[rayp85]

I've read all the pros and cons on the forum, but I'd like to hear from people who've had spacers on the cars for 30k, 40k, 50k+ miles. Any issues with the bearings?

I've talked to some mechanics and their only concerns were with the large amount of force that the spacer would put on the top of the bearings. I didn't get it myself at first, so I made a really simple drawing to show what happens.

Normally, the tire supports the weight of the car. When the same tire is pushed out with a spacer, now the weight of the car gets put across the spacer causing the moment on the wheel. The larger the spacer, the larger this moment. This causes the tiny ball bearings at the top of wheel bearing to experience a larger force than the ones at the bottom, ultimately causing failure. The bolt-on style spacers relieve a lot of this moment, but it's still always there.

I realize that getting wider rims would def solve this issue, but I want to keep the stock wheels and I def understand that with looks: no pain, no gain. I just want to get some real feedback. Thanks in advance.

 

[Kolia]

How thick are you planning to go ?

Wheels spacers will wear your bearings faster. It is hard to quantify tho. The thicker the spacer, the faster the wear. The faster wear might still be way beyond your ownership period anyways. Don't worry too much about wear.

DO worry about the following:

Make sure you have at least 12mm thread engagement on the wheels studs (8 turns of the nuts) so you don't loose a wheel.

Do not track the car as the added thickness will add to the stress on the studs during thermal expension from brake heat.

Take some time to familiarise with your car's steering response. Big spacers will afect the scrub radius, turn in and general stance of the car. Not dangerous but different.

 

[Furple]

Well if you ever lifted weights you would realize it makes sense that the bearing would wear out faster because it is dealing with more stress/force/whatever its called.

In reality I'm not sure how perceptible the difference will be. There are several on this forum with 20mm + spacers so I'm sure we will find out soon enough.

 

[Danni3]

in a nutshell yes it would make the bearing wear out more but our cars are built to take a lot more stress then we usually give it =P, since i'm too lazy to do a stress/shear analysis of the wheel bearing, the only way to safely widen your wheelbase is get larger wheels.

btw i'm not entirely sure your diagram is correct lol, theres normal force from the wheel and downward force from the car just right of the wheel, creating a shear stress where the spacer is

stupid mechanics of materials, i will never look at the world the same way again

 

[rayp85]

Yea, I figured I wouldn't bore everyone with an entirely accurate free body diagram. The diagram was just supposed to be a simplified representation of one wheel/hub before and after the installation of a wheel spacer (I guess I lose points on my lack of labels...). The "weight of the car" force does move to the right after the spacer is installed. If I'd done it right, I probably should have accounted for the tensile load in the studs, too.

But back to the topic at hand: After installing the hfp suspension this weekend, the gap in the rear is much more noticeable. I measured approx 20mm in the front and 45mm in the rear. I'll probably just stick with the 20/25mm spacers that's worked so well for everyone else. And I def don't plan on taking my car to a track anytime soon.

If I've learned nothing else from engineering, there's always a trade off. Wider wheels will solve the bearing problem, but it'll just create additional stresses on steering components. Again, the price for aesthetics...

On a good note, I'm thinking that it might be a good sign that no one's responded with any specific examples of bearings wearing out from spacers. Like Kolia said, there's definitely additional wear, but not enough to cause concern.

Again, I appreciate the responses. Despite the fact that this depends so heavily on driving style, I still wouldn't mind hearing about how many miles people have driven on their spacers without any issues.

 

[Kolia]

As a side note, the bearing will never "see" the difference between using a 20mm spacer with OEM +55 offset wheel vs an aftermarket +35 offset rim.

The tire width itself will move the loads around.

We could split hair all night...

 

[rayp85]

Makes sense. It'd be the same type of wear on the bearing. Just as long as the aftermarket wheel is the same width as the OEM. I never really considered aftermarket rims. If someone's got wheels with OEM width and a comparable offset to a spacer, then this bearing question applies to them too.

 

[gentledental4u]

im on 10K miles and no problems yet.. :banana::banana::banana:

 

[dking99]

As a side note, the bearing will never "see" the difference between using a 20mm spacer with OEM +55 offset wheel vs an aftermarket +35 offset rim.

The tire width itself will move the loads around.

We could split hair all night...

I love the conversation here...it's providing me with a lot of knowledge, so thanks.

Are you saying the OEM wheels are a +55 offset? The after market wheels I just got are a +20 offset. Does this mean I can add a 30mm spacer with no additional stress than the OEM setup? I am following the logic, but since I am new to this it's great to get confirmation on some of my thoughts.

 

[Accordguy04]

Only thing I can say outa that is yes that the oem 8th gen wheels are +55 cause they are the same as my 7th gen oem wheels

 

[rayp85]

dking - I'm pretty sure the OEM V6 offset is +55, but I would check some of the other threads for confirmation.

Kolia was saying that an aftermarket +20 rim would apply the same additional stress to the bearing as an OEM +55 rim with a 35mm spacer. This calculator helps to clarify a bit. The only way to have no more additional stress than OEM is to stick with the original wheel or an aftermarket wheel with the same OEM specs. And no spacers in either case.

If you added a 30mm spacer to your +20 offset rims, assuming an OEM +55 offset and that your aftermarket rim has the same width as OEM, then the outside of your wheel would be sticking out a total 65mm (55-20+35) from the OEM setup.

I hope this helps.

 

[next_milenium]

I love the conversation here...it's providing me with a lot of knowledge, so thanks.

Are you saying the OEM wheels are a +55 offset? The after market wheels I just got are a +20 offset. Does this mean I can add a 30mm spacer with no additional stress than the OEM setup? I am following the logic, but since I am new to this it's great to get confirmation on some of my thoughts.

Looking at your photos, are you sure your offset is +20? They look the same as mine, which is +45. I know the small difference would be difficult to see from small photos but if you had +20 offset, I think your front wheels would stick out slightly beyond your fender. I could be wrong though.

Also, what's the width of your wheels? If they are 8", then +20 makes sense as mine are 8.5" wide.

 

[GoLowDrew]

There must be something not correct (not that I know his car) based on appearance. A 20mm offset is pushed pretty far out. So if this is correct, and in his case, adding adding another 30mm out, what do we call that? Negative 15mm offset?

It would be far out like this.

 

[gunmetal]

that car is a completed hazard!