Hey guys I have a quick question. How hard is it to install wheel spacers? I'm thinking of getting 5mm in the front and 15mm in the back. My wheels are currently 18x7.5 w/ a 42 offset. I think that should solve my horrible problem with the way they look. Anyhow I'm wondering if this is a job I should take to a shop or could I do it over the weekend? I installed my JIC's in my garage no problem I'm just wondering if I need a shop press to get the old studs out or just what. Any input would be great! Thanks!!

 

Well if you get the H&R's with the new studs all you have to do is gently hammer them out once you've removed the caliper and rotor from the hub. There's one hole on the brake shield that lets the stud out the back and just be able to rotate the hub to line up each lug. To put the new one on just use a lug nut and a bunch of washers to pull it tight into the hub.

Did this on Shadow's car over 2 years ago and no problems but some people say it could damage the wheel hubs b/c of hammering.

 

Thanks man...it doesn't seem so hard. BTW nice lude.

 

theres a better way using a screw type ball joint removal tool so you dont have to hammer but hammering is fine, Ive done it to put on my 5mm's

 

I see you are going to be mixing a different offset in the front vs the one in the rear. Is it ok to do so? I was thinking of doing this.

 

I have 45 offset in the front, and 30 offset in the rear (with spacers/adaptors) and no problems so far. Other than a bit of rubbing on full lock turns in the front.

 

Thanks for the info. BTW what do you mean by adapters? Are they the same as spacers?

 

Look below for a pic of my adaptors.

Adaptors bolt onto the stock studs, and have studs built in to bolt your wheels to, so you don't need longer studs. In the picture, the adaptor on the left is my old 32mm thick one (they are for sale BTW), the one bolted up on the right is my new 20mm.

Check out my homepage for more pics if you like.

 

Ok, that clears things up. Are these things hubcentric? What about thsoe cheaper spacers which have no studs, and just basically are a piece of metal with holes to match your existing studs?

 

Those are called gay spacers (Cheap ones that consist of only a thin cheap metal that is sold for like $20 on ebay) Lordrandall has it right, he got some REAL spacers... They are used mostly on show cars because there are incidents where people have had their wheels fly off... I've heard that you need to constantly retorque lugs, wheels may vibrate at high speeds and are in general unsafe because the lugs no longer go in as deep as before now that the spacers are pushing the wheels outwards... (ie, let's say you turned 6.5 turns to tighten wheel, now you may only have to turn 5.0 times to tighten wheel onto spacer which of course is between the hub and the wheel), hence the whole idea behind dropping the real money to get a real spacer kit...

LEMAR

 

I have smaller spacers in the front, but they are hubcentric, not the cheapo Pep-boys generic fit ones.

 

Yeah, for some rims you can just take that ball thing off in the rear, You dont usually need spacers, Also dont you think its kind of dangerous not having a lot of the screw going onto the bolt?

 

Are you asking me?

With a 5mm spacer there is still enough threads for my comfort level. I've had them on the front with no problems for several thousand miles, and I don't drive like a grandma. YMMV