[stuff1138]

Okay so as you can see to the left I have the 201A appearance package 17x7 wheels. I want to widen the stance of the car for a better appearance and right now I don't want to shell out for new rims and tires. I will probably do that in a year or two but today it's not going to happen.

I am considering doing spacers though. I don't want something ridiculous and from what I've read on FF, doing anything bigger than 15mm is pretty risky anyway unless you swap the studs. That is a bit more work than I want to do. I also do not plan to lower the car any time soon though that is on the agenda for later (probably when I get new wheels and tires.)

So I want to pull the wheels off, slap some spacers on, tighten it up and be done.

I am looking for opinions here but please don't be a dink about it.

1) Is this even worth it? Would it even be a noticeable change in width?
2) If there is a noticeable width difference, at 15mm with stock wheels, tires and ride height would it look stupid?
3) If it doesn't look stupid would it be better to do the same width all around? wider at the rear narrow at the front? vice versa?
4) Would there really be strain on the bearings with such a small spacer? I know physics dictates there would be some strain since the bearing is behind the spacer and therefore taking more load but is it really that much considering the width of the spacer is less than 1/2"?
5) where on earth can I get spacers with a 5x108 bolt pattern that are 15mm or less?

Thanks in advance.

NOTE: if there are already threads that answer any of these questions please feel free to direct me to them.

 

[felixthecat]

Wheels or spacers? I'd for sure pass on the spacers & get a set of st wheels. Lower your car too.

 

[stuff1138]

Wheels or spacers? I'd for sure pass on the spacers & get a set of st wheels. Lower your car too.

So in your opinion it's not worth the time and money to put some spacers on now to widen the stance a bit? And I should just wait a year or more to put some wider tires on and lower the car?

Any particular reasons?

 

[felixthecat]

So in your opinion it's not worth the time and money to put some spacers on now to widen the stance a bit? And I should just wait a year or more to put some wider tires on and lower the car?

Any particular reasons?

Yea, I wouldn't want to deal w/ bearings specialey the front bearings & front hubs. As Mathmatian about that. I'd rather get a set of take off's. Gun_runner has bullet proof hubs, check him out.

 

[stuff1138]

Thanks felixthecat for that info. I will check that out.

 

[felixthecat]

Thanks felixthecat for that info. I will check that out.

Yea, gunner_runner's avatar is his hub that he machines. And Matt is running spacers, cause he has flares on his sedan= check it out.

 

[stuff1138]

Yea, gunner_runner's avatar is his hub that he machines. And Matt is running spacers, cause he has flares on his sedan= check it out.

So are his hubs spaced wider than stock? Or just stronger than stock so they can support spacers?

 

[felixthecat]

So are his hubs spaced wider than stock? Or just stronger than stock so they can support spacers?

Stronger so they can deal w/ spacers & have the extended studs. The oem hubs whip out, cause the spacers. add spacers & that add a lot of stress on a fwd.

 

[stuff1138]

Thanks again felixthecat

+1 rep

 

[blackmugen]

For me I would definitely go spacers look up garage line spacers 25mm would do wonders for your stance plus you don't have to worry about stud thread as it has its own studs

 

[felixthecat]

Yea, that'll work. If your getting wheels anyhow, I'd get the offset you want vs spacers that'll add more stress to your front hubs/bearings. More so being a fwd car.

 

[blackmugen]

The garagelines are hub centric plus they don't move at all traditional spacers add stress but this type won't cause any issues at all

 

[sailor]

^^^ This makes sense as to stress on the STUDS, doesn't address changed loads on the Wheel Bearings.

 

[gun_runner]

Ok lol, I gotta set a couple things straight.

Firstly. While I appreciate the good word, I don't make hubs, I just modify mk1 and 2 hubs to run 4x100 or 5x108 wheels.

Secondly. I could make spacers to just about any width you want.

Thirdly. Tires are the best stance improvement method in my opinion. Falken Azenis an Dunlop DZ101's are damn near 30mm wider than other tires, add a lot of width due to their extended shoulder. My car's footprint looked considerably wider when I put the dunlops on. The rubber comes out almost 10mm past the rim. Looks mean in my opinion. I think the crazy camber hella flush cars with the pointlessly wide wheels and stupidly narrow tires look dumb. Plus they handle like shit.

In my opinion you should wait. Wait until you can get wheels that are the proper offset for the width you plan to run.

 

[gun_runner]

^^^ This makes sense as to stress on the STUDS, doesn't address changed loads on the Wheel Bearings.

I second that!

 

[stuff1138]

Thanks everyone. This is all great info.

 

[jsr72]

4) Would there really be strain on the bearings with such a small spacer? I know physics dictates there would be some strain since the bearing is behind the spacer and therefore taking more load but is it really that much considering the width of the spacer is less than 1/2"?

Depends on the load increase. Bearing life is typically thought to be inversely proportional to cube of the load. For example, increase the load by 26% and the bearing life is reduced by 50%.

Other than appearance, I can't really think of much in the suspension that is improved by moving the wheel out - either by adding spacers or lowering the wheel offset. I can certainly think of a bunch of things that might get worse.

 

[stuff1138]

Okay so a lower wheel offset widens the stance of the car and pushes the center mass of the wheel away from the hub and bearings. Wouldn't that essentially have the same effect as a spacer on the bearings? Or is a wheel with a lower offset usually wider so the weight is more evenly distributed?

 

[felixthecat]

Okay so a lower wheel offset widens the stance of the car and pushes the center mass of the wheel away from the hub and bearings. Wouldn't that essentially have the same effect as a spacer on the bearings? Or is a wheel with a lower offset usually wider so the weight is more evenly distributed?

My take, w/o looking at the spec's of the wheels, is if you go to a wider wheel the width would be evenly spaced. If I was doing it, I'd get a set of take off st wheels. I'd don't like spacers. If you want to get them that's fine. Since your doing to get wheels, why not put the difference in the spacers towards wheels?

 

[stuff1138]

I'm leaning towards waiting and just buying wheels. I was just curious to know if wheels with a lower offset would have similar stress loads on the bearings as adding spacers. I would think if the rims and tires are the same width just lower offset then the load would be the same. But I'm just guessing.