Wheel spacers are a kind of wheel accessories that are used to create more space between brake rotors and the wheels. They are installed on the studs or holes of the wheel hub assembly and in return attach the wheels to them. Properly spacing out your wheels makes sure that your tires fit in the wheel arches safely. With wheel spacers, you can add bigger brake calipers correctly. They also increase the track of your vehicle, hence strengthening the grip. As the gripping power increases, the resistance to rollover enhances. You will experience better handling and more comfortable driving. Aesthetically, properly pushing your wheels outwards to the position you like makes the vehicle more aggressive, personalized, and dynamic. In short, wheel spacers are designed to deal with most of the clearance problems. If you are in process of wider tires, bigger brake, or wide-body upgrade, you may consider wheel spacers.
What Do Wheel Spacers Do for Wider Tires?
If you intend to upsize the wheels and tires, wheel spacers will be helpful. Because different rims come with different offset and backspacing. Wider tires would occupy more room in the fender. When installing wider tires, you have to consider clearance for the suspension and fenders. Fortunately, wheel spacers can solve this problem easily and quickly. There are various wheel spacers available for different wheels. By pushing the rims out, wheel spacers make the rims and tires stick out a certain distance. This is effective for fitting your current rims with wider tires.
Wheel spacers are also useful when installing high positive offset rims. The lower the offset is, the more your wheel will stick out. For instance, if your offset is +49mm, and you get 1-inch wheel spacers installed, the offset will be +21mm. This is generally good for creating a sportier and more aggressive stance.
Do I Need Wheel Spacers Do for Wide Body Kit?
People use wheel spacers to push the wheels outwards when completing a wide-body build for their cars. Because nobody wants the car to look like there’s a huge hole in the fender. A wide-body build usually includes new offset wheels. With a wide body kit, the wheels should be wider apart to match the wide fenders. However, when people have a limited budget, wheel spacers become the most cost-effective option.
The best solution will always be to get wider, lower offset wheels fitting for the wider fenders. Sometimes you might have to compromise for second-hand wheels with different offsets. If these wheels and tires are bigger than the OE ones, the tires may rub against the inner wheel well when operating a U-turn or when the suspension bottoms out. To keep the wider wheels and tires functioning correctly, people turn out using wheel spacers. By moving the wheels out, wheel spacers reduce the offset and create more backspace.
Will Wheel Spacers Clear Brake Clearance Issues?
When it comes to big brake kits, wheel spacers are very useful. To ensure a safe wheel rotation, you would need at least 3mm in all directions from the wheel to the caliper. But big aftermarket brakes require more space between the wheels and the hub assembly. In this case, wheel spacers prevent big brake calipers from exceeding the inside wheel spokes. When choosing wheel spacers for brakes, there are some aspects you should take into consideration. The thicker the wheel spacer is, the more the backspace of the wheel. This is effective to clear big brake clearance issues.
