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New Tires with these wheels are:
245/45/18 Front
265/45/18 Rear
What spacer would you guys use? I'm certain for the front I would need 15mm spacers but the rear I'm not sure if I should get 15MM or 20MM spacers. Help? Thanks
The front spacers are H&R and the rear is a generic spacer I found off Ebay. I had a hard time putting on the rear spacers- not sure if it's the spacer or the bore- spacer states 66.6MM bore but I had to use a hammer to make it fit- Took off the spacer and ordered another pair from another seller. May need to clean the hub for proper fit. If I'm still having problems, I'm going with H&R in the rear- thought a generic spacer would be ok
FYI- The front hub on our cars have a lip that sticks out- The front hub is tall/long. Most spacers have a short lip, thus not allowing the spacer to sit flush against the hub. The only compatible spacer I was able to find that works with the FRONT hub is H&R 30556659
1988 BMW M5, 1989 BMW M3, 1979 Mercedes 450 SEL 6.9, 2006 SL55 AMG w/ P30 Performance Pack
Our cars need a special "cap" type spacer that will extend hub to properly give you a hub centric fit like these made by H&R. I avoid spacers at all cost but, if you have to, you might as well buy hub centric German made ones. Of course you will need to buy extended lug bolts equal to the thickness of the spacers. I have spacers on my SL55 10mm front and 5 mm rear. Pushes the wheels right to the fender edge. To me perfect offset is 25 mm on all 4 corners. I think you may need to get more aggressive spacers for the wheels you bought to get you to that spec.
1988 BMW M5, 1989 BMW M3, 1979 Mercedes 450 SEL 6.9, 2006 SL55 AMG w/ P30 Performance Pack
Originally Posted by imtheking
Update- I went with 15MM spacers front and back
The front spacers are H&R and the rear is a generic spacer I found off Ebay. I had a hard time putting on the rear spacers- not sure if it's the spacer or the bore- spacer states 66.6MM bore but I had to use a hammer to make it fit- Took off the spacer and ordered another pair from another seller. May need to clean the hub for proper fit. If I'm still having problems, I'm going with H&R in the rear- thought a generic spacer would be ok
FYI- The front hub on our cars have a lip that sticks out- The front hub is tall/long. Most spacers have a short lip, thus not allowing the spacer to sit flush against the hub. The only compatible spacer I was able to find that works with the FRONT hub is H&R 30556659
Our cars need a special "cap" type spacer that will extend hub to properly give you a hub centric fit like these made by H&R. I avoid spacers at all cost but, if you have to, you might as well buy hub centric German made ones. Of course you will need to buy extended lug bolts equal to the thickness of the spacers. I have spacers on my SL55 10mm front and 5 mm rear. Pushes the wheels right to the fender edge. To me perfect offset is 25 mm on all 4 corners. I think you may need to get more aggressive spacers for the wheels you bought to get you to that spec.
Correct- I went with the exact H&R spacers you posted for the FRONT. My wheels are CL/S class AMG wheels with a +44 offset so the 15MM spacers worked out perfectly. I could have went 20MM spacers in the rear but I played it safe. I used my power drill with a steel brush end and cleaned up the center bore of all 4 wheels. All hubs fit my just fine after that with easy movement
I thought it would also be a good idea to grease up the spacers and hub to avoid rust and seizing in the future
The ebay/amazon spacer packages don't state that the SL front hub has a "special cap" hub and people think it will work. Then they realize the spacer is not compatible and will not sit flush with front hub.
I used 60mm shank lug bolts. I think i could have used 55mm but according to my calculations and the measuring I did before putting on the wheels the 60mm is just right- I spun the wheel a few times and heard no clicks so no contact with the e-brake in the rear
I went ahead and repainted my calipers red while I had the wheels off to give them a fresh look again. Now I just need a alignment since the geometry of the car changed with the new tires/wheels
question- why do you dislike spacers and did you take the front cap off before inserting the H&R spacer? I saw that the front spacer was not sitting flush and off my 1-2cm because the cap wasn't allowing the spacer to sit flush- but once I put the tire on and bolted it in- everything sat flush. Not sure if I should be worried
My experience with spacers is that for the rear wheel there is no problem with using hub-centrics (concentricity guide step), but for the front, the diameter of the wheel hub is very close to the rim bore making it difficult for a hub-centric which would have a very thin wall to have a concentricity guide. I used a steel insert guided into the spacer to maintain concentricity. I use 20 mm spacers with through holes since the rims I got had not enough offset.