Long term effects of spacers?

[geep81]

I love the look of wheels a little closer to the fenders, the 1" spacers or maybe even a little less look really good. I am not going to lower my car ever. Can anyone give me advice on long term negative effects of this mod? I know they add some wear, but I can't find anything on how much sooner I can expect to replace suspension parts or anything like that.

I also know I can get wider wheels and I will eventually, but I really like my blackout package wheels and I don't really want to go to the expense of new wheels/tires right now.

Thank you!

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[ugstang17]

Fewer threads will be in contact with the lugnut, placing more stress on the remaining few threads making contact with the lugnut. This puts the driver and others on the road at risk. Install longer studs on all four wheels since you are bent on putting a 1" spacer between the rim and hub. Additionally this will place more weight on the inside of the tire causing weight displacement to not be centered over the tire creating less traction and causing potential wear on the tire on the inside. Lugs are torqued to a spec based on the number of thread count in contact. Reduce surface area by having 1" less threads in contact with the lugnut and you greatly reduce the holding pressure the keeps the wheel securely on the hub.

 

[Hadelson]

I love the look of wheels a little closer to the fenders, the 1" spacers or maybe even a little less look really good. I am not going to lower my car ever. Can anyone give me advice on long term negative effects of this mod? I know they add some wear, but I can't find anything on how much sooner I can expect to replace suspension parts or anything like that.

I also know I can get wider wheels and I will eventually, but I really like my blackout package wheels and I don't really want to go to the expense of new wheels/tires right now.

Thank you!

I've run spacers on several of my rides. Had 1" rear spacers on a 72 Charger with a built 340 CI with many heavy launches----no issues. Been running 1.25" spacers on all of my 4Runners. This is much heavier (Current 4runner is 5100Lbs) then the Mustangs with some serious off road work, big tires, etc. and no issues.
I would say install with correct torque and check it a week later. Drive the car and have fun

 

[1 old racer]

Been running spacer from .75" to 1.5" on most of my veh. for over 40 years and have never had a long term failure due to the spacers. I had them on my Mitsubishi Montero Sport 4x4 for over 130k and used the SUV as my off road rig. no bearing issues or nothing like that.

 

[moffetts]

Fewer threads will be in contact with the lugnut, placing more stress on the remaining few threads making contact with the lugnut. This puts the driver and others on the road at risk. Install longer studs on all four wheels since you are bent on putting a 1" spacer between the rim and hub. Additionally this will place more weight on the inside of the tire causing weight displacement to not be centered over the tire creating less traction and causing potential wear on the tire on the inside. Lugs are torqued to a spec based on the number of thread count in contact. Reduce surface area by having 1" less threads in contact with the lugnut and you greatly reduce the holding pressure the keeps the wheel securely on the hub.

All of the 1 inch spacers I’ve seen have their own lugs, so the concern about less thread contact is a nonissue. I run them purely for aesthetic reasons but I did have an issue where the splines of one of the lugs in the spacer stripped out, which prevented me from removing the wheel. I ended up having to cut the wheel off because I (foolishly) severely damaged the lug nut trying to break it. If I had stopped while I was ahead, there are tools that help you drill out the stripped lug. I suspect that the tire shop overtorqued the lug and stripped it against the aluminum body of the spacer itself. Be careful.

 

[ugstang17]

^^^ Gotcha. Never played the spacer game. Usually only see people use them to clear a caliper or strut interference.

 

[1 old racer]

A word of caution. Eventhough I have installed bolt on hub centric spacers on most of my car. None of my track cars have had bolt on spacers. Some have had hub centric slip ons with extended lug studs at the hub. In other words I am a fan of them for looks but not for track use

 

[geep81]

Thanks a lot for all the info everyone.

 

[BlownGP]

I've run spacers on several of my rides. Had 1" rear spacers on a 72 Charger with a built 340 CI with many heavy launches----no issues. Been running 1.25" spacers on all of my 4Runners. This is much heavier (Current 4runner is 5100Lbs) then the Mustangs with some serious off road work, big tires, etc. and no issues.
I would say install with correct torque and check it a week later. Drive the car and have fun

Yup, I'm going on 6 years of running 1.25" spacers on my truck. Over 60K miles. Never had any problems.

Check them from time with the right TQ rating and they will be fine.

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