What Are The Wheel Spacers? What Size Wheel Spacers Do I Need?
Wheel spacers are installed between the vehicle’s axle rotor and wheel to locate the wheel away from other components to prevent rubbing problems. They can also provide a wider wheel-track for the vehicle which can enhance handling performance and make the aesthetics of the vehicle more outstanding. That will be a big problem that what size wheel spacers do I need? The troublesome thing about the installation of wheel spacers is that you ganna do certain groundwork to measure and calculate what size you will basically need because each vehicle will be individual.
Factors You Need To Consider:
| 1. The offset of the wheels you determine to use. |
| 2. The design of the tires, the data like the PCD (the Pitch Circle Diameter), CB (the Center Bore), the Thread Size, and the type of Wheel Fasteners. |
| 3. The ride height of the suspension you daily driving. |
| 4. The vertical distance between the outer edge of the rim and the fender. |
| 5. The type/brand of the brake calipers and the suspension kits. |
How To Measure To Ensure Your Suspension Kits Clear The Wheels/Tires?
Imagine this, when you’ve installed the new suspension kits and everything is ready, the only thing that needs to be done now is to install the wheels on. But you find the wheel or tire is rubbing on the new suspension kits. What a breakdown. So, how to fix this mod problem?
You need to use a spacer thick enough to provide the needed space between the tire and the new suspension kit. How to find the right size spacer is another problem, you will need to measure twice for your vehicle.
The easy approach to measure for choosing the right size spacers is to use screw washers. If your vehicle’s axle rotor has the studs, this will be very easy because the thing you need to do is install washers onto the studs, and refit the wheel to verify clearance against the new suspension kits. The right size spacer will be equal to the thickness of the washers used.
If the size of a spacer is greater than 5mm, you maybe need to choose a set of extended lug studs or purchase the wheel spacers with studs. Don’t attempt to move the vehicle with screw washers installed!
For vehicle’s axle pattern has the lug bolts like some Euro auto brands, which will be a little more complicated. You can purchase at least two BONOSS Forged Titanium Exposed Wheel Stud Conversion Kits and thread them into the axle rotor as the studs, and use the same washer measuring approach I mentioned above.
How To Measure For Clearance To The Fender?
The measurement of the clearance to the fender is much simpler than the process mentioned above but will need a few gears. To simulate the fully loaded state of the vehicle, try to load the trunk up adequately, you can put some heavy objects or ask a few friends to fill the vehicle.
Now, you need to use a ruler or square to measure the distance perpendicular to the wheel wall between the upper edge of the tire and the fender. This distance is the right thickness of spacer you will need to make the tire fitment flush with the fender and the body kit.
If you are driving an off-roader, your fender height is sufficient when the vehicle is fully loaded. In this case, you can choose the thickness of the wheel spacers according to the mod and handling performance requirements from your will.
Hub Centric vs Conventional Wheel Spacers
You can buy the conventional wheel spacers in any auto parts store, and they are produced to match a big range of lug patterns. However, because they are not made for the specific model, they perhaps cause vibration problems in the ride. The spacers with the hub-centric design are made to match the specific axle rotor and the lug patterns of the vehicle.
For instance, the Tesla Model 3 model gets the PCD 5×114.3, and the Center Bore 64.1mm. Then 5×114.3 Tesla Model 3 hub-centric wheel spacers that we BONOSS offer are produced to fit exactly to the Tesla Model 3 all data of the axle rotor and pattern. This hub-centric design won’t cause any vibration problems and terrible noise, it is the safer structure of spacers.
Just leave the complicated and professional things to us! Following our BONOSS official blog, we will continue to publish high-quality modification articles. You are also welcome to share it on your social platforms to help those people in need. Have a browse at BONOSS forged wheel spacers. And you can join the r/WheelSpacers to talk with others about some problems you got. If you get any questions, please contact us!
