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Silly question - where do we reliably get wheel spacers these days? It's such a simple part I'm not sure why it's taking forever to find what we all used. STM's aren't hub/wheel centric (meaning 67.1 inside 73.1 out, it's something smaller on the wheel side so it's loose) and they only have 20 and 15. Looking for the in-betweens like 3, 7, 12, etc.
The extra wear just means having extra parts on hand As much as I "could" run this new set of wheels without spacers, having to swap between spacers and rings per set of wheels is sub-optimal at the track lol. I prefer to keep the same spacers on for the least fit and *maybe* swap the fronts when I go from the 9.5 rains to 11" slicks. Why can't wheels be by 4 get 8 free lol.
The STM 20mm wheel spacers on OEM BBS are a hubcentric match. Once the wheel is on the hub and flat before installing lug nuts, there is no play around the studs or up, down, side to side. I've driven with this setup for thousands of miles with no excess vibration on various power levels.
Spacers do change the fulcrum angle between the wheel bearing and the center of the wheel barrel against the ground, creating more angular load on the bearing races. As it turns out getting a wheel with a different offset is not the same thing as spacers because when a wheel is designed, regardless of the offset, it's build it so that when it's installed on the car, the load from the vehicle is scene across the center of the tire. If you add a spacer without changing the design of the wheel (adding material to the back where it bolts to the car or changing what depth the wheel spokes connect to the wheel barrel), it moves the load away from the virtual center line of the tire and puts it more on the inside. Chamber is not the only thing that decides where your tire wears.
+7 on the Motorsport-Tech ones and also agree that wish there was extra material cored out of em however can't win em all. Being wheel and hub centric is awesome since you dont need to dick around with separate rings. I know Ciro Racing also makes some lightweight spacers and Rick is a good dude to boot. I haven't used those personally but from the pics they appear to only be hub centric.
Again though if you are looking for something very specific Motorsport-tech will make them to your exact specs.
And as far as spacers causing more wear on wheel bearings, I still dont understand how that is any different than a lower offset wheel? Not arguing that a lower offset will put more stress on the bearing however how is say a +38 with a 20mm spacer any different than a wheel that is +18? In my mind its the same exact thing, no?
But they put extra load on the wheel bearing, you should just get the right offset
(Because resultant forces somehow change with magical spacers)
The Fire Ando/Escort evo (one of the fastest TA evos on the planet) uses bolt on wheel spacers. I show this photo to anyone who trys to rant to me about how destructive and unsafe spacers are lol
Originally Posted by heel2toe
In my mind its the same exact thing, no?
It is
Originally Posted by Pal215
Spacers do change the fulcrum angle between the wheel bearing and the center of the wheel barrel against the ground, creating more angular load on the bearing races. As it turns out getting a wheel with a different offset is not the same thing as spacers because when a wheel is designed, regardless of the offset, it's build it so that when it's installed on the car, the load from the vehicle is scene across the center of the tire. If you add a spacer without changing the design of the wheel (adding material to the back where it bolts to the car or changing what depth the wheel spokes connect to the wheel barrel), it moves the load away from the virtual center line of the tire and puts it more on the inside. Chamber is not the only thing that decides where your tire wears.
If this were true then every wheel ever made would have a backspacing equal to half the width of the wheel. Which isn't reality.
Last edited by Ayoustin; Nov 21, 2019 at 11:59 AM.
As much as I "could" run this new set of wheels without spacers, having to swap between spacers and rings per set of wheels is sub-optimal at the track lol. I prefer to keep the same spacers on for the least fit and *maybe* swap the fronts when I go from the 9.5 rains to 11" slicks. Why can't wheels be by 4 get 8 free lol.
