Educated Opinions On Wheel Spacers Please.

[Yaris WRC]

I want applied science on this question please.

would putting wheel spacers on the car , help the handling in ANY way?

and if so HOW?

[mad welshman]

being an enginneer, id say that it would make the handling worse. u could always pm envy performance?

[BLiTZ]

not really knowing - i'd say the braking might suffer cos the brakes are no longer in the middle of the wheel the disk is respectively more too one side - but like i said i know nout about them so wait for one of the techies to pop along

[Woody27]

not really knowing - i'd say the braking might suffer cos the brakes are no longer in the middle of the wheel the disk is respectively more too one side - but like i said i know nout about them so wait for one of the techies to pop along

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Wouldnt have thought so as isnt the brakes retarding the motion of the whole unit so it will all travel at the same speed no matter where the braking is done?

[cfc1]

OK..you don't say why.. but, IF yu are putting spacres on so that the wheels don't hit the calipers then don't.. get wheels that fit properly.

If you want the wheels to stick out a bit more, then again i wouldn't use spacers, get a wheel with a larger negative offset (deep dish wheels are normally negative offset)

This brings in the question of offset affecting the handling of the car... If the offset isn't right, then the handling and balance of the car could suffer a detrimental effect. The wheel should sit more or less straight above the hub, with even distribution of the weight of the wheel and tyre, the car retains its handling.. moving this weight too far to one side won't do it any favours (or the wheel bearings) cars have specific offset settings for more reasons than just stopping them rubbing. It would also affect the geometrics of the car. If it doesn't fit without spacers, IMO it has no place on the car.

If deep dish wheels aren't wide enough for sommething you may have planned.. you may have to look into changing the hubs etc, but that is something for someone else to go into.

[earpl]

being an enginneer, id say that it would make the handling worse.  u could always pm envy performance?

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also being in engineering i'd say they'd make your handling better and the wheel base would increase, and being wider it would virtually lower your center of gravity in a way. but it will chew through wheel bearings to bits as they will be under more strain.

not a good idea in my opinion

[BLiTZ]

isn't it the case that spacers were developped for the american ricers so they can fit inapropriate rims to their civics?

[cfc1]

also being in engineering i'd say they'd make your handling better and the wheel base would increase, and being wider it would virtually lower your center of gravity in a way.  but it will chew through wheel bearings to bits as they will be under more strain.

not a good idea in my opinion

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It would only make the handling better if the wheel was wider equally on both sides of the rim.. if you know what i mean.. ensuring that the centre line of the wheel is still more or less above the hub mounting point.

[earpl]

by better i meant less likely to roll over, with the wider wheel base & all.

[cfc1]

By handling we meant keeping the car on the road :lol::lol: but yes.. i suppose it wouldn't roll over quite as easily after it hits the wall :P

[rickoty]

Wheel spacers can upset the geometry of the car causing more bump steer etc. Also as mentioned kill wheel bearing faster.

[knightrider]

think if your gonna do it do it 10mm max otherwise theres serious wheelbearing issues,

[Yaris WRC]

ok so if your talking about the wheel should be wider to keep the hub relatively central, would putting a wider tyre on the car be enough or does the actual rim need to be wider.

the reason i asked was becasue i was 'considering' the yashio factory arches and would need the wheels spaced out more.

but i think im just going to leave it, one of the reasons i was considering them was the possibility of better handling.

[cfc1]

You would need the right wheels.. with a really deep dish with the right offset.

Notice how in the top picture, the wheel is sticking out beyond the arch.. this is what you will need with the Yashio arches.

Spacers would do the job.. but not the 5 or 10mm spacers that you just hang on the hub before putting the wheel on, you would need a kit the gets bolted on useing the stud holes in the hub, these sppacers have their own stud holes in them for the wheel to bolt onto.

A range of safe and inexpensive kits to enhance the driveability and appearance of your car. A wide range of widths are available to enable you to bring the outside of the tyre as close to the wheelarch as you like. Fitting is simple and only takes a few minutes. Please read the following guide to make sure that you chose the most appropriate Spacer Kit for your needs.

Type 10 - Is fitted onto the hub using the nuts and/or bolts supplied in the kit. The wheel is then attached to the spacer using the original bolts and nuts. The spacer has a centre bore to exactly match the diameter of the hub collar.

Type 11 - The bolts provided in the kit are long enough to go through the wheel and the spacer to screw directly into the holes in the disc/drum. The spacer has a centre bore and collar to match the diameter of the hub collar and rim centre bore

Type 12 - These car specific spacers are fitted between the hub and the wheel using the long bolts provided

Type 13 - These universal spacers are fitted between the hub and the wheel using the original nuts or bolts

The site won't let me show the pictures so here's the link anyway...

click here

Fitting type 10 and 11 will change the offset of the wheels, you would need to get the wheel as close to the srtut as you can.. with a dish deep enough to fill the arches out.. doing it this way is a lot more expensive, but it will help keep the weight of the wheel centred (as best it can be) above the hubs, If it can be done properly then there won't be too much extra strain on the wheel bearings and the handling of the car should be better (once you get the geometry set back up... the standard tracking settings won't apply)

Hope that helps.. it's doable, but could be expensive)

Give the guys at Ears Ireland a call.. they are in Maddow Hill, County Cork.. know their stuff.

[yaris-on-18's]

i looked into this when i had wider arches on mine and decided it wasn't worth it as a lot of people on here told me the car would just eat wheel bearings etc. i ended up dropping my new arches about 2-3inches lower than where the std ones sat so now my wheels sit up in them and it looks well imo

[Yaris WRC]

yeah I will just keep things simple, im not going to bother with the arches.

thanks for all the advice :)