Wheel spacers on track

I recently purchased a 1999 996 and I'm looking at purchasing a set of aftermarket wheels (18 x 8 & 10's) for use on DE track days. The fronts would require spacer's. Does anyone know if using spacers on the track is safe?

Welcome to the board and congrats on your new 996. Please become a contributing member. It will be well worth the money. How big of a spacer do you need? 5mm is no problem. 7mm is probably ok. Anything larger I would stay away from. You will need longer wheel bolts with any spacers. If you haven't bought the wheels yet I would look for ones that fit without spacers. They are a pain at the track where you tend to mount and unmount wheels quite often. Jim

Everything that JimB said, I second that. Be sure to get the proper studs or lug bolts that are correct length. Chad

You may want to consider using 17" wheels for the track. They will give more torque out of the turns. Look for used Porsche wheels, there are plenty to be had as most owners swap out the stock wheels for bigger wheels.

I have the 5MM spacer kit from Porsche and it is perfect in the amount of offset delta I wanted as well as no issues with vibration, etc. THe kit includes 4 spacer, 16 longer bolts, 4 longer wheel locks. BTW, I track my car quite often.

I'm not going to jump into the 17 vs 18 inch argument except to say eveyone I know that races a 996 does it on 18s. That includes cup cars and R/RS/RSRs. The only exception that I can think of are the Grand Am Cup 996s that are required to run a spec 17 inch front Hoosier. They use 18s in back. I assume that dhealy has already found a set of wheels he wants to buy. I'm guessing they are off a 993 if they need front spacers. If they are a great deal, go for it. If they are just an ok deal I still say you are better off finding the right offset for your car. I would also look for 8.5/10.5x18 but 8s and 10s will work fine.

Thanks for the information. Used to have a 85 Carrera that I DE'd quite a bit, but never had to worry about using spacer's before - so this is all new to me. The wheels I've been looking at were from a company called Highline wheels in Miami (aftermarket wheels seen on ebay). The fronts would need a 7mm spacer and they will supply the spacer and longer bolts (although now they say they've fitted them to a 2001 996 - without spacers!). They are a cheap deal so I don't expect the finish to last forever, just as long as they are structuraly sound and fit correctly)

Do a search on these guys. There was a thread recently about somebody (and many others) getting scammed. Buying one wheel and getting something "close". To much ambiguity with these guys.

Found one of the threads...... https://rennlist.com/forums/996-forum/170867-highline-wheels-in-fl-are-crooks.html Also, if I am not mistaken, several guys here have used the highline's b/c they are good for knockoffs if you are going to use them for winter wheels, etc. BUT NOT DAILY OR THE TRACK.

I have the Highline wheels and I have talked to many others that have them too, and no one has been scammed. With that said, their prices are all over the place, so you have to make sure you get a good deal. Ebay is usualy their best prices. And the other thing is offset. The fronts were great for me, but the rears were advertised as 996 narrow body, but really the offsets are better for wide body, although 10" width is not wide enough for wide bodies. The wheels just really aren't sized properly for a 996. I had the rear wheels shaved to give a better offset. A low cost and safe solution in the end. The car looks great now. But I wouldn't buy these wheels for track use. First off they are heavier, which is never good for performance applications. And I am confident that they will hold up on any street use, but on a track with slicks and a good driver might be extreme for them. Even big dollar wheels have problems breaking in those conditions. Like stated before, it would be really easy to pick up on someone's take-off stock wheels for track use and then buy the Highline for daily driving.

Really? Nobody has been scammed. Try reading some of the posts about these cats. Yeah, there are good posts, but there are too many negatives for me to even consider them unless I needed a CHEAP pair of winter wheels. I mean come on, they advertised one thing and sent you another. Getting a wheel shaved is not something you normally do after buying a set of wheels. There are great take off to be had that are genuine Porsche wheels (which is how I got my set). I bought a set of brand new 5 spoke lightweights for $2300 shipped. 0 miles on them , and brand new rubber ($1K new). Just depends on how much patience and trust you have when buying on eBay. By thew way, I bought form Suncoast. Great to do business with!

I actually have a set that I do use for track tires, no problems. They are forged and TUV approved, my only gripe is their weight for the track. I had nothing but good dealings with highline. They do need spacers to clear big red brakes, stock brakes should be fine. I use RB 5mm spacers f/r with the longer bolts(porsche). For me they are not a problem, I check my wheels/tires/etc all the time, just be careful even oem wheels fatigue.

They shipped what was advertized. They advertized their offset. And other people installed them without shaving on lowered narrow bodies without a problem. I just wanted mine in a little bit more so I shaved them. And they were only $800 shipped and look a heck of a lot better than the boring 5 spoke...

Ease up there PRH. You may think the 5 spoke looks boring, but I like them as my DD wheels. I use my GT3 (MkI) wheels for the track. All I was doing is helping about another by letting him know about "potential" problems. If you read my post again you will notice that I said there were many good comments about highline as well.