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Wheel Spacers

Spud Man

By Spud Man,
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Spud Man Contributor

Spud Man

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Just wondering if wheel spacers for a daily driven are a good idea. Been offered some good rims for a good price. They hit my front struts and i will need to use spacers. The seller is throwing in some flat 5mm slip ons with the wheels and they will be enough to clear the struts.

Been reading all sorts of stuff on the intergoogle and basically the answers range from no, never use them to yeah 5mm slip ons are ok.

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XKLABA Grand Master

XKLABA

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Slipins are not ok and illegal, bolt ons are ok and fall in a grey area legal wise as they are considered adapters more then spacers

I punted my R34 around Wakefield and Eastern creek a few times with 20mm Bolton spacers with no issues

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Lakes101 Experienced

Lakes101

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I have used 5mm spacers for 5 years on the 25G with no probs.

Exactly this whole spacer do and don't topic is stupid. Ofcours is your running bigger than 5 mm slip ons I would either use extended bolts you give the same amount of thread or the kits that use the hub bolts to bolt on then have there own bolts to give the same thread about such as the h&r kits that ate hub centric
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Lakes101 Experienced

Lakes101

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Sorry not intending this tread is stupid it's a valid question but it's commen sense that if you have less bolt thread than is intended past 5mm your gonna run its some serious problems like loseing a wheel. Not fun!!

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66yostagea Grand Master

66yostagea

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I forgot to say that the spacers were used so I could fit the 2 pot calipers from the RS4 to the N/A 25G. I also used the booster and master cylinder

The RS4 got 4 pot and a bigger booster and larger master cylinder.

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Spud Man Contributor

Spud Man

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I'll give hub centric with stronger, extended bolts a try. I want to get away with the minimum spacer size as i'm not after a bling, flush look, just gotta get bigger wheels than stock cos of issues sourcing front discs for my RS as it is rwd. Front discs are on their last machine and probably a whole heap easier and better to upgrade. The wheels are 3 piece 18x8 front 18x9 rear which i understand wouldn't be a prob for the awd guys but is an issue for the rwd.

Something else i was wondering about is the wheels are heavier than stock, which would obviously increase rotational mass which has an effect on acceloration and economy. Has anyone with 18's on their car noticed this effect?

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iamhe77 Grand Master

iamhe77

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Something else i was wondering about is the wheels are heavier than stock, which would obviously increase rotational mass which has an effect on acceloration and economy. Has anyone with 18's on their car noticed this effect?

Depends how much heavier.

I went from the stock 17x7 with stock brakes to cast 19x9.5 with front and rear Z34 Akebono brake kit. Not sure that the wheels would have weighed much more than stock, but add the brakes and I am around +20-30kg over stock and have only noticed a 0.1 km/L decrease - going by my fuel economy screen of course.

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KiwiRS4T Grand Master

KiwiRS4T

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Only use forged wheels myself so they are definitely lighter than stock. Not sure about rotational mass affecting acceleration and economy. Total all up weight of the car is the key and a few more or less kg on the wheels won't make that much difference The effect of increased unsprung weight on the handling is a whole other story..

Are you sure yours are heavier than stock?

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Spud Man Contributor

Spud Man

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I didn't weigh them on scales, just picked 'em up one after the other with the same arm when i was checking the fit. Re the increased mass, the way i understand it, the further the rim is from the hub, the harder it is to spin. Think of an ice skater doing a spin, to increase the speed of the spin they bring their limbs in towards the centre. I also found this when i was doing a bit of searching.

http://www.caranddriver.com/features/effects-of-upsized-wheels-and-tires-tested

I'm not sure if i would notice anything going from 16 to 18 inch judging by these times, but the difference is measurable. I guess i'll found out in a couple of weeks when i get some new tires on the rims and get'em bolted on. If anything, knowing they may be having an impact would probably play on my mind more than seat of the pants feel.

I was just simply curious to see if anyone else had noticed anything different acceleration wise when they had upsized their wheels.

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Brick Mentor

Brick

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I didn't weigh them on scales, just picked 'em up one after the other with the same arm when i was checking the fit. Re the increased mass, the way i understand it, the further the rim is from the hub, the harder it is to spin. Think of an ice skater doing a spin, to increase the speed of the spin they bring their limbs in towards the centre. I also found this when i was doing a bit of searching.

http://www.caranddriver.com/features/effects-of-upsized-wheels-and-tires-tested

I'm not sure if i would notice anything going from 16 to 18 inch judging by these times, but the difference is measurable. I guess i'll found out in a couple of weeks when i get some new tires on the rims and get'em bolted on. If anything, knowing they may be having an impact would probably play on my mind more than seat of the pants feel.

I was just simply curious to see if anyone else had noticed anything different acceleration wise when they had upsized their wheels.

Not on my stag, but on a previous car i went from 15s to 18s and noticed a substantial decrease in acceleration. Well enough that you could feel the difference.

So yes it is possible that it will decrease perforce depending on weights and overall rolling diameter.

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KiwiRS4T Grand Master

KiwiRS4T

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What you are saying is the higher gearing not the extra weight slows acceleration but I don't believe it makes stuff all difference. Besides the nominal height might go from 16 to 18in but the increase in diameter will be less because normally you will use lower profile tyres.

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coparts41 Community Regular

coparts41

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Unsprung weight , I doubt if you will notice the difference , unless its a race car and you are looking for everything that you can get . get a set of bathroom scales and check them , at least you will get a rough idea . I made my own wheels for the Exa 13x 10 weighing 2.5 Kg, because I couldn`t bye anything . The only real difference between 16,17 ,18 etc is the larger the wheel the smaller the profile and the harsher the ride.

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