You don't even need to have spacers for lug nut torque to relax a little, and that's why you get to re-torque alloy wheels. Some more than others. So it's not really a spacer-caused problem. But when it happens (for whatever reason) the risk is made greater by having spacers.

Car weight and wheel loads caused by bumps and accelerating or braking are supposed to be carried from the wheels into the axles/stub axles via friction developed by the lug clamping force (which in turn comes from the proper lug nut install torque). Not in direct shear by the lugs themselves.


Norm

 

I have seen wheel spacers crack as well as seen the studs pull out of them.

 

I had 1 1/4" spacers for my 37's on my chevy pre runner truck for about 7 years.NEVER had a issue and my truck saw a lot of off road desert runs.

 

Well who would have thunk that wheels spacers would be legal in autocross. I was right about one thing though, it is a polorizing subject.

 

Showing that wheel spacers have failed doesn't really prove anything to me. Parts fail, it happens, even to the highest quality parts. So of course someone somewhere is gonna say they're inferior because they failed on someone's car. Improper maintenance and/or installation of any part increases the chances of its failure. Inconsistencies in manufacturing of wheel spacers (aka cheap wheel spacers) and other neglect (installation/maintenance) will undoubtedly create failure for some people. However blame it on the poor manufacturing, not the principle of the part.

 

With everything said so far and the fact that I have run wheel spacer myself I will say that in the future I will not run wheel spacers again. My original intent was to be able to run late model wheels on my 67 since I could find them cheap and with really nice tires. By the time I bought the spacers and installed 20 new studs they were not so cheap any more. Also I have gone away from thinking that the larger wheels look good on the early cars and fender clearance tends to be an issue. I'm going to stick to 15's from now on. I would go 16's if I found a nice set of torque thrusts for cheap but no more spacers for me. That is not to say that I think they are unsafe.

 

I think that some of the older style wheels are now available in 17" with offsets that are a lot more friendly for older cars. I'm pretty sure that the TT's are one of the available styles.

17" opens up the number of tire choices with performance intent above "touring" level greatly.


Norm