wheel spacers and safety

[Joel Hauser]

On my build the rear wheels sit about 35mm in side the fender lip. I am considering adding wheel spacers to push the wheels out. The internet forums are all over the place in this subject, some saying it's perfectly safe, others that it is certain death. Have any roadster builders used them, and what has your experience been?
Thanks
Joel

[David Williamson]

I have them on my 16 year old Mkll and on the new Coupe. The Mkll has .25 inch spacers and as long as the wheel studs are long enough they are fine. Many of the Gen 3 coupes including mine have 1 or 1.25 inch hub centric spacers on the back.
David W

[edwardb]

Haven't had the need to add spacers on a Roadster build. But did on my Gen 3 Coupe build where other builders have done the same thing because the tires are well inside the Coupe body. Wheel spacers are like lots of other things. Done moderately and with quality parts should be fine. Highly recommend hub centric spacers as opposed to lug centric. I used an Eibach 90.4.25.010.3 Pro-Spacer Wheel Spacer Kit (Amazon...) for my Coupe. There are cheaper options. Be careful though. Some of them are junk. Super impressed with the quality of the Eibach parts. While I don't have a lot of miles on the Coupe yet, not expecting any issues from using them. Their 25mm is somewhat less than your 35mm distance (about 3/8-inch difference) but still might be a good fit. You need to keep the tire inside the body. Don't get too far out.

[dpariso]

edward, the kit you used (Eibach 90.4.25.010.3 Pro-Spacer Wheel Spacer Kit (Amazon...) looks like it pushes the wheel out 1" and that's about what i want. Before I order them, one of the reviews on Amazon said "required me to cut my studs." Would this be true in my case? I have a Mark III.
Also, torque settings for the spaces and wheels the same?
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[RoadRacer]

FWIW, I ran spacers on rear of my GT40 replica for 20,000 hard miles and abused the hell out of that thing, before rebuilding my 3-piece wheels with different offset. 335 tires too, so they had to be strong. I wouldn't hesitate.

[Crawleyscobra]

[QUOTE=dpariso;411635] one of the reviews on Amazon said "required me to cut my studs." Would this be true in my case? I have a Mark III.
Also, torque settings for the spaces and wheels the same?

I used the Eibach spacers too. high quality product. I had to trim my studs so they would not protrude beyond the surface of the spacer. I used 100 ft/lb on the spacers, but only use 85 ft/lb on my billet wheels.

[edwardb]

You may have to trim the studs for the Eibach spacers. And others too of course. Depends on the length of the studs (they vary) also on your wheels. Some are flat in that area inside. Some aren't. I can confirm for the Factory Five wheels they do need to be trimmed so flush. Quick work with a cut-off wheel. I torqued them the same as the wheels.

[Papa]

I ran spacers on a Jeep for years. As others have said, buy quality parts, pay attention to detail, and you should never have any issues. I also strongly recommend hub-centric as well.

[RBachman]

I ran spacers on a Jeep for years. As others have said, buy quality parts, pay attention to detail, and you should never have any issues. I also strongly recommend hub-centric as well.

Same for me. I had them on my first jeep, and ran the thing hard and off-road. 97,000 miles when I traded it and never an issue.

[AC Bill]

Remember some original Cobra's had tires ride well inside their wheel wells.
For example..

https://www.classicandsportscar.com/gallery/barn-find-shelby-427-cobra-set-fetch-1m-amelia-island

[GoDadGo]

Remember some original Cobra's had tires ride well inside their wheel wells.
For example..

https://www.classicandsportscar.com/gallery/barn-find-shelby-427-cobra-set-fetch-1m-amelia-island

Amen Mr. Bill, Amen!

https://youtu.be/FJpASOjJWa8

[CraigS]

I have also used the Eibach spacers and find them to be really top quality. I happen to already have long 3 inch lugs on mine so I did things just a little differently. I removed the studs that come affixed to the spacer. I put the spacers on the long studs and ran the supplied nuts on and torqued them. The nuts are a little thinner than regular ones so they ended up slightly below the wheel mount surface. I then installed the wheels and used my regular lugnuts to hold them on torqued to the usual spec. They survived quite a few years of autocrossing w/ Hoosier A6s and A7s. I'd use them again in a heartbeat.