Wheel Spacers

Alright, what’s the deal with wheel spacers? Bad idea if you off road your vehicle? I’m running Method MR 312’s in 17x8.5, but I would like a wider stance. 1, 2, 3, go!

 

Get ‘em if you like them. Tons of people who off-road use them.

 

I’m not a fan of them but that’s just my opinion. My son narrowly averted disaster when one of his wheels came loose while using wheel spacers on his Acura.

 

Spidertrax 1.25 for like 2 years now

 

Jynarik, looking good! Are you running those in the front and rear or just the front? Did they give you the torque spec with the spacers?

 

Spidertrax 1.25's are the way to go. Quality spacers are fine so long as you follow the manufactures recommended install and check them periodically. Torque to 100 ft/lbs if I remember correctly but double check that.

 

Nothing wrong with spacers, as long as using good quality set like Spidertrax or Bora, and properly installed. Need to recheck the lugs periodically as well (i.e. tire rotations).

Only bad when using the pancake style (that doesn't bolt on, but rather sandwiches in between), or when not properly installed... and on the note of falling off, I've seen just as many non-spacer used wheels fall off as I have supposed spacer fails; and would be due to either loose lug nuts, or tired/stripped/improper studs; or perhaps using cheap spacers with weak hardware or improperly machined.

 

Hub adapters are not the same thing as wheel spacers and they have their own full length studs.

 

i heard its not good to use wheel spacers offroad? true?

 

A lot of people use them off road with zero issues.

 

May be watch the video from Ronny Dahl on worst 4x4 mods video at @3:23 on time line.

https://youtu.be/H1n3EnJybJo?t=203

 

So they’re illegal in Australia and some moron installed them wrong.

I put mine on almost 100,000 miles ago and they are still fine.

 

Also I heard "stress on bearings".

Again just shared what I saw. Not said to do or not.
Its just me who is not good at removing wheel checking specs as I don't do my own oil changes and tire rotation (so I could check both spacer and wheel torque spec).

 

If you Loctite them on and torque to spec they are never coming loose. Ever.

 

I just torque mine down and don't loctite them. I've never had any ever come loose.

@T4R_Lara you'll be fine using spacers. just get hub-centric spacers and use proper torque.

 

I run Spidertrax 1.25" ( really only way to go), loctite, and torque to spec. I wheel pretty often and no issues. As other have said, just check torque every time you have the tires off for rotations.

 

I think a lot of the horror stories come from people using the rice rocket type spacers which actually shorten the engagement between the wheel stud and the wheel lugs, those are dangerous.

And then if some idiot 17 year old kid can’t put a spacer on correctly, there’s a good chance he may not tighten your wheel correctly either, so I don’t see how that is any different.

 

The wheel bearing thing… hear that come up a lot…. Yes, pushing your wheels out further can add some incremental additional stress to your wheel bearings; but it’s no different than than using the same equivalently backspaced aftermarket wheel.

I off-road often, and have also often ran wheel spacers. That includes going somewhat fast over whooped out or rutted trails, and rock crawling. FWIW, Many KOH rigs run spacers as well - likely as a last minute correction to fit bigger shocks or tires or something; but I just know it’s not uncommon.

 

Well said!! It all depends on the spacer used. I don't use spidertrax that everyone talks about. 2 years with knock off's, no loctite and not a single issue.


That video that was linked above talking about spacers... it's the spacer he's holding that I'd avoid.

 

I appreciate the feedback! I'm going with the Spidertrax and will make sure to properly install them and check torque regularly. Would it be weird to just run them in the front? Hard to see in the photos if people are running front and rear. I guess front only would be more of a pre-runner set up. I'm guessing both front and rear is best?

 

I was in your shoes, indecisive as to whether I'd want to run them in the fronts only. So I bought a cheap $50 pair on Amazon to try out.

Seeing how I liked the stance, I went over to a local shop to buy spidertrax. Excited with the purchase of the legendary, famous and overpriced spidertrax that everyone talks about, only to be disappointed that it looks nearly identical to the amazon one I bought (aside from the lugs included) so I returned the spidertrax and purchased the same pair off amazon.

 

The big difference is that one is made in the USA, just outside of Fort Collins, the other one is made in China and down the road you’re not sure just how strong that steel is. It may be for automotive applications, or it could be they just melted down a bunch of bicycles in Wuhan.

I will say I have used cheap Chinese knock off steel wheels without any issues for years.

 

^^ Agreed. I'm no expert so I can't comment on how the process or materials used. I do however inspect my spacers often, not only for torque but visual cracks as well. So far, I've yet to find any faults.

 

For my personal tastes, I think there is a very fine line between "a wider stance" and just out-and-out too much tire outside the fender.

There are the practical aspects... too many rocks chipping paint from being thrown up, that would otherwise be contained in the wheel well, road spray into your open windows from a rainy road, etc... But the main reason I don't go for them, is that I see too many vehicles that have them or the severely offset rims and it just looks silly, again, to my tastes.

I don't think there are truly any FUNCTIONAL reasons to make me lean toward a "wider stance", but if there were, I would rather achieve it with different offset wheels than spacers between hub and rim. And, again, if I WERE going to go for it, I would only want about 1/2" or less - doesn't really seem worth the cost or potential added failure points for that small difference.

 

You can just run them in the front.

If you're lifted it actually makes sense to run a thicker spacer in front because as you lift a-arms, they suck the wheelbase inward. So with a lift, you will have a narrower track width in front vs your rear end.

I have 1.5" wheels spacers up front and 1" in the back to try and equalize my track width front and rear. A couple of things that I've found is I'm still a little wider up front (no big deal but I do rub more). Also, 1" spacers are a bit too thin as the inner lug nuts slightly touch the spacer itself. This is why a 1.25" spacer is the minimum you should go. I also wouldn't personally go much thicker than 1.5".

 

Is there anyone on this forum who has ran wheel spacers (1" or greater) for more then 10 years on the same vehicle?

 

So my shop it telling me I would need to do quite a bit of trimming if I run the 1.25" Spidertrack spacer up front. I already have done some trimming as well as the BMC. I'm running Bilstein 6112's and Method MR312's with a 4 3/4 backspacing 0 offset. I'm not ready to do a viper cut or anymore trimming than I have already done. Thoughts?

 

That is expected right? When the tire is pushed out and tire rubs more. I remember "TRD Jon" after adding Spidertrax spacer to his TRD Pro even with stock tires and lift it was rubbing.

 

I’m at 8 years and 1.5”.

 

thats a good amount of time. no issues Im assuming. also just curious what kinda wheels and tires are you running anyway?