New alloy wheel fitment not gone well so far! Spacers and Spigot ring questions

[Anees]

Hi guys,

 

A few weeks back I saw a set of alloys I loved on ebay. They were the correct fitment for a Toyota Supra and hence my car (Toyota Aristo V300) with the correct offset etc. I tried to find out if they would clear front TRD Brake Calipers (Supra) which I had bought previously as part of a brake upgrade (yet to be installed) but found mixed info on the MKIV Supra forum with one person saying they should fit; the other saying not.

 

The details are: FRONT 19" 8.5J et35 REAR 19" 9.5J et42

 

I just decided to gamble and go for it! I manged to pick the alloys up with both Front rims having brand new Falken FK-452 tyres and the rears with Khumo Ecsta Tyres with 6mm thread for £627! Even if I bought tyres they would cost me almost that price so I thought it was worth the gamble!

 

Today we test fitted the new calipers to try and see what the situation is and its not looking great - they definetly will not clear the brakes, so I will need spacers. I need a 12mm spacer (since it took two 6mm spacers we had lying around to clear the calipers). It looks like 15mm spacers is the best bet.

 

On a BMW forum that I vist many people use spacers without issues and alot claim that their car handles better because of it. On the Jap car forums such as the Supra forums they seem to have a negative reputation with the list of problems being:

 

- more stress on studs

- more stress on wheel bearings

- more stress on suspension in general (inc track rods)

- more wear and tear on the power steering

 

so I am confused by the mixed opinions. I know a few people with Jap cars that have Spacers on and they have had no issues at all.

 

I think that alot of the problems with spacers are because of the use of poor quality spacers.

 

If I bought 15mm hub centric spacers that actually bolt on to the hub then the wheel connects to the new stud on the spacer like the quality ones offered by Eibach, H&R etc should I be okay?

How will using spacers affect handling?

 

If a car is setup to take the spacers into account when the geometry is done is it possible to correct any negative geometry issues because of the spacers?

 

I have also discovered that the previous owner must have had a vibration coming from these wheels. They came with the incorrect spigot rings with OD 72.6mm --> ID 60.1mm where as the wheels actually need 74.1mm --> 60.1mm (the bore size is 74.1 according to the box of the alloys)

 

 

Any advice appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Anees

[Tango]

You summed it up:

 

- more stress on studs

- more stress on wheel bearings

- more stress on suspension in general (inc track rods)

- more wear and tear on the power steering

 

All true, but that doesn't necessarily you'll see any problem as a result during your time of ownership. However, I had 20mm spacers with the alloys on my (original) Mini Cooper 'S' and had to fit new wheel bearings not too long after fitting the spacers. Didn't have a problem afterwards for the couple more years I had the car.

[Mat]

if you want to fit spacers, at best fit bolt on spacers

[boo50]

as i know good spacers are from H&R, or Ichiba.

here is the bolt-on 25mm spacers as example http://www.ichibausa.com/25alwhsp5.html

[Anees]

Thanks guys!

 

Getting 15mm spacers means that effectively my fronts wheels will have an offset of et20 so I think I will have to get the arches rolled and possibly look into arch modifications.....but then it would be too nice and straight forward to just stick with the J-Spec calipers

 

THE BEST spacers (that even the Supra crowd seem to think are ok) appear to be made by a company called Project Kics in Japan. I have ordered a set of 15mm spacers from them.

 

Details here:

 

http://www.neweraparts.com/Default.aspx?ta...CustomerID=3476

[Tony]

Hub centric bolt on are the best... The only issue i have with spacers is the need to maintain where the cars weight is placed on the tyres contact patch.

 

It's near imposable for me to calculate this but if the contact is wrong the handling is devastating...

 

If the car has adjustable camber then some recovery is possible by re-positioning the King pin inclination but!! Turret forms of adjustment has less effect than wishbone forms of adjustment on the inclination.

 

One of the reasons i went for the Hunter Geometry machine is that it can assist me calculating the Scrub radius

[Anees]

Hub centric bolt on are the best... The only issue i have with spacers is the need to maintain where the cars weight is placed on the tyres contact patch.

 

It's near imposable for me to calculate this but if the contact is wrong the handling is devastating...

 

If the car has adjustable camber then some recovery is possible by re-positioning the King pin inclination but!! Turret forms of adjustment has less effect than wishbone forms of adjustment on the inclination.

 

One of the reasons i went for the Hunter Geometry machine is that it can assist me calculating the Scrub radius

 

Hi Tony,

 

The ones I have ordered are Hub Centric

 

I assume the GS300/Aristo has adjustable camber?

 

Another question has popped up regarding the spigot rings.

 

I have been trying to get a 74.1mm to 60.1mm spigot rings but they don't seem to exist! 74.1mm to 72.6mm are popular as are the 72.6mm to 60.1mm. Is it safe to combine spigot rings? A wheel supplier in Oldham suggested this idea and said that they themselve do this when they can not get the right sizes. Does this sound ok?

[Tony]

It's down to options really.... In a perfect world i would say no, but compromises need to be made. My only advice is be guided by the vibration? If you feel any then the wheels are not hub centric and this is dangerous.

 

In truth Anees small variations in dimensions shouldn't be a problem but i have to express caution in this type of thread because some possibilities are out of my sight.