Gotti78

Anyone running wheel spacers for a bit of stance?

Im thinking 20mm in the back and 15mm in the front.

I just want a little stance like what you would see on a BMW X5.

I'm currently on 20" TSW rims.

formerjeepguy

Go ahead and try them. Then in a few months or a year we can read about how they broke and the wheel came off in a corner.

Gotti78

I probably wont post about the wheel coming off, I'll just replace it and carry on with my life.

Gotti78

I have spacers on my other car that is driven hard everyday and sometimes tracked and never had a single problem. My GLk is driven less then 10,000kms a year and almost never sees a Hwy. I'm not worried.

Ben Conner

People posting about wheels coming off are either ignorant of spacers or didn't install them correctly. As long as you use longer studs that account for the spacer, you will be fine. Just be sure you use a spacer that is hub centric and is made for the vehicle.

formerjeepguy

That's what my buddy thought and it was fine for over a year. Then one day the wheel came off taking the fender with it. Go ahead. Put some spacers on. Maybe it won't happen to you.

Or do it right and get wheels with more offset so you don't need spacers.

Ben Conner

Well, then it was either because he A) Didn't buy a quality product B) Didn't use the correct length of studs or C)Didn't install them correctly. There is absolutely no reason for this to happen with elongated studs that have the proper amount of threads seated in the hub, none.

formerjeepguy

Or maybe it's just a bad idea. A bad idea that is illegal in several states for on road use.

Go ahead. Do what you want. Sometimes they work fine and don't have a problem. Sometimes they fail spectacularly.

Ben Conner

Maybe you could tell us what happened in your friend's case then?

Ben Conner

Apparently not. I'll take that as evidence of he isn't sure why it failed. I'll reiterate, as long as they are properly installed and you use a quality product, they will be fine. If you don't properly install them, or use cheap products, then you are setting yourself up for an issue.

formerjeepguy

Take it however you like. I don't find you interesting enough to argue with.

Ben Conner

I'm not arguing with you, I'm trying to encourage the guy to not give your opinion any merit since you haven't provided any reason for spacers to not be safe other than your buddy had a wheel come off for some reason.

koalatm

Wheel spacers are perfectly fine if installed correctly. In the VW community this is a very typical modification on Golf's.

The biggest risk is wearing out wheel bearings, not the wheel spontaneously flying off the vehicle.

Diabolis

A number of my Porsches (including track cars) had them installed from the factory. The 928 GT and GTS had 17mm and 21mm spacers at the rear respectively. The 930 (911 Turbo) had 21mm front and 28mm rear spacers. So - if used correctly (as in hub-centric and fully supporting the weight of the vehicle instead of the bolts carryign the load) they are fine. I have a set on the front of my C63 which also gets tracked.


Problems usually occur when the spacer is too thin and not hub-centric (i.e. 5-7 mm). The mounting flange on the hub is about 7mm deep, and the first couple of millimeters of the hub bore on most wheels is tapered, which results in two problems - you you have no way of perfectly centering the wheel, which will likely result in some vibration, and more importantly, there is now no vertical (weight-bearing) contact between the vehicle and the wheel itself, so the wheel bolts alone are now essentially supporting the entire weight of the vehicle as well instead of simply clamping the wheel to the hub. This is exactly how wheels with spacers end up flying off cars. If you use a proper hub-centric spacer (12mm or thicker) and 10.9 grade hardenend steel bolts (not the cheap crap they sell on eBay), you should have no issues whatsoever.


See http://www.superforma.co.uk/hubcentric-explained if you are tryign to visualze the potential problems.


Yes, your wheel bearings may suffer somewhat more due to the leverage effect of the wheel sitting further out, but this would be exactly the same if you were running wheels with a lower offset without spacers, so it's really a moot point.

Diabolis

With 15 and 20 mm spacers you will definitely be safe if you do it right. For that kind of thickeness I'd be looking at the H&R DRA Series, which come with their own set of bolts that bolt to the hub, and have threaded holes for the wheels.


Just ordered a set of TSWs for my GLK - I got 20x8.5" wheels with an ET35 offset (the OEMs are 20x8" ET42). Yours must be in the high 40 range if you need to push them that far out or you want them to stick out past the fenders. Can't tell form the pic how far in they sit.

koalatm

Thank you, very knowledgeable post and yes I forgot to mention that wheel offset can play the same role in wearing out bearings anyway.

Mr. JLT

Check out H&R, 42 draft or Ecs for spacers. Depending on thickness, I would make sure to get hub centric spacers with longer wheel bolts(since our GLK don't run studs) for the rookies. Just double check your wheels(oem or aftermarket) to see if you need ball seat wheel bolts are cone seat wheel bolts.


For those of you that don't know the hub bore is 66


http://www.42draftdesigns.com/AudiMe...ers_p_645.html


Enjoy

dbr9tifosi

Jeep guy is clueless. His friend probably bought his spacers from Pep Boys and used OEM bolts. I ran 5mm front and 10mm rear H&R spacers on my Audi A4 for 6 years and no problems whatsoever. Just make sure the spacers are hub centric and order longer bolts to accommodate for the spacer thickness.

Gotti78

Thanks guys gonna order some soon