Are wheel spacers bad???

[Wilson]

As per subject really.. can the break etc etc..

Has anything bad happened to anyone before?

[TOURINGDADDY]

Collopsed wheel bearin and loss of hub & n/s/r wheel at 80 mph (ford sierra xr4i) not plesent only on there 4 a week. That car was a wright off

[M3Compact]

Are wheel spacers bad???

Imo: Yes.

[Wilson]

OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Scared now....

Any safety precautions I can take, except check wheel bolts everyday!!

[dazleeds]

can happen but if you invest your money in decent and longer wheelstuds strengthened jobbies you should be ok

shop around quality really does matter

[TOURINGDADDY]

Go 4 spacers that bolt to hub then wheel bolts to spacer (i didnt)

[psychochild187]

that and after you driven on them u need to check them a few times till they are seteled

[Wilson]

The guy at Rochford Tyres said the ones he gave me were strong ones, He was an E30 fan, had a touring he was working on there, we had a bit of a vhat etc and seemed a good guy, said he goes on here, but I forgot to ask his name!!!

They stick out 22mm past the spacers when inserted in the wheel... is that long enough!!!

[Wilson]

gonna check them first thing!!!!

What torque setting????

[Ant]

110 NM dude

I assume you have hub centric spacers ?

[Wilson]

hub centric spacers ?

I'm new to this wheel stuff, never had after market wheels before always stayed with originals on previous cars, must I've ever done before was have them polished!!!

What are they, are they the spigot rings???

[astondg]

I have had them for 6 months to a year now and been racing or to track days 10+ times with them. So far no problems, they haven't come loose or anything. You need the ones that bolt to the hub and have built in bolts/lugs for the wheel to bolt too. This was mentioned above but it is important so I thought I'd resay it. If you get these ones then they really become part of the hub, you can take the wheels off and they are still fixed on there and won't move or anything. I think mine are about 20mm, I probably wouldn't want much more than this just incase of increased strain on the suspension. With the wheels I am using the spacers bring them back to about the same offset as normal E30 wheels so they shouldn't be too bad, not like I am trying to make the track wider or something.

Aston

[Wilson]

Bugger..... Mine aren't that but i've seen the one you mean....

Mine bolt straight through the spacer to yhe hub!!!!!!!!!

[TOURINGDADDY]

dont do it

[Ant]

I guess they supplied you with the ones shown in this link M8

http://www.rochfordtyres.co.uk/product. ... &PT_ID=all

they list as hubcentric to fit e30, longer bolts too.

[Wilson]

I guess they supplied you with the ones shown in this link M8

Yes that, but 20mm.... am I OK providing I torque wheel bolts correctly and check for first few weeks... or should I look into what astondg has got????

[Ant]

10mm would have corrected the offset on the wheels dude.

provided the spacer rings fit tight to the hubs centre boss, and the wheels tight to the same part on the spacer you should have no issues, alloy spigot inserts would provide better location than the(probably) plastic units supplied with the allys

TBH the problems you describe are commonplace to those using BK171 alpina reps, and swopping to the alloy spigots cured 99% of those dude

the weight of the car is carried by the boss/spigot whtever you want to call it, the bolts are there to ensure it stays in place, this is why the centre boss dimention is critical in all repsects

[Wilson]

OK, Alloy spigots it is then.... The centre bore on the hubs I believe is 57.1mm, but it doesn't say what the spacers bore is, is there a standard size....?? Where do I get alloy ones from?

All makes sense Ant as usual, and thanks for everyone elses comments also.

[Jos]

Where did you get 57.1mm from? Reason I am asking is I am having alloy spigots made for my alloys and I measured it with a vernier caliper and I was pretty sure it was 57mm dead.


edit: and infact 57.0mm is right 4 x 100 Bolt pattern, 15...25 offset 57.0 Centre Bore

Also plastic ones I belive are ok provided they are made from the right stuff, glass reinforced nylon, polypropylene or Delrin would be ok (depends on temperature though) anything that doesn't deform should work as well as the alloy ones without the problem of electrolytic corrosion between the alloy and the steel hub.

[Wilson]

Where did you get 57.1mm from?

Oh... Thats what Rochford told me when I was there!!!!.. although there fitment guide on their site says seventy something!!! (which I did point out to them) The spigots they gave me said 57.1mm on the inner edge, and come to think of it they weren't tight to get on, didn't think much of it till now!

Oh no... not driving my car now!!!!... scared!

Anyone confirm that they are infact 57mm not 57.1?????

[Wilson]

Anyone confirm that they are infact 57mm not 57.1?????

I'll put this in new subject so people see... If it is 57mm, I'm gonna ask Rochford to send me the correct ones.

Thanks
Marc

[peejay]

Ok, I have experience in this and believe me any time you start fiddling adapting wheels to where they dont go naturally there are problems! The geometrics of the car have to be bang on, spacers, spigot rings are not permanent fitments. Every time the wheel comes off, depending on who is doing what, tyre replacement, brakes etc unless they put everything back in place exactly you got probs. I've even had a spigot ring disapear completely leaving 3 only ( it took weeks to discover what was causing wobble!)
Its actually happening again now... I just bought some 17 in wheels, had em refurbed, new tyres blah, blah. Somewhere along the line 3 spigots went missing, Mr refurb says dont worry I'll get 3 others to match. First of all drive was great, now though after rigorous use ( if you got it flaunt it !!) wobbles at 60mph/ 80mph and slight at 120mph. The one original I have is red nylon marked 55 x 75. My task now is to source 3 of the same. The wheels are a superb addition to the look & even with slight play, the handling of the car so they are worth it but there is always a price to pay aint there?

[Jos]

Dude, don't worry about driving without spigots, I have none at all on my touring, there is a 10mm+ gap between the alloy and the hub centre and I have no problems below 80mph, then the vibes start..

peejay.. 55mm is too small, how the hell do you get the wheel on?

[Wilson]

Peejay... as Ant said above, Alloy would be better, think I'll look into them, surely alloy spigots can't disapear!!!

Jos... I wouldn't be as worried, if I didn;t have spacers, but I don't want what happened to TOURINGDADDY at the top of this post to happen to me!!!!

[astondg]

Ok, I have experience in this and believe me any time you start fiddling adapting wheels to where they dont go naturally there are problems! The geometrics of the car have to be bang on, spacers, spigot rings are not permanent fitments. Every time the wheel comes off, depending on who is doing what, tyre replacement, brakes etc unless they put everything back in place exactly you got probs. I've even had a spigot ring disapear completely leaving 3 only ( it took weeks to discover what was causing wobble!)
Its actually happening again now... I just bought some 17 in wheels, had em refurbed, new tyres blah, blah. Somewhere along the line 3 spigots went missing, Mr refurb says dont worry I'll get 3 others to match. First of all drive was great, now though after rigorous use ( if you got it flaunt it !!) wobbles at 60mph/ 80mph and slight at 120mph. The one original I have is red nylon marked 55 x 75. My task now is to source 3 of the same. The wheels are a superb addition to the look & even with slight play, the handling of the car so they are worth it but there is always a price to pay aint there?

Unless you get good (probably custom) spacers like the ones TOURINGDADDY and I mentioned and then you don't need spigot rings and the spacers are probably easier to use than the factory idea because you have bolts/lugs to rest the wheel on and help line it up when you are putting it on . Also with the way the spacers bolt on you can't really get it wrong, just like fitting a factory wheel.

Aston

[Wilson]

I see what your saying Astondg, would make life alot easier fitting the wheels, was a right pain trying to hold the spacer against the hub/wheel and getting it all lined up without scratching the wheel!!!! You should have seen me I was !!!!!!!!

[Jhonno]

ive got spacers on my e30 - cause the wheels are e36 and totally the wrong offset.. been running them with longer wheelbolts for the last month or 2 and had no problems..

saying that i want to get proper offset rims as soon as i can afford!

[Wilson]

ive got spacers on my e30 - cause the wheels are e36 and totally the wrong offset.. been running them with longer wheelbolts for the last month or 2 and had no problems..

saying that i want to get proper offset rims as soon as i can afford!

Do yours convert from 4 stud to 5 stud? a few people on here were looking for some of them a week or so back!

[Jhonno]

ive got spacers on my e30 - cause the wheels are e36 and totally the wrong offset.. been running them with longer wheelbolts for the last month or 2 and had no problems..

saying that i want to get proper offset rims as soon as i can afford!

Do yours convert from 4 stud to 5 stud? a few people on here were looking for some of them a week or so back!

no i've done it properly with m3 stuff. Its just that the e36 rims are something stupid like et41!! So they hit the strut and the caliper