there was a thread on here about a guy with spacers and his wheel fell(broke) off on the highway because of the spacers....I would never run them after seeing that....but maby they were cheap ones
Please find this thread, I'd like to see the facts.
Please find this thread, I'd like to see the facts.
It did happen. It's happened to quite a few guys.
In all fairness, they were the cheapo spacers that use your stock lugs but just act as a spacer.
The proper way to do it is to use a hubcentric spacer from Max motorsports which bolts to your axle and then has another set of lugs that the wheel bolts to. You should also upgrade your stock lugs to hardened lugs when you do this.
But those cheap $30 spacers are just asking for trouble.
I did a quick search but couldn't find it.
If you have time to search the guys screenname was UnderPressureGT. But yes it did happen, he had pics of it and all.
www.brothersperformance.com "baer billet wheel spacers 4 or 5 lug 1/4 to 1"
Again, do you have the thread documenting this?
...Seems to be that the idea of 1/4" wheel spacers causing broken wheels etc is urban legend. Even if things break, its tough to know if its the spacer.
Whether it's urban legend or not, it's not a smart thing to do...it puts the wheel studs beyond their yield strength due to less thread engagement, and that's why they break-that's the important part. The studs are made from specific alloys with minimum intended thread engagement, if you drop below that, you're running the risk of breakage.
Not to mention the spacers act as, well a spacer and move the force of the wheel away from the hub of the axle or rotor. As with all levers, the further away from the fulcrum point (the point where the lug meets the hub/axle/rotor) the more force is put on it.
So a 1/2" spacer would put more stress on the lugs than a 1/4" spacer.
This is why hubcentric spacers are important as the positively locate the spacer so it doesn't move around behind the wheel under load
Still, no facts, just "this guy did it and his wheel broke off." I just want facts to make an informed decesion and others can do the same.
Mustang5L5. He did it anyway and then a week later made a post about his rear wheel passing him on the freeway