New to me X... front wheel spacers?

[PUR PONY]

Just picked up a New to me X... its a 2006 EB 4.0L 4x4 with all the goodies, Nav, DVD, etc.... Its got 84,000 miles and was bought new and owned by my best friend. Truck is MINT inside and out. Picked it up for trade in of $12.5K. He bought a 2011 Edge.

Anyways, one thing i hate about the truck is the front wheels are tucked so far under it. At some point im probably going to upgrade from the factory 235x65x18s to a slightly wider 255x65x18 or 255x60x18, but also thinking of adding front wheel spacers. Anyone do this? If so how thick?

thanks

 

[Sams01XplrSprt]

welcome u got pics of it

 

[Peteris]

The thinner the better... In terms of not stressing your wheel bearings.

For the tire width increase - check the space you have between the upper control arm and the inner sidewall of the wheel. THen knowing how wider the tire will be you can figure out how thick you need.

I was planning to do a 265/70 on 17". Figured that the best would be 1". As this would be the "thinnest" full bolt-on spacer.

Anything below it is a "slip-on", and would either decrease the thread length that goes into the lug nut, or would require new, longer bolts. Slip-on not good in my eyes - increased stress=reduced safety...

Recomendation - 1" or none.

You can go wider for sure, but again - wheel bearings, stress on the bolts holding the wheel+spacer in place etc... Imagine going at higher speed over the bumps, and the wheel being further out from it's mounting point on longer bolts (spacer+original bolts). Think of the bolts+spacer as being a lever, putting way more force on the original bolt as designed by Ford...