Wide wheels and spacers

[andyborris]

I know a 1 inch spacer will increase the stress on the suspension and wheel bearings, but will it be more or less (stress) then fitting a 1 inch wider wheel and tyre?

Thanks

Andy

[sausage]

More. The Tyre / wheel centre line is moved out by the spacer width, depending on the wheel offset 1 inch wider wheels would be about half that i reckon.

[vitesseefi]

Aug 11, 2018 14:01:43 GMT andyborris said:

I know a 1 inch spacer will increase the stress on the suspension and wheel bearings, but will it be more or less (stress) then fitting a 1 inch wider wheel and tyre?

Thanks

Andy

No. The wheel spacer just moves your existing wheel and thus tyre footprint out by 1" but the effect of the wider wheel depends on its offset. If all the extra 1" is on the outboard side of the wheel mounting surface then the effect will be similar but not the same as the back edge of the wheel would still be in the same place as the original unspaced wheel. Tyre width will also have an effect.

Nick

[slater]

Same. It's overall offset that matters not wether you are using a spacer or not.

[andyborris]

Thanks, I've got narrower wheels then the optional alloy wheels fitted, by about 1.5 inch.

These alloy wheels also increase the + offset too, so I reckon 1 inch spacers won't increase the stress beyond the design limits.

[rallyboy]

As above, the spacer & wheel offset combination are the important factor. However, it depends on vehicle & usage as to whether you actually needs to worry about it. For example, I've widened the rear track on a car by 4" by making custom hubs but using the OE wheel bearings in the OE locations (so equivalent to 2" wheel spacers with the OE wheels). Obviously this dramatically increases the load on the wheel bearings - 4 years & 2000 miles (1000 in competition) later with no problems. Looking at the spec of the wheel bearings and you can kind of see why as they're massively overspec'd in the first place as it just uses a pair of std size bearings (ie off the shelf = cheap). This is on a car from the 80's though - whether something more modern is more "value engineered" I don't know ...

[andyborris]

Thanks, only going to go an inch wider, which is less then the standard alloy wheels. It's a Delica, it does go off-road, but it doesn't get hammered, because it's often a long walk back, with the girlfiend complaining....and we're usually camping in it, so we lose our bed too.


Any recommendations for brands, blokes in sheds who make them etc.?

[rallyboy]

www.raceways.co.uk/Wheels_Spacers.htm are good - I've used them a few times. 5x114.3 PCD is a bit less common so they only have universal spacers that might do - 20mm seems to be the thickest on the website though. Worth asking if they could do 25mm as I've found them very good.

[andyborris]

Just an update, before picture



And after a 30mm spacer.




Not over the top, but fills the arch...…...

[andyborris]

Should add, I was a little worried how the spacers would cope with off-road use, and after a trail that had the Delica on 3 wheels in a "bomb" hole, (the girl fiend bailed!) they were fine and the wheels are still attached.

I guess it helps that although it's driving on very rough tracks, it's only at 5 mph!