Wheel spacers

[K9Overlander]

Hey members question here do any of you have any experience with wheel spacers ?? I know it’s not the best solution but it’s all I can do right now. What wheel spacers do you guys recommend??
It’s for a 2010 Tahoe.
OR should I stay far far away from them all together?
Love to hear you guys and gals thoughts on this, thanks for the info in advance.

 

[Deleted member 14476]

Yeah not recommended, but like you said sometimes it’s all you can work with. Get hub centric wheel spacers made to fit the wheels you’re going to run. I’ve been recommended Motorsports Tech out of Reno, never used them personally, just have heard they’re the ones to go to.

 

[smritte]

Sure run them. Understand what your doing though.
Wheel spacers are not going to stress your hubs anymore than offset on a rim. Realistically, you shouldn't run wider than 1" over stock. That includes rim size. Anything more starts to change handling as well as wear on components.

The purists out there will tell you how they will destroy your vehicle. Those same people will use a rim with offset to move the tire out. Leverage is leverage. Both cause the same wear and stress because they bolt to the same spot on your suspension. It gets down to what your doing, how much your moving the tire and how much your tire/rim weighs. I've seen guys stack two 2.5" spacers, run 38" tires and run in the rocks. The wheel bearings weren't happy but that just meant more maintenance.

The proper way to move the tire out is widen the suspension. Which is what you would do for racing. Other than that, just don't go crazy. Bigger tires, dirt driving, extra weight from bumpers, winchs....all stress your suspension. You should be checking your bearings and ball joints regularly if you drive in dirt anyway.

 

[bgenlvtex]

Everyone knows why not to use them, but if they are your only option (for whatever reason) and you choose to use them :
Make sure they are the correct pilot diameter
Make sure they are flat and parallel
Make sure the mating surfaces are clean and they are correctly torqued
Make sure they are good material (billet 6061/7075/etc) NOT A CASTING
Make sure the wheels are correctly installed and torqued

 

[MidOH]

Stay away. Your wheel lugs, and my Ram 3500's, are made in china from old Won Ton Soup grease drippings.

Every month I get a recall notice from Ram to retorque and check my extremely soft wheel lugs. I don't know, but I think that auto manufacturers shouldn't be messing up wheel lugs in 2021. Should be a pretty reliable technology by now.

Get proper wheels, and keep a close eye on your lugs. Ironically, Methods chinese wheels aren't half bad.

 

[North American Sojourner]

Chevy wheel bearings have been a issue for decades and it's because they hang the wheel on the spindle on a .5" of steel. Pretty telling.

If you add a spacer, you're loading more weight onto the outside of the hub, away from the spindle. Ford uses a inner and outer bearing that distributes the weight along a spindle shaft. (not sure about current models)
I sold hundreds of these hub assemblies over the course of a few decades. It's gonna happen.
I'd also make sure you use aftermarket wheel studs if available.
Other than that, LOL
Zim

 

[K9Overlander]

Decisions Decisions

 

[Sparksalot]

What are you trying to do where you think you need spacers?

 

[Woodman60]

I bought my 2005 4Runner with spacers already in place. Don't know when they were added but the truck is at 225K, about 80K of which I have driven. Haven't driven it without, but I can't say I've seen any downside.

 

[North American Sojourner]

Decisions Decisions

LOL. Let me guess. You've got a buddy with a great set of wheels for a dynamite price but the wrong backspacing? Or the worse
You ordered a wheel tire package on sale with the wrong backspacing.
Dammit man. LOL. Just kidding. Folks do that all the time. Some use them for tire clearance.
The Tacoma crowd will spend thousands to get a 285 under a little truck like that.
Good luck Sir. Hope you like whatever you decide.
Zim

 

[Mekcanix]

I am (god forbid) running inch and half spacers on my ram rebel. got about 10000km on them so far, no issues. My reason for running is that when I replaced the upper arms with units from the aftermarket they were touching the sidewall. in stock configuration with stock tires they were within a 1/8th of a inch sitting level so I am assuming if I got in a situation with full droop they might actually rub. Like folks say HUBCENTRIC! be aware of the fact you are running them so check regularly

 

[Deleted member 82267]

Hub centric is the key. The spacer mounts just like the wheel with the load on the hub not the wheel studs. Make sure all the matting surfaces are clean, flat and use lock-tite. I have used them but always a little nervous. I used spacers made by poison spyder customs but I think they only do jeep stuff.

 

[K9Overlander]

What are you trying to do where you think you need spacers?

Widen the stance a bit for stability look tire size ect

 

[lhoffm4]

My truck is a 3/4 ton 4x4 Silverado. It’s heavy and I haul heavy with it. That said, I did put spacers that changed the lug pattern on an old Ford long bed trailer to an 8-lug Chevy pattern to match my truck. The slightly wider stance of the trailer looks better and makes me think it’s more stable when dragging the trailer through the mountains. Plus I have two more spares for the truck with the same rims and tires... was a lot cheaper than changing the trailer axle or building a Chevy bed-trailer...