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whats your opinion on wheel spacers
wheel spacers
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Great for trailers queens.
Not the safest for daily drivers or trail rigs. Prone to snapping the lugs off and then you get to watch your wheel and tire roll past you on the highway.
Best way to get a wider stance is to get lower offset (Less Backspacing) wheels.
Not the safest for daily drivers or trail rigs. Prone to snapping the lugs off and then you get to watch your wheel and tire roll past you on the highway.
Best way to get a wider stance is to get lower offset (Less Backspacing) wheels.
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101 Posts
Some people will tell you that they are super dangerous, but from everything I have seen and heard its installation error that leads to failure. I wouldnt install them on a rock crawler or a mud truck and expect them to never break. I say they are just fine for daily use as long as you get high quality spacers/adapters. They are more safe if you have them custom made for your truck. You can have the inside diameter machined to match your hub. This will take the weight off of the wheel studs.
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damit i dont know if i should get them or not
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i want to widen my stance
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Get some wheels with less backspacing. That will give you a wider stance and will be much safer. You can get a decent set of wheels for about the same price as good quality wheel spacers.
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Where is the logic behind all of your posts?
You're applying the EXACT same amount of leverage on the studs by putting on wheels with less backspacing as you would be with putting wheel spacers (shims or bolt-on) of equal length.
All the GMC and ford trucks of the 80's/90's that ran 15x10s where the hub mounting face was an inch or two from the back of the wheel, think they were snapping studs non-stop so much that it was a safety hazard?
All you're doing is applying extra leverage to the wheel bearing and ball joints. All it means is you're going to do some front end work sooner. Pay to play.
You're applying the EXACT same amount of leverage on the studs by putting on wheels with less backspacing as you would be with putting wheel spacers (shims or bolt-on) of equal length.
All the GMC and ford trucks of the 80's/90's that ran 15x10s where the hub mounting face was an inch or two from the back of the wheel, think they were snapping studs non-stop so much that it was a safety hazard?
All you're doing is applying extra leverage to the wheel bearing and ball joints. All it means is you're going to do some front end work sooner. Pay to play.
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Care to explain this a bit more. You are saying the back of the wheel had 1-2 inches of space, with nothing there, between the wheel and the mounting surface on the hub?
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For what its worth I never had an issue with them. Towing, wheeling, daily driving. All good. Guess its a good thing I didn't read online of horror stories of peoples uncles and grandpas using them back in the 70s with bad luck instead of there own experience.. like someone said, just use common sense installing them and keep things tight
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Sorry to bust your bubble, but I have first hand experience and it was only 5 years ago, not the 70s. I was riding in my friends truck when the lugs on the spacer sheered at 55 mph. Luckily it was one of the rear wheels. We had checked before we left and they were all torqued to spec. When I worked in an auto shop and spacers were all the rage 5-10 years ago, I saw quite a few vehicle come in with sheered off lugs on the spacers.
Nothing like watching one fo the wheels pass you going down the highway.
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Hey critical, were they cheapo spacers? Or were they high quality hub and wheel centric spacers? If you want a safe spacer you can get it, but it will cost you. I paid $240 for custom made spacers to fit my dakota. I provided all the specs and they make them. They are hub/wheel centric. Just as safe as bolting the stock wheels to the truck. If you cheap out, or install them wrong, then yes you will have wheels "sheer" off at 55mph. :sorry:
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The spacers were custom built from T6 aluminum by a local machine shop, with over 60 years experience, to be hub centric. These were not some cheapo spacers.
Spacers breaking does happen. It adds another failure point to the wheel area. Instead of the wheel being bolted to a steel hub, it is bolted to a chunk of aluminum. have seen one that haven't completely failed, but had cracked around the lug area. Spacers are not designed for heavy stress or weight. They are strictly for cosmetic use.
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Well I'm not going to argue over it. Everyone has there own opinions. If they were JUST hub centric then I could understand them breaking because you are putting all the weight on the studs on the spacers. However, if they were also wheel centric then the weight would still all be on the hub and not on the studs. Thus, it would be just like having a wheel bolted on with just different dimensions (offset, backspacing, etc.) Btw, you can get wheel adapters made out of things other than aluminum.
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As for me, I am having mine machined as we type by this place:
http://www.motorsport-tech.com/wheel_spacers.html
http://www.motorsport-tech.com/wheel_spacers.html
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Went to the machine shop with 60 years experience, then went with dollar store studs sounds like the story.
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Hahahaha...dollar store studs. Nice. :clap2:
I've been running spacers on the back of my truck for the last year or so. I had them custom made out of Alcoa 6061-T6 aluminum and they are both hub and wheel centric. They also have high quality 1/2" studs. I paid about $300 for them, IIRC. I have had absolutely no problems with them, even hauling dirt bikes, off-roading, etc. Mine are only an inch thick, but I don't think that makes much difference in strength.
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