There has been a controversy over the strength and safety of using spacers in order to adjust wheel offset. Some people using them and others stating they are not a good idea.

Don't some discs work as spacers? Look for example at the rear disc setup on our cars. The hat sits on the axle face and pushes the wheel out. On top of it all is there not a shearing effect on the studs from these discs when the brakes are applied? Spacers don't do that.

I've been taking note of how thick these styles of discs are every time I run across one. They are usually 7mm to 8mm thick.

I agree that buying wheels that fit perfect is the best route, but this is sometimes not possible, especially with our cars.

I like these spacers and adapters. Both are made to be hub centric to the hub and wheel.

http://www.hrsprings.com/site/products/trak.html

as far as I'm concerned those are all adapters. The only difference between the adapters and the spacers on that site is that one changes the bolt pattern and the other doesn't. To me a spacer will always be a disc with no studs on it that goes between the wheel and the hub. Its been proved many times that there are no safety concerns with using spacers if you have enough stud thread left. Ideally though the spacer has to be perfectly centered in order to not throw out your balance so that means it has to be hubcenteric (preferably to the wheel as well), iow it will be custom unfortunantly ($$ unless you make it yourself).

As for safety with an adapter like those, its exactly the same thing as bolting a wheel to a hub, just that its done twice per wheel.

It all depends really.

With a spacer (depending on how thick it is), the main issue is with the amount of stud left to retain the wheel, but another side issue is the different load on the bearings, and the different rotational/torque loading on the stub etc due to the greater offset.

In my case, for the rear wheels, I have made a 20mm spacer (but fitted longer studs) primarily to clear the rear caliper that I have fitted, but the other side of the coin, is that due to the wheel combo, the resultant offset of the wheel/spacer is actually 3mm less than what the orginal is.

Small diferences with the accompanying correct mods, I don't see a hug problem, but there are exceptions to the rule.

Cheers

Michael B

The spacers I got for the rear, bolt to the hub with the existing studs, then the spacers have their own studs. They are hub centric to the axles and are hub centric to the wheels. Just a different twist on the spacer/adapter.

Adapters done correctly aren't an issue. In our shops, we try to avoid adapters and spacers as much as possible, especially when there is a proper fitment available.

The problem with adapters is that the general public will not torque them down properly or overtorque them and strip the studs. Some issue also arises with poor quality adapters.

Properly done adapters will give the most flexiblity in terms of wheel fitments. A lot of BMW race teams use them to give their car a wider track in the back.

As far as spacers.. people get carried away with them too. Sometimes not getting the lugnut on enough thread. Or getting it past the hub so it's no longer hub centric. Eibach offers hub centric spacers.

Personally, I'd recommend adapters over spacers especially with anything 8mm and thicker.

Keep this in mind: Hubcentric, 5 complete turns on each lugnut, and proper torque. If you can do this then it's just a matter of 5K mile inspections to make sure everything is not loose.

Regards,
James R