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Recently moved to 18,19 setup with C6 wheels. Had to use a 20mm spacer on the rears. Seems to be a lot of mixed opinions on whether spacers are safe. My mechanic said he hates them, doesn’t trust them. I know many are running C6 wheels and am looking for any real life experiences, good and bad. Car is a cruiser with some very light spirited driving. No track.
Would have included full car pic but it is snowing in central CT. WTF!
Daily drove a car that was a lot heavier than a C5 with 20mm spacers on it for 3 years and 70k miles without a single problem. And they were from eBay.
Would I track and abuse a car with spacers? Probably not. But for regular use, they're fine.
Everyone's got a horror story. I see brand new cars with broken wheel studs from impact gun "mechanics" at work every day. Everything breaks. Just the nature of the beast.
Until I can have my rear 19x11's widened, I'm running 1" hub-centric spacers. Hopefully, the state of Michigan will be "allowed" to re-open sometime this year, and maybe my wheel shop won't shut down, forever.
My entire road racing series (NASA Camaro Mustang Challenge) all use slip on spacers with ARP studs to achieve desired track width and track width ratio. Some of us are rocking 3/4" worth of spacers and have been doing so for many years. I've yet to see anyone have an issue with it, myself included. We are pretty much all lug centric.
I just removed my C6 wheels with 1" rear spacers today. They were on for a year and a half of street and road course use before I replaced them with CCWs.
Here goes *dons flame suit*
My entire road racing series (NASA Camaro Mustang Challenge) all use slip on spacers with ARP studs to achieve desired track width and track width ratio. Some of us are rocking 3/4" worth of spacers and have been doing so for many years. I've yet to see anyone have an issue with it, myself included. We are pretty much all lug centric.
No flame suit needed, it's actually a pretty common practice.
From: "Once you have flown, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward; for there you have been
I used 20mm on the rear of my C5 when I ran a set of C6 fitment 18/19's. You might want to swap out the acorn lug nut for and ET style nut. That will give you back some of the thread purchase you loose with the spacers.
From: ALL governments are legalized mobsters, so doesn't matter where I live :(
YES!
I run a few different configurations at the track for years now, 12mm, and 1.25" with no issues. As long as the wheel foot print is in the right spot you'll be fine.
I used 20mm on the rear of my C5 when I ran a set of C6 fitment 18/19's. You might want to swap out the acorn lug nut for and ET style nut. That will give you back some of the thread purchase you loose with the spacers.
Didn't know what ET nuts so I learned something. I’m using the bolt on spacer so fortunately I have the full lug threads to work with. Acorns are used to hold the spacer on. ETs on that might give some extra hold and protection if those were to loosen over time. Probably overkill but spending more money than I need to on this car is also. Thanks for the tip!
partly depends on how thick of a spacer you're running, too. go too wide without using longer studs, and you risk not having enough thread to keep the nuts on (depending on which lugnuts you're using).
also, on heavier vehicles, going too thick can put more stress/wear on the outer wheel bearings.
partly depends on how thick of a spacer you're running, too. go too wide without using longer studs, and you risk not having enough thread to keep the nuts on (depending on which lugnuts you're using).
also, on heavier vehicles, going too thick can put more stress/wear on the outer wheel bearings.
with the vettes, you should be fine.
The thicker spacers have their own studs in most cases.
There's a difference between a simple spacer, i.e. piece of metal with holes to let the studs pass through, and the type that bolt to the existing hub and have their own studs built in. I don't know about these days, but back when I was involved in production car racing in Britain, the latter type were not allowed (after a few lost wheels). Never heard of a problem in non competition usage though.
The most important thing with the "simple" spacer is to change out the studs so that the lug nuts get a full purchase - however thin (or thick) that spacer is.
I road race a Mustang, and I'll argue that nothing puts as much stress on wheel studs as road racing with competition tires.
Literally EVERYONE runs wheel spacers to dial in their track width to class specs. There is nothing wrong with a PROPER setup.
Personally, I do not like bolt on wheel spacers because they add weight and additional points of failure. I do run them on the back of my 1977 Lincoln though as I had to change a bolt pattern to fit the wheels I wanted.
I prefer going to proper ARP or similar longer studs, using slip on hub-centric spacers, and proper lug nuts.
I am running small spacers, like 3-5mm, on stock studs. Street only.
Previously ran up to 1", again street only.
Get good quality components, bolt it up properly, and don't worry
Thanks for the feedback. The spacers I’m using are supposedly made of T6 aluminum with automotive grade studs. Made by Precision Engineering. Will continue to check for any loosening but seems like they’re good for my use.
Experiences with wheel spacers - safe?
