wheels are specifically designed to have enough clearance for aftermarket suspensions. one thing that puzzles me is that the stock springs are much larger (ie wider) than the the coilover setups. you would think that coilovers would fine unless the wheel offset was way out of wack.

gary: by the way, i read kpv's post the on the pss9's. he had problems because his car was "slammed". granted, they should have told him that they're not designed for an agressive drop, but his problems were result of his setup, not the kit. bilstein recommends a max drop of 35mm on the front and 25mm on the rear. there is probably a little wiggle room for a little more drop, but that is their recommended operating range.

The problem is not with the offset but with the width of the wheel. Regardless of the offset, if the wheel is 8.5 the back part is going to rub against the perch. If you increase the offset, the same 8.5 wheel will only protrude further out from under the fender lip, which would be an equivalent of adding a spacer...

then it's an offset problem then, right? are your wheels sticking out the fender well now, or there is a few mm of room where the offset could have been moved out some so the wheel would clear the perch? the offset on my 8.5" wheels is et40 and yours is et52. granted, i am no expert and i may have this backwards, but does't that mean my wheels are pushed out more?

The mounting center is pushed out more, not the wheel itself. The wheel is still 8.5 inches. If with et40 offset your wheel is sitting flush, hypothetically speaking, increasing ONLY the offset to et50+ (which is impossible) will only push the center part further out, without effecting the placement of the outer lip....

doesn't the where the hub sits in relation to the center line of the wheel itself directly affect how far in or out the wheel lip will be in relation to the fender or your suspension? again, i may be oversimplifying this, but if the wheel hub was closer to the brake side of the wheel, wouldn't this push the inside wheel lip out and create more clearance for your suspension?

Given the width of the wheel is static (8.5) increasing the offset (et40 to et 52) will move the outer lip inward (away from the fender) and will move the inner lip inward (closer to the damper). Does that make sense? Spacers reduce offset.

Thanks for the SIMPLE explanation Jim...I completely fudged it up in my post.

well, if that's the case i'm screwed. if my 8.5" wheel has an offset of et52, that means my lip is almost a half inch closer to the brakes/suspension than his setup. i guess my pss9's don't have a prayer of fitting then i'm not sure if the fact that my wheels are 19" will help any. i doubt it. i wonder why it doesn't rub on my stock lowered suspension since it is much larger than the coilover setups?

i'm such a waterhead my front et is 40 and my rear is 52. anyway.... i got it backwards. his 8.5 front wheels have an offset of 52. mine have an offset of 40. that means i have a half inch more clearance than this wheels, right?

I know why he had a problem I learned to read a long time ago.. They never said anything about 35mm or 25mm at that time.. So his problem was a result of the kit.. The fact that they now tell you what to lower it too, solved their problem with their kit.. Either way, wtf's the difference... and really WGAS.... Your becoming like 1999... I can show you posts where you were on the other side of the fence with putting PSS9's on your car after talking to Bilstein... and arguing that they should not be on a cab period. Who's putting them on for you? Happy PSS9's

I think this puts you tighter inside the wheel well. Using a 12mm spacer should solve the problem, as the wheel will be flush with the outer lip of the fender, just as mine was b4 PSS9 install

Actually a wheel with an offset of et40 has 12mm more room between the wheel and the damper than a wheel with an offset of et52. Adding a 12mm spacer to an et40 wheel would effectively change the offset to et28. I think.

Yep, this is correct. This should help with visualizing offsets: http://www.tirerack.com/wheels/tech/...jsp?techid=101

Thanks. Brain fart.

hey there gary, play nice.... i'm allowed to change my mind. i help you mount your new plasma and this is what i get????

You call that mount??? and yes, Luis and I were talking and you are kind of a "woman" at times.. So you are entitled to change your mind....

luis calling me a woman? isn't he the same guy that borrows his wife's shirts when the laundry gets low?

hey jim, i have 18x8.5 kinesis k18 with 40mm offset & no rubbing against the motons/springs or the fenders. i assume the PSS9s use the same diameter springs. i do get some rubbing on max steering lock with the 245/40 tires against the plastic fender liner but no biggie my sportec 19x8 street wheels came with 7mm spacers effectively making them 43mm offset. i tried it without the spacers and it rubs.

motons, you baller looks like i should be safe with my wheels then since you are running the same offset, provided everything else is the same. i have 245's too and have the same rubbing sometimes at full lock.

my kinesis 18x8.5 ET40mm fit without rubbing the fenders NOR the springs. i do have the maximum camber up front -1.5 degrees. it's not super aggressive but it helps.

i'll have to thank JimB for the motons . you must have missed his fire sale

Carlos, I used 9 inch Jongbloeds with the Motons with no problem. From reading the earlier posts it sounds like its the adjustable spring ring on the PSS9s that causes the problem. I looked at them tonight and they don't seem to stick out more than any other spring. I plan to try my race wheels on the cab once I get the PSS9s on. That should tell me what offset I can get by with. Thanks for the info. Jim

apparently i did. due to my budget i had to go with the ever so getto pss9's that all the common folk are running