Wheel spacers

[BEK-46P]

Anyone had any experience with these? I've read mixed write-ups.

I'm thinking my wheels would look better sitting out an extra 0.5", maybe 1".

Then I saw this:

LINK (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCrog2riJ9o&feature=related)

Then concluded maybe that's just a dodgy spacer or installation.

[sooty]

Aren't they illegal too? Pretty sure they are in Vic

[gmonkey]

Yep illegal aus wide. Not stopping me getting 50mm ones :p

[Shay]

if you can get a hub spacer it is not illegal, jus tif it goes between wheel and hub.

[boorny88]

what is the point of the spacers????

[gmonkey]

Makes ur wheels stick out further from the sides. A must for a wide body kit :p

[boorny88]

na leave em in make the wide kit look widr haah

[Nurb608]

what is the point of the spacers????

Will give your car a wider stance on the road and theoretically improve it's handling, so long as it's done properly and you don't scrub the tyres out.

[BEK-46P]

Well it's spacers or spend the dough on wider tyres.

Just a question -- what is considered the perfect offset? Is it when the wheel is flush with guard from the top or the bottom?

[BEK-46P]

Another possible issue with spacers is the extra stress they put on the hubs. You don't want your wheel falling off on the highway LOL.

[Wraith]

Anyone had any experience with these? I've read mixed write-ups.

I'm thinking my wheels would look better sitting out an extra 0.5", maybe 1".

Then I saw this:

LINK (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCrog2riJ9o&feature=related)

Then concluded maybe that's just a dodgy spacer or installation.

Hmmm, with all the trouble we have finding offset friendly wheels for our Opels, spacers are not really sought after...

As for stock wheels, they do have some tolerance to move out, but if your car is lowered I wouldn't recommend it.

In fact spacers are a no no anyway, both illegal and not tested or approved to any standards, so theoretically they're unsafe as well...

If you want your wheels to stick out more, go for a set of approriate aftermarket rims/wheels, the end look of the better rim as well as a wider (within limits though, ie. the offset) wheel track will be worth the expense...

[Wraith]

Well it's spacers or spend the dough on wider tyres.

Just a question -- what is considered the perfect offset? Is it when the wheel is flush with guard from the top or the bottom?

There's no such thing as a perfect offset...

What you try to aim for is simply an appropriate offset or an offset that will work properly with your vehicle...

As mentioned earlier if your car is lowered, the offset tolerance will be less than if it is stock and also it varies depending on your choice of wheel rim and tyre sizes...

You begin with the factory wheel offset number, tyre/rim size and work from there...

With the AH you'll have a little more to play with compared to earlier models...

[Steve]

I use spacers on my car, to clear the front brake calipers on OEM wheels, but there are a few things you need to keep in mind with this sort of mod (we get a lot of requests for spacers to go with bodykits and refuse 99% of them) :

Big offset spacers have to be hub centric or hub centering, which means that they are custom designed to take the hub of the car and centre like a wheel, then have another spigot like the hub on the other end. Most big offset spacers have bolts that attach them to the car, then are threaded to attach the wheel to the spacer. By this design, the spacer is now holding the car up and taking all the load. It HAS to be a high grade steel or aircraft grade aluminium for the spacer. Don't put your life insurance on something made in a backyard machine shop using lowgrade ally or crap bits of cast iron.

If you use a regular spacer, the wheel must still be able to sit on the hub centre to allow it to seat central to the hub. Sounds like common sense, but plenty of companies sell 10mm wheel spacers that don't allow the wheel anywhere near the hub. The spigot, or centre of the hub, is the part that centres the wheel, but it also serves to take the load off your wheel bolts when you hit a bump, so that the wheel cannot be knocked off centre on the mounting face.

If you use a regular spacer, you MUST, WITHOUT EXCEPTION, change your wheel bolts or wheel studs to longer ones, so that the wheel is secured properly.

I have seen many incidents in road rallying where wheel spacers have resulted in a lost wheel in stage, some involving cars leaving the roads at very high speeds and the drivers/codrivers ending up in a HDU for a few weeks. Without exception, this has been because the spacers were put on with the shorter bolts. It's easy to get more grip with spacers on a rally car, it's also very easy for a crew in a hurry to run in the original wheel bolts and forget to lift the longer ones off the crew van.

Your car weighs at least a ton, in most cases nearer 2 ton. It is held onto the road by about 40cm squared of rubber, which is attached to 4 wheels that are attached to the oily bits by usually 16 or 20 12mm bolts. The bolts are actually under very little stress in the OEM setup, as the hub holds the wheel and the bolts just hold the wheel to the hub. When you get a spacer in there, to offset a wheel (OEM) to fill out a widened arch, you are now effectively levering on your wheel bolts with a 2 ton pry bar. We only fit spacers on a customers car to clear calipers (a few mm) or to correct the offset of a non-Vauxhall wheel back to the correct offset to improve handling (ie high offset Porsche wheels)

Think about it, everyone knows what to do when the rubber breaks contact with the road, but there's only 60mm of steel at each corner actually keeping you shiny side up, who many people know how to drive on 3 wheels?! (Unless you have a Reliant Robin or trike!)