Wheel spacer recommendations
NobiZero
New Wagonist
I'm tired of my tires rubbing the fender liners at full lock. I'm going to have to put in some wheel spacers. Nothing too wide as I don't want too much extra stress on the lug studs or wheel bearings. I know that some spacers are ok to use and others are a flying wheel waiting to happen. What are some good quality wheel spacers you guys could recommend? I'm not looking for anything crazy, just a couple of mm clearance.
Comments
Ichiba sells various sizes from 5 up to 38mm in two types, one being sandwich type where you use extended studs and the other being bolt on type where the spacer bolts to the hub and the wheel then bolts to the spacer. For the second type you have to have the recesses in the back of the wheel to clear the nuts on the spacer.
Thinnest on the 2nd type is 15mm though so that might be a bit much there, though I believe it would save the hassle of having to knock out the old studs and put new ones in.
If it is really only a few mm, bust out the heat gun and reshape the fender liners as needed.
why are they "no good"?
Threads pulling out from not having enough engagement. Not hub centric. Extra leverage on the studs could sheer them off. Just a bad idea all around. If they don't let you run them on a race track they are probably not a good idea on the street.
If offset is a problem find a set a wheels with the correct offset.
I personally got to experience wheel adapter failure, not on my car and not my installation. Still not something I care to experience again.
Did you experience it due to someones incorrect installation?
Any decent kit is sold with extended studs so you don't run into the problem with threads pulling out with not enough engagement.
Both kits I listed are hubcentric, so there's another negative out the window.
Extra leverage on the studs, negative. If they are properly installed you do not run in to that, if you are it's because it wasn't torqued down correctly. If anything the extra stress is going to be focused on the bearing, not the studs.
For a minimal bit of spacing, on our relatively light weight cars the chances of experiencing a failure on a proper installation are pretty damn low. And if someone already has the wheels, telling them to get new wheels, well that's not helping the situation.
Sounds like you got involved with someone who didn't know what they were doing when they installed them and are writing them off due to that.
I had the horrible task of removing a full set of spacers that someone had rounded some of the nuts on (cheap metal with not enough surface contact on the socket) not a fun job
Personally if you don't know how many miles are on the bearing, I'd say pull that hub, replace your studs and slap a new bearing in there. Yeah it's a bit more work, but one less thing you'll have to do for a long while.
I don't have spacers on myself, but I'm looking at the version 1 ichiba in 12mm. I'm looking for just a smidge more room to wrangle some brakes in there. Gotta do more measurements in the spring for that.
I think what you saw about the eibach kit excluding wagon was the accord wagon, not civic wagon. If you only need the 5mm though I'd say it's a total toss up as they're both the same price. Price probably scales equally, but I only saw the 5mm eibach when searching, other sizes seem to be easier to find with ichiba.