wheel spacers

[shinta]

afternoon yall,

so i have a 4in lift on my 92 ex. i am running 33x12.5x15 and iam finally tired of the rubbing. i am getting mixed signals from what i have been reading about wheel spacers. could someone try to explain to me barney style what my best option is.

 

[Anime]

Best option is getting new 15x10 wheels with the correct offset so they don't rub.

Spacers aren't a good idea, especially with large, heavy off-road tires.

Adapter-type spacers (that bolt onto the stock lugs and have lugs of their own) can be an ok option for using certain wheels on a vehicle that aren't available in the stock lug pattern, or that aren't available in the necessary offset, but I'd say those are still mostly for show vehicles or at most, street-driven daily drivers. They aren't a good idea for off-road use or heavy tire/wheel combos because they create a weak point, since the spacers are aluminum, and wind up bearing the entirey of forces.

Shim-type spacers aren't a good option either, mostly because they can allow the lug nuts to come loose. They also reduce the amount of thread available to the lug nuts on the lugs, and if the stock lugs are already short, using spacers/shims can just about ensure that the lugs will come off and there will be some sort of incident.

If you're going to be going off-road, just get 15x10 wheels to go with the 33's, which is what they should have anyway, and you won't have to worry.

 

[shinta]

Ok sounds like you know what your talking about. I sm really happy it wasn't s well afriend of my brothers sister who was dating someone's cousin hsd a wheel fall off. Thanks man I appreciate it.

 

[Styx]

I'm running 1" spacers on my 02 Ex. I put in 3' body and 3' suspension lifts but wanted to keep the stock wheels with my 285/75R16's but they were rubbing... I love them. I do off road and it is no differance to the wheel bearing load as an offset wheel. I remove the wheels regularly and re torque the spacers often... If your not stuck on the wheels you have or if your not prone to maintaining your ride, then by all means get the proper ones with a deeper offset... Other than that get the spacers... side note I should have gotten the 1.5" spacers because I had to trim the studs with the 1" ones...

Cheers...

 

[ld50]

I ran bolt on spacers as already described here, for a couple years.
I agree that it puts just as much stress on your hub/ bearings as an offset wheel. (actually I don't have to agree, it is basic physics).

The only real downside for me is I had some ongoing issues with my rear brakes during that time and it was a pain getting the drums off because I had to get the spacers out of the way.

I seem to recall the minimum size spacers I could run were 1.5 inch, in order to just clear the studs so they were below the spacer mounting face after being bolted on. You can get wider, but if you just need a little more clearance I would keep it small.

I did it because I liked the rims I had, otherwise I would have gone for an off-set rim, which is still ideal.