Re: Wheel spacers good or bad?

MZAVARIN wrote:
stangman4ever wrote:
piper.gras wrote:

That's true unless you're using spacers to push the wheel out in order to fit a wider wheel/tire combo under the car. For example, If you have a factory setup in which there is .5" of clearance between the suspension and inside of the tire, and you want to go to a wider tire and maintain the same .5" clearance between tire and suspension, you are effectively moving the wheel/tire outwards with respect to the hub/bearing, altering the loading.

I will end up with the exact same clearance as I had with the 14" wheel and tire. one finger width from tire to spring. Tape measure says my finger is 1/2" thick.


Just don't make the same mistake I did:

1987 Honda Prelude: original 13 inch wheels, tire  185/70R13 (+35 offset)....I went to 225/45R15 BFG RIval non S tires
With 15 inch rims, 7 wide, +10 offset
And they stuck out...."Aw, c'mon, just a little bit"....so when I showed up the race, tech made me make new wheel fenders....

So, make sure if you get spacer and have your tire/wheel stick out more, make sure the fenders go beyond the outer edge of the tire...


Already thought of this, we stick out maybe .5" but have 2" flares to cover them... well if they show up!

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Re: Wheel spacers good or bad?

Realize going up that much in rim size you're losing acceleration.
If everything is working as it should and your tires aren't really undersized for the weight there's a very good chance lap times will increase from larger rims.

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Re: Wheel spacers good or bad?

Fishah wrote:

What do you mean by wheel spacers?

Wheel spacers like this:

http://cdn.roughcountry.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/w/h/wheel-spacers_1096-base.jpg

Are fine to use as long as they're only a few MM thick. 1.5" is too thick.

Resurrecting an older thread here. The upshot of this discussion seems to be that running good-fitting, bolt-on spacers can work out OK. What about this kind? We are having trouble finding wheels with the right offset for our '81 BMW 633. We have 15" wheels and can easily run 205s on them, but the general consensus is that 225s would be a better choice, given the weight of the car. Our "as-raced weight" will probably be 3000#.

We are finding affordable Falkens in 225/45-17 (b/c SCCA Solo Spec Coupe uses this size). And there are lots of options for 17x8 wheels but not with the right offset. We need a 15 - 20mm spacer. That's too thin for a bolt-on spacer. Obviously, we'll abandon the wheel bolts and go with longer studs.

Anybody successful running these spacers on a heavier car?

Thanks,
Bill

Re: Wheel spacers good or bad?

20mm is too thick for that style of spacer, IMO.

We used 5mm spacers on our 928 with no issues. 20mm is 3/4" though... Seems sketchy.

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Re: Wheel spacers good or bad?

Fishah wrote:

20mm is too thick for that style of spacer, IMO.

We used 5mm spacers on our 928 with no issues. 20mm is 3/4" though... Seems sketchy.

Agree, also use 5mm in our case to space the rear rotors out to match the non standard calipers.

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Re: Wheel spacers good or bad?

20 mm can take bolt on adapters.  We run them on the '47 Plymouth.

Re: Wheel spacers good or bad?

You'll need hubcentric spacers that are more than just a flat sheet, they'll have a recess for the lip of the stock hub, and have a ridge of their own to locate the center of the wheel. An inch is probably still in the realm of long bolts that go all the way through.