Opinions on wheel spacers?

"FrankenBlaster" (FrankenBlaster) 10/07/2014 at 23:21 • Filed to: None

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Today I installed some 8mm wheel spacers to aid in clearance from the inner sidewall of my tire to the height adjustability spindle on my coilovers. I'm not completely set on leaving them on. Reading up on them brought both equal amounts of horror stories and reassurance. What are your opinions?

Left is with a spacer, right is no spacer.

More info: I still the recommended 6 full turns of the lug nut on all 4 corners. I went with 8mm to get more spacing up front and to fill out the fenders a little bit better. The car has been lowered about 1.5 inches all around, and has no issues with rubbing, scraping, or any other fuckery. I am aware that the better choice would have been to get wheels with a more fine-tuned offset, but measuring the offset needed to clear these particular coilovers and still fit within the fender nicely would have proven to be pretty hard. The wheels were also purchased before the car was lowered.

crowmolly > FrankenBlaster 10/07/2014 at 23:24

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I think 5/16" spacers on stock studs is dicey. Just my opinion.

AM3R > FrankenBlaster 10/07/2014 at 23:24

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looks good

bob and john > FrankenBlaster 10/07/2014 at 23:25

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hmm. they add leverage to the suspension. i would just get a different set of wheel with the right off-set then spacers.

JGrabowMSt > FrankenBlaster 10/07/2014 at 23:27

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I simply don't trust spacers at all. Just my opinion.

Tohru > FrankenBlaster 10/07/2014 at 23:29

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Needs more stance.

That Bastard Kurtis - An Attempt to Standardize My Username Across Platforms > FrankenBlaster 10/07/2014 at 23:31

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If we're just talking looks, I'll give the edge to 'with'. It looks fine without them, but it does just fill the wells a tiny bit better with the spacers.

Blunion05 drives a pink S2000 (USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST) > FrankenBlaster 10/07/2014 at 23:32

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Wheel spacers improve a car's look. Try to avoid having the wheels sitting too far under the fenders.

Little Black Coupe Turned Silver > FrankenBlaster 10/07/2014 at 23:42

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Mehhhhh...

What are you doing with the car? Slowly cruising to a show and then hard parking?

If it's anything more than that, spacers are dicey.

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > FrankenBlaster 10/07/2014 at 23:42

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What kind of spacers are we talking about?

The right kind...

or the "holy fuck no" kind?

SmoresTM Has No Chill (O==[][]==O) > FrankenBlaster 10/07/2014 at 23:42

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A bunch of mechanics I work with run spacers on their cars, and almost all of the road cars that have been converted into race cars in the shop run spacers. If these guys trust huge spacers on a vintage car doing a rally through Mexico, I'm pretty sure you'll be fine. Just don't cheap out on them.

From a visual perspective, I would definitely go with spacers. It looks betters.

wabbalosthiskey > FrankenBlaster 10/07/2014 at 23:44

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As long as you have plenty of thread engagement, there is nothing wrong with spacers at all. Crappy ones tend to not center quite right, and honestly even if they didn't, they are light enough and close enough to the center of rotation that it makes very little of any difference. As far as "adding leverage" or whatever, there is NO difference between adding 8mm of thickness behind the wheel hub and adding 8mm of thickness to the wheel hub. It works exactly the same way. Now if you are adding inches to the point of unnaturally widening the track far beyond how the suspension is designed to work (and far beyond what a properly fitting wheel would do), sure, but that's not what you're after.

bhardoin > FrankenBlaster 10/07/2014 at 23:46

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A) they add unnecessary and undesigned scrub radius. 8mm is probably close to imperceptible, but more space may be detrimental to handling

B) unnecessary weight

C) SCARIEST - if you've got lug nuts that are like caps onto the studs, rather than nuts that the stud passes completely through (as seen on most steel wheels) you're changing the number of threads that sink into the nut. 8mm is probably enough to take off about 2 full threads worth of wheel security. I didn't design your car, and that's probably within safety factor, but to me that slight difference in stance is absolutely not worth the chance of my wheel falling off.

But, I'm not you. Weigh those costs with the benefits (16mm wider stance, better appearance) and decide if they're worth it.

Philbert/Phartnagle > FrankenBlaster 10/07/2014 at 23:55

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Wheel spacers are fine as long as they are PROPERLY installed and cared for.

1. Make sure your wheel studs are long enough to fully engage the lug nuts. As a minimum you need a length equal to or slightly over the diameter of the stud for the lug nut to screw onto to ensure that the strength of the stud is not diminished.

2. Make sure you PROPERLY torque the lug nuts when installing them and check the lug nuts regularly to ensure they do not loosen.

3. Make sure the spacers are constructed of decent strength materials. Cast aluminum or pot metal is a no no for spacers, billet aluminum, SS, or steel spacers are the best choices.

ly2v8-Brian > wabbalosthiskey 10/08/2014 at 00:02

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Boffin > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To 10/08/2014 at 00:05

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Both of those are the "holy fuck no" kind

You ones with the hub ring in them. That transfers /takes the weight of the car.

Relying on the studs to take the load (generally through shear) is a bad idea

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > Boffin 10/08/2014 at 00:06

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Whoops, didn't look close enough at the top ones. I thought they had hub rings. Thanks for the catch.

Yeah, studs aren't meant to take weight, a fact that every ricer that uses washers to get that extra space for MUH HELLAFRUSH doesn't understand.

Art > FrankenBlaster 10/08/2014 at 00:29

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you know which car desperatly needs this? The new subaru impreza but yeah I would rather go with wheels with the right offset.

Captain of the Enterprise > wabbalosthiskey 10/08/2014 at 16:03

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why does that picture bring me so much joy?

Captain of the Enterprise > Tohru 10/08/2014 at 16:05

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bro'

Coty > FrankenBlaster 10/09/2014 at 09:26

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Nice.

plainnottoasted > Boffin 10/11/2014 at 19:46

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This is one of those cases where the missing word is essential to the meaning of the sentence.

As in "You don't want ones with the hub ring in them, that transfers the weight of the car"