thoughts on wheel spacers

are you against getting a pair with extended studs that are actually safe? don’t cheap out on somthing like that…

i just picked up slip on’s and wanna try out my wheels, and no one has given me anything scientific yet. I’m gunna talk to newman, he is an engineer.

it’s not the stud length i was inquiring about, obviously the lugnut being farther down the stud weakens it(not worried about it loosening up because of this.) I will make a judgement call if i think the lugnuts are on far enough, just wondering if there are any unforseen problems that someone smarter than me may know about.

When I was a kid, i tried to put Jag S-type wheels on my tbird.

I bought the wheels for real cheap, the offset was way off.

I put a set of pep boys spacers on it.

When I had the tires rotated at a shop, they overtorqued the shit out of the lug nuts.

I was driving over the grand island bridge, the rear wheel started vibrating real bad, then fell off. The spacer had cracked.

Lucky for me I got the car pulled over and didn’t die.

Yeah spacers suck.

i run all types of spacers… i have generic 1/4 plates on the rear (drive wheels)

but up front i only use hubcentric… and there are 2 hubcentricities you need to worry about.

hub centric to the lip on the hub and hub centric to the bore on the wheel.

if your wheels will not be 100% centered by your lugs then your wheel needs to be centered by the spacer / hub

i had spacers machined to be centric to the hub and wheel because they were 20mm and therefore longer than the lip on the factory hub.

i am having 32mm spacers made up now and they are also centric to both wheel and hub…

generic plates are not necessarily dangerous, but if you plan to run long term without changing wheels often then you should be getting something proper.

Why must he run hub centric? I had a set of slip on ones on a 1500 Silverado on all the wheels. (5.7L with full rollers and a 5 speed)

I did the following with the truck:

Went off roading threw mud that would seep in threw the door onto the carpet
Pulled over 5000lbs of scrap metal on a trailer
Donuts
4x4 dry donuts
Hairy burnouts
Plowed

No problems…not one. Last time I checked the lug nuts centered the rim more so then the hub.

just cuz it worked on a truck doesnt mean youre not gonna feel it in a car (vibration). Spacers suck anyway, I consider them a bandaid and a last resort

the spacers really should be hub centric. if not it will be like driving with an out of balance wheel.

i should also practice what i preach :slight_smile:
discounttiresdirect.com has rings really cheap. just call them and they will help you get the size you need, and have them to you in a couple of days.

do it, LOTS of em!

Advice:

Buy plastic hub centric adapter rings. Aluminum loves galvanic corrosion. The parts corrode to where they bond to one another and its a motherfucker to get things apart later.

I only would use hub centric, and for anything more then like 15mm forget slip on… scary stuff.

i believe you can use the H&R ones from a VR6 GTI on dodge stuff. 5x100. youll want to call and get some exact dimensions first though.

Brian

They are used all the time in racing. I don’t see a problem, in general.