Unexpected issue with H&R spacer kit 7 mm all-around

[Emm]

I just got the H&R spacer kit with 7 mm offset on all four wheels (just wanted a slight offset for visuals, and also wanted to make sure I didn't run into any issues, so decided against 15 mm). My car is a GTS Sport Turismo 2023 with the RS Spyder Design 9.5x21" front and 11.5x21" rear rims (re-painted from Taycan GTS standard Black Satin to Platinum Satin — looks great and will try to post some pictures later for those that might be curious; I can't stand black rims on a black car , with Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric 3 Ultra High Performance 265/35-21 front and 305/30-21 rear tyres. When I have the chassis in the lowest setting, the tyres now hit the wheel house when I go over even minor speed bumps which were never an issue before. Has anyone else ran into this issue? Could it be some screw with a round head somewhere inside the wheel house which is the culprit, or could it be that the tyre just hits the plain wheel house surface (i.e. too small margin inside the wheel house to begin with)? I'm surprised because I've read many threads about owners adding 15 mm all-around without mentioning any issues.

Thanks for input!

Mark

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[Polar993]

I also have a 2023 ST GTS in black and I added 12mm spacers up front and 10mm spacers in the rear. I also lowered my car slightly with FVD lowering links.

I have no rubbing issues whatsoever, and I live on a private road with large speed bumps. I do raise the car into Normal mode whenever I drive over the speed bumps, but that is mainly to prevent the front spoiler from scraping and to avoid any possible damage to the underside of the car. I have never experienced any rubbing within the wheel wells.

You may want to jack the car up and look up inside each wheel well to make sure there is nothing protruding from the fender liners. Perhaps one of the clips in the fender liner came undone and that what might be causing the rubbing?

Here’s a few pics of my setup.

Please post some pics of your refinished RS wheels. I’m thinking of doing exactly the same as I don’t really love the all blacked out look.

 

[Emm]

Thanks for the tips, I'll have a closer look inside the wheel wells when I visit my tyre dealer to remove the spacers on Friday, to see if there are any obvious screw head or fender clip issues.

Your car looks great with the low stance, and the tyres fill out the wheel wells nicely! I also like the non-tinted rear windows (prefer those myself).

I've had 4 x 10 mm spacers on my previous RS6 Avant C7 and Golf R Mk7 with no issues at all, and I also have 2 x 5 mm upfront and 2 x 7 mm in the rear on my current Cayman GTS 4.0, so I was quite surprised to discover this problem on the Taycan. I've just taken a second local drive, and when I have the chassis in the second lowest height there are no issues, it's only noticeable in the very lowest setting — but on the other hand, these particular speed bumps (and even some bumpy creases in the asphalt from undergrowth) were never an issue before.

I'll get around to take some professional photos of the car once I have everything in place (I'm still waiting for the rim center caps in Platinum Satin with a monochrome crest), but below is a couple of quick photos that I took earlier today when I had the car over at WrapZone for putting PPF on the rear red reflectors (to tone them down a bit).

To achieve the monochrome look that I want I've also replaced the coloured hood crest with the new Turbonite crest, which I think suits the car perfectly (the only bummer now is that the brake callipers are red; on my Cayman GTS they are black and thus "disappear" within the wheels .

 

[Paint_To_Sample]

I too have a GTS with 12mm spacers all around.

I am on PS4S tires in OE size and have never had a rubbing issue with the spacers at any height setting

 

[Polar993]

Thanks for the tips, I'll have a closer look inside the wheel wells when I visit my tyre dealer to remove the spacers on Friday, to see if there are any obvious screw head or fender clip issues.

Your car looks great with the low stance, and the tyres fill out the wheel wells nicely! I also like the non-tinted rear windows (prefer those myself).

I've had 4 x 10 mm spacers on my previous RS6 Avant C7 and Golf R Mk7 with no issues at all, and I also have 2 x 5 mm upfront and 2 x 7 mm in the rear on my current Cayman GTS 4.0, so I was quite surprised to discover this problem on the Taycan. I've just taken a second local drive, and when I have the chassis in the second lowest height there are no issues, it's only noticeable in the very lowest setting — but on the other hand, these particular speed bumps (and even some bumpy creases in the asphalt from undergrowth) were never an issue before.

I'll get around to take some professional photos of the car once I have everything in place (I'm still waiting for the rim center caps in Platinum Satin with a monochrome crest), but below is a couple of quick photos that I took earlier today when I had the car over at WrapZone for putting PPF on the rear red reflectors (to tone them down a bit).

To achieve the monochrome look that I want I've also replaced the coloured hood crest with the new Turbonite crest, which I think suits the car perfectly (the only bummer now is that the brake callipers are red; on my Cayman GTS they are black and thus "disappear" within the wheels .

Your car looks great. I like the monochrome look you have going on, and I am envious of your carbon aero kit.


I am torn between powder coating wheels a dark grey like yours, or perhaps a neodyme gold tone color. I was also thinking of painting the lower plastic front splitter, side skirts and rear diffuser a metallic dark grey color, then having all those painted parts PPFd. That would complete the look for me.

 

[nischalr]

I have a 2023 GTS ST, with 15mm all around with 21" wheels and rear wheel steering. I drive in lowered mode 99 percent of the time and have had zero rubbing issues. I concur that there is something else going on. It is also possible that the 7mm spacers bring your wheels out to a specifically unlucky offset that happens to rub on something that it would clear if you went either more aggressive(10, 12, 15mm) or less at 5mm. That would be unusual for sure, but possible. It will be interesting to see what you find when you take a look under the car in the wheel wells. There have been so many reports of 10mm spacers and above with no issues.

 

[Emm]

Thanks to everyone who's commented. I was at the tyre shop today, and the guys there made the following observations:

1) I have the Goodyear Eagle F1 tyres on the car, and Goodyear tyres are generally quite a bit wider than Pirelli tyres (even when the formal width spec is identical), and they thought it could be that most other owners who have no issues with wider spacers could be on Pirelli tyres (as the car comes with either of these tyres from the factory).

2) There is one screw head in the front wheel well at 12 o'clock just behind the fender that holds the inner lining in place, that protrudes a couple of millimeters and has definitely taken a hit; I could remove that screw and the inner lining would still remain in place (dipping a bit but not so much it can be clearly seen from the side), but spontaneously I'm not overly keen on removing screws...

3) There were even some traces of rubbing on the rear wheels, but while there are no screws in the rear wheel wells, there is a sharp joint where the two different sheet metal parts meet, and it could be that on my specific car the width of the rear wheel fenders are on the shorter side (not every single Porsche car is 100% identical down to 1 mm, there is a factory margin of ± a couple of millimeters — at least according to what the tyre guy has learned).

4) It could also be related to different rims — I have the RS Spyder 21" rims, and these could perhaps be slightly wider (more offset) than other Taycan rims.

5) People are different, and as they politely pointed out to me (I've been a client there since the mid-90s), I tend to be a very discerning (sensitive ) driver that reacts immediately when there is only a hint of rubbing going on, while some other drivers perhaps only react when the rubbing is *very* obvious...

Hence it would seem to be either one or a combination of these factors behind my issues with as little as 7 mm offset, while most others in this forum have no issues with neither 10, 15 nor 20 mm spacers.

Either way, my solution was to simply remove the spacers, as I absolutely hate it when I notice tyre rubbing even on smaller speed bumps (earlier today on the way to the tyre shop I even had rubbing when driving over an annoying crease in the asphalt outside my driveway, and I wasn't even in the lowest chassis setting then!).

However, even a mere 7 mm offset definitely made a visual improvement in my eyes, so in case anyone with Pirelli tyres would like to have a go at these, I now have a set for sale (H&R black spacers, black longer bolts, one locking bolt for each tyre )...

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