There is no way I can afford new wheels, and I've actually grown to like my 18" more than I thought I would. Does anyone use spacers to just make the car look even more aggressive? I'm thinking about 1" in the back and maybe the front, as long as the tires don't stick out past the fender. I'm just curious about everybody's opinions. Thanks!
NO!!!! Don't do that, never change the offset of your wheels you'll end up killing your bearings. Besides if you put spacers on you'll need to extend your studs.
I don't agree. On my Jeep I ran spacers for years in very challenging driving conditions with no issues. I plan to put some on my the rears of my GT this winter. IF you buy the 1" or 1.25" spacers, you bolt on the spacer which has new studs pressed into it. Then just bolt up the wheel to the spacer. As far as the arguement with bearings I very much don't agree. Running a spacer is as if you simply had a wheel with a different backspace. If bearing life was such a big deal, everyone running wheels with similar effective backspacing would have the same problem. Most important is to buy good quality billet aluminum pieces with proper centering feature designed in. Here is a link to some good sets.
You don't have to agree just because you've never encountered it but, it's a fact that Bikerdrumr should consider before purchasing. I see it from customers atleast 6 times a month be it from spacers or wheels with wrong back space. You can look it up in any engineering manual.
I wanted to put H&R spacers on the rear of a 2001 Cobra because the rear wheels looked way too far tucked in so it was a pure aesthetic sort of thing. I mentioned it to my tire dealer Wheel Works and they said if I brought something like that to them they would refuse to install them. Something about safety issues and their liability. I wish I could remember what the safety issues were.
For a car I plan on having for the rest of my life (no joke), it does not sound like it's worth it. Until the big bucks come in for other mods, I just wanted a 'lil something to set it off from the other guys. Thanks!
Our shop foreman told me to never use spacers. I thought about doing 1" spacers just on the back for aestetics. He's been in the business for 15+ years and campaigned a 10-second Fox body Mustang and an 11-second '03 Cobra at our local drag strip for quite a few years. If he tells me they're a bad idea, then I listen. I still can't help but look at the spacers that Maximum Motorsports sells, but worry too much about breaking something critical at the most inopportune moment.
Sorry guys I'm not seeing your point of view. Spacers, when either improperly installed, designed, or using inferior materials, are a very bad and dangerous idea. But when properly chosen and used, they can be safe in the long term, and work as intended. I often hear conjecture and discussion on the topic, but hardly ever any facts or specific instances to support the negative arguement. We have different viewpoints I guess, that's ok.
A set of 1" hubcentric spacers is the way to go and as noted in the previous post a very good option for allowing larger tires or simply gaining asthetic appearance without side affects. I've seen plenty of guys run hubcentrics without issue for years on many makes and models here locally.
Tommyroc is correct, you change the offset and the bearing life goes way down. A jeep is 1/2 the weight and the 4 wheel drive system uses a much bigger bearing and doesn't take the corner stress that a mustang does. Ask anyone that puts deep dish on a old impala or deep wheels on a Honda. How many bearings or CV they changed. The bearing with correct offset rides with the weight in the middle of the bearing, When you move the wheel out the weight transfers from the middle to inside bottom and outside top of the bearing, The bearing is in the same spot just the weight load is transferred to a different location. The bearing rollers are about 3/8 inch long, when the weight is transferred to the inside and outside then that would mean that the weight of the car is not on a 3/8 inch surface but on a 1/8 inch surface, you can see that this would be excess weight on a small area and would cause the bearing life to be shortened. It's your car, do it if you think it will work. Ron
Would you (or anyone else who thinks this is a bad idea) agree that a 1" spacer will load the bearing exactly in the same way that a 1" wider wheel with all of the extra width outboard of the mounting flange?
Pee nut The 1 inch wider wheel will have the same offset and that is what counts. If we could post pictures I would show you what I mean. I went looking on the web and found this site, It explains offset and backspacing. It doesn't explain wheel bearing load. I will see if I can find something on changing the dynamics of bearing load. Ron http://www.americanmuscle.com/wheel-tech-guide.html
It's not the wheel width that's the problem, it is more about the attaching point (offset) that skews the loading on the bearing. You could have a 7 inch wide wheel or a 10 inch wide wheel, but the lug nuts will be attached to the studs at the same place either way. Put a wheel spacer in there, however, and you're moving the attachment point further out from the bearing. I believe that's why spacers are much harder on the bearings than just getting wider wheels.
