Have you gotten an alignment since putting on the spacers? I'm not sure, but I would guess that having the spacers on the car changes the alignment slightly. Taking off the spacers put you back at the original geometry, thereby curing the problem.

 

Seems unlikely - while the geometry may change slightly, even a misaligned car wouldn't necessarily show vibration in the wheel. More likely unusual tire wear.

That is, unless the misalignment was so severe that the tires were scrubbing. In that case, the handling would be so adversely affected that the vibration would probably be the least of the worries...

ed

 

I have not had an alignment since putting the spacers on. Though I did ask the service tech when I was having the balance of the wheels checked if an alignment might also be necessary and he was of the opinion that for just spacers an alignment wouldn't be needed.

 

I would get an alignment as soon as possible. When I got my Cayman the steering wheel shaked like you mentioned and it was an alignment issue. I would also double check the lug nuts and make sure they are all tightened correctly.

 

I might try some simple mechanical checks like: measure the thickness of the spacers with a digital caliper to assure that they are uniform in thickness throughout the entire circumference and diameter, check to see if there is any foreign material (washer, tape, etc.) which may be getting between the spacer and the hub surface to assure that the spacer is completely flush with the hub. Perhaps a small deviation at the spacer is amplified at the tire tread to produce a detectable wobble.

 

"Last night I took the front spacers off and went for a drive. All vibrations and shakes are completely gone so that tells me the spacers are causing the problem."

"With the wheel on and the lug bolts loose I do feel a little play in the wheel so I suspect it is not perfectly centered on the hub."

My guess is that your thinking is correct and you need proper, hub-centric spacers.

Goby

 

For grins I would swap them left to right to see what happens, then if they still shake I'd order a set from Ralph Boothe at Boothe Designs, Porsche parts and accessories, No-Turn Technology since he makes good ones that our members have been known to be very happy with.

 

For grins I would swap them left to right to see what happens, then if they still shake I'd order a set from Ralph Boothe at Boothe Designs, Porsche parts and accessories, No-Turn Technology since he makes good ones that our members have been known to be very happy with.

I don't think Ralph's thinner spacers (6mm) are hub-centric either, at least not as I understand the term. They are just flat discs with a center hole but no protruding hub-centering lip - like the 15mm ones have. Like this: http://www.boothedesign.com/assets/1-4spacer_lg.jpg

I'm not noticing any vibration up front - but more concerned about a slight pulsating feeling while braking - like a very slightly warped rotor (pretty sure it wasn't there before). I am going to remove and check this weekend. Only have 18K miles on a 2010 C. Never tracked or driven hard long enough to warp a rotor.

BTW, I had a problem with the rear bolts being too long and rubbing on something in the hub. After bench-grinding a few mm off, no more rubbing. But I'm wondering if I damaged something or if tightening down the bolts while they were too long actually acted like a hub puller and dislodged something.

 

I had similar front spacers to yours. After reading similar threads about vibration, I did the following:

Stacked the spacers on top of each other. They should be super flush, and you should be able to rotate the top spacer with no play. If there's ANY wobble, that's probably the issue. Mine were fine.

When installing the lug bolts, I rotated slowly and didn't torque one bolt completely at first, kind of tightened 50% for all bolts, then 100%, following the star pattern.

Aside from an alignment (which my dealer recommends every couple years anyway), there's not much else I can think of.

Good luck!

 

I used Boothe's 5 MM for 4 years now with no problems. Even an out of line front end. Did you buy some junk of Ebay?

 

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I will report back if I have any updates.

1. I did not buy junk off ebay. I purchased these new from a well known and highly regarded manufacturer of performance parts for Porsche's.

2. I will check thickness and balance of the spacers this weekend.

3. Assuming the spacers are even thickness all the way around I don't understand how they would affect the alignment. Like someone else said, if the alignment was so far off as to cause the steering wheel to shake I should also be seeing unusual wear patterns on the tires. After a few thousand miles with the spacers on, the tires look fine.

4. The lug bolts were tightened in a star pattern. First to 60 ft-lbs then to a final torque of 96 ft-lbs.