beccadee

ok, so I don't know all the ins and outs about cars, but am really confused when it comes to rims!!! have 00 e320 and bought 20 inch rims..went through 3 different tires and was told to buy 225/35zr20 for all 4...the fronts are rubbing and sounds like crap..thinking I may need spacer???? I don't know any of these sizes or anything, but wouldn't I need new lugnuts if I were to put spacers on front rims?? I bought lug nuts today m12-1.50 are these the right size without the spacers? please give me any kind of advice bc I am spending unnecessary money and not getting any direct answers.

raymond g-

why do you think you need a spacer?

where is it rubbing?

what are the specifications for your wheels?

what are the specs for your tires?

yes, if you require spacers, you would need to buy new, longer lugbolts equivalent to your
existing bolt lengths PLUS the thickness of the spacers you select

can't tell you if m12-1.5 are suitable since you've not provided any of the specifications (yet).
in other words, no direct answers until you provide more information.

while you're at it, measure the depth of the mounting hole (that the bolt drops into) from
the back of the wheel, to the bottom of the ball seat.

is it a ball or cone seat?

when you drop your existing bolt through the lug bolt hole, measure the protruding portion
of the bolt out the back and post that, too

beccadee

thanks for getting back to me but today I went to a tire shop and asked about shaving control arm bc that is where it was rubbing but he would not do it and said he would try a different spacer...he put on a thick spacer..i drove it and it was 100% better! im sure ill be having more questions in the future!

raymond g-

okay, so they put on a spacer for you and the rubbing issue was resolved. but I didn't read
that they gave you longer bolts. did that take place?

siopaolover

How thick were the spacers? It's very important to make sure that with spacers on, your bolts are long enough to still hold the wheels in place. And if they weren't hubcentric spacers, you may get pretty bad steering wheel/ cabin vibration

beccadee

ok so I had bought different bolts still 12-1.5 but a different style which made them a tad longer...there are 2 spacers on the front and 1 on the back and when we put those bolts in the back they were too long so had to put the shorter ones in back and they fit fine in the front, but today when driving 60 on hwy did notice a bit of shaking. I know I need to get an alignment now and will see if that makes a difference. what is hubcentric spacers??

also, light comes on saying reduce oil level?? and defective light..i know some back tail lights are out...do I just replace the bulbs and it goes off???

siopaolover

What do you mean when you say that there are 2 spacers on the front? Did you stack them on top of each other or did you mean 1 on each side, equaling 2? and for the rears, do you only have a spacer on one side?

non-hubcentric spacers will cause vibration around highway speeds, especially if you put one on top of another.

here's one of my 25mm hubcentric spacers
IMG_6990 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!@@AMEPARAM@@http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8121/8634723985_e892ab4c46_m.jpg@@AMEPARAM@@8634723985@@AMEPARAM@@e892ab4c46
Do you notice the lip in the middle of the spacer? That's there because when you put a spacer on your hub, your wheel can no longer sit on the hub properly. That's why there's vibration at highway speeds. With these, the lip is the same size as the original hub, which lets the wheel sit on the lip of the spacer instead.

And about the tail lights... yes, replace what needs to be replaced and the lamp defective warning will go away.

raymond g-

it frightens me that you refer to the swap out of parts so casually and in non-specific
terms. it is almost as if you're saying you are mixing and matching cone and ball seat
designs. cheating on the bearing surface weakens the structural integrity of the fastener.
i hope this isn't the case and that the tire/wheel guys are not giving you poor advice.

wheels are designed for cone or ball seat fasteners. you must purchase matching lug bolts

siopaolover

+1. It's important that you have the right type of bolts. If you don't, it can cause pretty bad vibration as well, so bad spacers + wrong bolts = vibration