Board logo

wheels spacers
whitstella - 1/8/11 at 03:32 PM

hi

just a quick thought how safe are wheel spacers i'm thinking about some 8-10mm ones just to make my calipers fit better. fitting them to sierra front hubs.
just some comments would be good before me buying some.

many thanks steve

designer - 1/8/11 at 03:36 PM

They should be ok, above 10mm, to me, too much.

eznfrank - 1/8/11 at 03:50 PM

If your name is Leepu Awlia from Chop Shop you can get away with 8 inch thick spacers!! (Not recommended!!)

PeterV - 1/8/11 at 04:27 PM

My experience the of wheel spacers is as follows:
Always Remember Rule 1. Wheel nuts just hold the wheel on. The wheel hub takes the strain and centralises the wheel.
This rule means the the wheel hub yanks the suspension around. The further out the wheel goes the more leverage the wheel has on the hub.

Above 10mm needs concentric bolt on type spacer, they work perfectly up to 35mm (you can get 40mm+ ones but never tried them)with the correct set up tweaks.

Suspension set up may need work at >5mm if you start to suffer wheel chatter or speed wobble. This depends how sensitive you suspension is and amount of castor & camber. Also make sure the whole of the hub stub is clean and corrosion free at anything > 5mm as the wheel will seat horribly on pits or corrosion causing all kinds of wheel chaos. I have found that 12mm bolt on spacers are far more reliable than some 10mm alloy ones as they can warp around the stud / bolt holes after repeated wheel changes causing unexpected problems.

5mm spacers have always worked without issue for me.

v8kid - 1/8/11 at 04:59 PM

quote:
Originally posted by PeterV
My experience the of wheel spacers is as follows:
Always Remember Rule 1. Wheel nuts just hold the wheel on. The wheel hub takes the strain and centralises the wheel.
This rule means the the wheel hub yanks the suspension around. The further out the wheel goes the more leverage the wheel has on the hub.

Above 10mm needs concentric bolt on type spacer, they work perfectly up to 35mm (you can get 40mm+ ones but never tried them)with the correct set up tweaks.

Suspension set up may need work at >5mm if you start to suffer wheel chatter or speed wobble. This depends how sensitive you suspension is and amount of castor & camber. Also make sure the whole of the hub stub is clean and corrosion free at anything > 5mm as the wheel will seat horribly on pits or corrosion causing all kinds of wheel chaos. I have found that 12mm bolt on spacers are far more reliable than some 10mm alloy ones as they can warp around the stud / bolt holes after repeated wheel changes causing unexpected problems.

5mm spacers have always worked without issue for me.


Good advice IMHO. I always use concentric spacers regardless of width and have had no problems. In theory it will make the steering heavier and degrade the suspension geometry but in practice on a light car it will make no difference.

Cheers!

whitstella - 1/8/11 at 06:13 PM

hi

thanks for all your comments and advice i will take it on board and make my choice later.

thanks again steve