Spacers

[deano27]

I was thinking of putting spacers on to push out the rims a bit. What sort of spacers would I be looking at getting?

[_bobo_]

depends on your current offset, wheel size or whatever i think

but i HEARD that its not good to run spacers from a topic on here

[deano27]

yeh that's my concern that they won't be safe.

[ISC-Performance]

We sell the hub centric ones (safer). Also use lock tight on the spacerbolts etc.

Ryan

[deano27]

Hi Ryan,

Thanks for the reply.

What makes them safer. I do tend to drive to the limit quite a bit and don't want a wheel to go flying off

[Wacky Dee]

main problem with spacers as I see it is the fact that you bolt on the spacers themselves onto the hub using the hub's studs ... and the studs are 20mm or so iirc. So you need spacers that are 20mm or more to cover the old studs otherwise they will be sticking out and you'll need to cut them down.

ie. you can't just put 10mm spacers and get away with it ..you would need to cut the old studs. Then there's the whole issue of legality ..they're completely illegal.

And if you use the spacers that don't come with their own studs ie. you use the original studs, then you reduce the length of the original studs by whatever the spacer size is which IS risky ..it means your wheels will have less stud to be bolted on to.

Trust me I've been thinking of doing this myself as everytime I see my rear wheels I wanna cry cause they're not as wide as they could/should be and been looking at spacers ... but whichever way you look at it, it's just not worth it. Best to sell your wheels and get new ones with the correct offset and width.

Edited April 17, 2009 by Delta Force

[deano27]

thanks.

Dont get me wrong, my wheels are pretty wide, i just want them to stick out a bit. I guess you're right though, it's not the smartest of things to do.

[iamhe77]

Well, yes... or you could buy a couple of sets of Nismo 60mm Long Hub Bolts

That would safely allow spacers to be used

Edited April 17, 2009 by iamhe77

[Wacky Dee]

interesting ..what's the length of the standard bolts? But still this doesn't resolve the issue of having no hub centre for the wheels to slip on to so your wheels would be resting on the bolts alone right ??

[deano27]

unless you used the spacers provided by isc above which have the hub bit

[Wacky Dee]

I think he only sells hub centric ones that have their own bolts ..not slipons that can be used with the Nismo longer studs ? Also i just read somewhere that the standard bolts are only 25mm and the Nismos are 60mm .. so unless you're planning on using 35mm spacers the studs will be portruding too much or maybe I'm missing something

[sloazr33]

interesting ..what's the length of the standard bolts? But still this doesn't resolve the issue of having no hub centre for the wheels to slip on to so your wheels would be resting on the bolts alone right ??

i would like to know the length of the standard studs as well. or at least how much of the standard stud sticks out past the hub

i have some bolt-on spacers I'm trying to remove as my new wheels dont need the spacers.

it looks like the standard studs have been removed from the hub and replaced with shorter studs to bolt the spacer to the hub

and then the standard studs go through the spacer to hold the wheel

is this normal for bolt-on spacers?

[nisskid]

in theory, there is nothing wrong with spacers, as long as the spacer itself isnt bad enough quality that its gonna fail.

the only thing a spacer does is introduce another mechanical connection, it DOES NOT create any extra strain on the standard hub/studs.

people mainly think spacers cause more strain on the standard hub because it creates more leverage, 2 points about this, 1: putting a spacer in there has no more effect on the standard hub then going a lower offset wheel (for instance putting a 25mm spacer on a +30 offset wheel is the same as going a +5 offset wheel). 2: if anything, ur reducing leverage in most cases as ur bringing the offset closer to 0 neutral (middle of the rim)

a spacer is effectively the same as offset, the only difference is instead of the extra metal on the mounting surface being casted on when the wheel was created, it is being connected there with a mechanical connection.

now as long as this mechanical connection is created with qaulity parts, there is no issue with this, when u put on new spacers, they are usually a lot less likely to fail than ur old worn standard items, so ultimately the weak link is usually in the standard existing mechanical connection, not the new one that u introduce.

but in the end, u are introducing another mechanical connection, which is A weak point that can fail, but usually not the weakest point.

now, all this is relying on the fact that everything is kept hubcentric, one of the biggest issues with spacers is people dont buy hubcentric spacers or they dont use hubcentric rings, now a lot of people dont use the hubcentric rings with their aftermarket wheels anyway, but when ur using spacers as well and u have 2 mechanical connections, ur doubling the issue. basically studs are only designed to take longitudinal force, when u dont keep things hubcentric (hub ring on mounting surface completely filling the centre hole in the rim, keeping it snug), the wheel is allowed to move sideways on the mounting surface, this introduces sheer force to the studs, which the studs are not designed for and have bugger all tolerance for, so they can fail.

the last point is make sure u loctite the nuts on the inside, not that there is a big chance they will loosen, its just if they do u wont know as u cant access them.

[SiR_RB]

are those spacers that justjap sell hubcentric?

http://justjap.com/store/product.php?produ...=269&page=1

im thinkin of using these, proberbly 15mm ones just to bring out my rear wheels inline with the guards (18x9.5" wide running strectched 235 tyres (+35 offset i think)

would i need to cut my hub bolts that are on my car now to make these fit? cos theres no way i'l be doin that...

any info would be great

[nisskid]

the ones in the pic have a hub ring yes, but ull need to use a hubcentric ring to make them hubcentric usually.

[SiR_RB]

whats a hubcentric ring?

[scathing]

whats a hubcentric ring?

Rogue Engineering only sells hub centric spacers which replicate the factory hub lip on the outer face of the spacer. This ensures that your wheels positively engage with the spacer, centering them perfectly to avoid shimmy problems

Borrowed from here.

[nisskid]

yeh they are often called hubcentric rings, hell i use it all the time myself, but really its not 100% correct as hubcentric refers to making the wheel's centrebore sit tight on the hub, and usually the spacer's hub ring is smaller than most centrebores, so u buy these little rings, mostly made out of plastic, and they slip over the hub, and fill up the gap between the hub and centrebore.

[SiR_RB]

that pic looks very similar to the JJR ones i posted in the link above if im not wrong...so im guessing they'l be fine?

[Wacky Dee]

hub rings are just metal rings made to fill the gap ... ie. if your wheel's centre hole is bigger than the hub centre there's gonna be a small gap when you fit the wheel on. So the hub rings is fitted on the hub lip to make it wider so that when you put your wheel on, it fits snugly...