WHEEL SPACER ADVISE
01-23-2011, 11:32 AM
#1
2nd Gear Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: The Netherlands
Posts: 299
WHEEL SPACER ADVISE
Hi guys i am still very busy to make a very special stang.....not like the photo's that i have in my gallery anymore....building now also a kind a wide body kit my mustang...
i have shelby razors with 24 mm offset,but i want more and bigger....wider
so i was thinking of a wheel spacer of 1 inch but what is the max ? to go to be safe ? and what are the best ... i read so much different stories
where to buy
thanks
Ralph
i have shelby razors with 24 mm offset,but i want more and bigger....wider
so i was thinking of a wheel spacer of 1 inch but what is the max ? to go to be safe ? and what are the best ... i read so much different stories
where to buy
thanks
Ralph
01-23-2011, 12:48 PM
#2
3rd Gear Member
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Nevada
Posts: 544
You will probably hear a lot of hate here pretty soon and a ton of people screaming "rice" at you.
I personally see them as the only way to truly fill out your wheel-wells without going super-wide with wheel and tires. To fill your wells as nicely as a 1" spacer will give you, you'd need 315s for tires and that is both cost prohibitive and quite-frankly too "drag-looking"
So, I say go for a 1' spacer. I've been using a 1' spacer on a 295 wheel for a long time, safely. No problems at all. Just make sure they are torqued properly. Most drift cars use spacers and a car can't get more abused than that. If a drift car can use them safely... then a DD definitely can.
I got mine at American Muscle 1" Spacer. They also have a 1.5" Spacer
However, if you are using a wide-body kit... PLEASE don't use spaces on skinny little 245 wheels... it will look ridiculous. For a wide look, you will still need somewhat wide tires of at least 285s to make it look "legit"
Here is an old pic of a muffler alignment issue I was having... so ignore the crooked mufflers. But it shows the nice stance I've got with the spacers.
I personally see them as the only way to truly fill out your wheel-wells without going super-wide with wheel and tires. To fill your wells as nicely as a 1" spacer will give you, you'd need 315s for tires and that is both cost prohibitive and quite-frankly too "drag-looking"
So, I say go for a 1' spacer. I've been using a 1' spacer on a 295 wheel for a long time, safely. No problems at all. Just make sure they are torqued properly. Most drift cars use spacers and a car can't get more abused than that. If a drift car can use them safely... then a DD definitely can.
I got mine at American Muscle 1" Spacer. They also have a 1.5" Spacer
However, if you are using a wide-body kit... PLEASE don't use spaces on skinny little 245 wheels... it will look ridiculous. For a wide look, you will still need somewhat wide tires of at least 285s to make it look "legit"
Here is an old pic of a muffler alignment issue I was having... so ignore the crooked mufflers. But it shows the nice stance I've got with the spacers.
Last edited by Fifthwind; 01-23-2011 at 01:19 PM.
01-23-2011, 03:13 PM
#4
01-23-2011, 10:47 PM
#7
3rd Gear Member
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Michigan
Posts: 645
Those are good spacers. I wouldn't use the ones from AM as they are not hub centric. Notice the ones they show in the video are but the ones pictured in their ad aren't.
01-24-2011, 12:10 AM
#8
5th Gear Member
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: New Orleans
Posts: 4,491
I wouldn't recommend spacers. Get yourself a 10 inch wide wheel with a 7.5" backspace and you can run up to a 28" tall 315 tire without rubbing and it will REALLY fill the wheel well.
Last edited by Diabolical!; 01-24-2011 at 12:52 AM.
01-24-2011, 01:01 AM
#9
3rd Gear Member
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Nevada
Posts: 544
I'd really like to know why every time there is a thread about wheel spacers there are so many people that chime in with "I wouldn't recommend them" or "they're not safe" or "you'd be better off spending $1500 for a set of wide wheels and tires."
Yet there is little or no evidence that there are ANY drawbacks of a properly installed adapter or spacer.
Wheel spacers are very common on some of the most taxing motorsports in the world. Most drift cars use them and you couldn't put much more strain on a wheelbase than that. They are also very common on extreme 4x4 rock-crawling, and you can't put much more strain on a suspension that that.
I'm not trying to start a flame war or hijack a thread, but it gets old hearing the same old hive-mind hating every time this topic comes up.
The FACT is that it can be a VERY affordable and SAFE option to both improve looks and handling. If I'm wrong, then someone prove it with solid data instead of parroted rhetoric.
A quick Google of "Wheel Spacer Unsafe" reveals dozens upon dozens of forum discussions on the topic (like the ones here), but not a single tech article that says they are bad. And even if someone found a tech article that does, I could probably find a counter-article that says they are safe.
Sorry. But, if these things were as "unsafe" as everyone seems to think, there'd be so many wrongful injury lawsuits that they wouldn't even make them anymore. That they've been around and used HEAVILY for many, many decades speaks otherwise.
Besides, most of the drivers here don't put enough strain on their DDs that it even matters.
Sorry, must have had too much milk with my brownie this evening.
P.S. this wasn't aim at you Diabolical... I just needed to say what I needed to say.
Yet there is little or no evidence that there are ANY drawbacks of a properly installed adapter or spacer.
Wheel spacers are very common on some of the most taxing motorsports in the world. Most drift cars use them and you couldn't put much more strain on a wheelbase than that. They are also very common on extreme 4x4 rock-crawling, and you can't put much more strain on a suspension that that.
I'm not trying to start a flame war or hijack a thread, but it gets old hearing the same old hive-mind hating every time this topic comes up.
The FACT is that it can be a VERY affordable and SAFE option to both improve looks and handling. If I'm wrong, then someone prove it with solid data instead of parroted rhetoric.
A quick Google of "Wheel Spacer Unsafe" reveals dozens upon dozens of forum discussions on the topic (like the ones here), but not a single tech article that says they are bad. And even if someone found a tech article that does, I could probably find a counter-article that says they are safe.
Sorry. But, if these things were as "unsafe" as everyone seems to think, there'd be so many wrongful injury lawsuits that they wouldn't even make them anymore. That they've been around and used HEAVILY for many, many decades speaks otherwise.
Besides, most of the drivers here don't put enough strain on their DDs that it even matters.
Sorry, must have had too much milk with my brownie this evening.
P.S. this wasn't aim at you Diabolical... I just needed to say what I needed to say.
Last edited by Fifthwind; 01-24-2011 at 01:15 AM.
01-24-2011, 03:07 AM
#10
5th Gear Member
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: New Orleans
Posts: 4,491
No harm done. I just wouldn't recommend them based on his goals (to fill up the wheel well). A wider wheel with the proper offset will do more for the look he's going for than a spacer. Still, I wouldn't run spacers for the same reason I don't like adapters of any sort: Another possible point of failure. I don't have any data to back that theory up. It's just a rule I go by. 