Wheel Spacers

[fflyingdog]

Title says it all really ,i have seen alot of people fitting spacers so they can make the car look a bit meaner/wider.Now if the wheel came off what would the insurance companies view be?Are the spacers fited with a top hat thread setion or do the wheel studs screw directly into the spacer? are the spacers billet or cast? Does the suspension set up suffer? Just wondered thats all

Nick S4s

[rogerch]

I'm not smart enough to offer you the calculations, but I believe that useing spacers will reduce your efective spring rate. Therefore techoncally you should fit stiffer springs to retain the status quo. (don't ask me by how much)

Roger

[Jonathan]

I had this chat with Lotus.

The basic consensus is spacers are OK but not ideal, their construction varies.

The bolts mainly keep the wheel on the spigot which protrudes from the hub, the wheel locates on the spigot and the load stress is carried through that, obviously lateral loads go through the bolts but 5x M14 bolts are hardly going to sheer off, the wheel will lose traction (we used to hang 2 ton steel moulds on 4 M14 bolts).

The issue with most spacers is they are just that, spacers. Basically :

GOOD

BAD

Material is also key as you said.

Downsides are extra stress on the bearings/bushes but thankfully the Esprit is quite light, I know many people without a problem with spacers, but if I fitted them I would keep an eye on them for sure.

My GT2 project gpas the rear wheels out by 17mm, thats too little to make a bolt adapter from (need 20mm) so I have decided to go for longer bolts (+20mm on the original) and a precision made spacer (ie high tollerance and less change of the wedding cake effect). I have also machined an extension to the spiggot which is a push fit inside the original which helps mechanical strength.

Persoanlly I dont like the idea of bolting into aluminum - lotus used steel hubs for a reason which is another reason why I went bolt through.

My spacers also cost

[Loose Cannon]

Jon, I was fancying spacers too, didn't want to go over 20mm for the dragster look, but like you was iffy about bolting into that thickness of ally. The long bolt option looked good, but never got around to it. Can you pass on the details of who made yours. The only problem would be keeping them on; would probably ask to machine through a thread for a longer than standard retaining screw

[Jonathan]

Mark, the same place as my brakes, they haven't made them yet but they're next on the list.

They currently have an old one bolt of mine they are setting up - I'll be talking to them monday about it, I'll ask them - what do you want +20mm on the original bolt ?

[red vtec]

Jonathan,

I'd be interested in a set, to push mty GT3 wheels out a bit more on the rear.

Chris

[Jonathan]

OK - I'll get in touch on monday and ask what they can do, more people looking to buy I'm sure they'll speed up processes.

If ppl are interested I'll see what they can do spacerwise.

[Loose Cannon]

These were the bolts I was going to get. Actually need 15, ie an extra wheel set to keep with the spacesaver spare wheel which also has a 20mm spacer!

Ebay

[superdavelotus]

Hi Jonathan,

I'd be interested in a set or two.

David Walters

[Jonathan]

Mark - those bolts are not the same as the Esprit ones, they need a 60 degree straight taper iirc.

Chaps, I've got quite a few requests coming through wrt bolts/brakes/spacers.

Not wanting to go off road with this topic so can you let me know by PM what you're after spacerwise and I can work the bolts out from there, I have the whole brembo front/rear drawn by hand on CAD so I can test them out before actually cutting metal. On the rears, if you want an integral spigot you need to have at least 20mm spacer in my opinion, the engineering I'll discuss with the company, they make stuff for AP racing themselves and were recommended to be by them, I've got some of their bits and they are top quality.

No need to talk

[trackmagic]

For my G car I used the H&R spacers for a BMW. The BMW has the same 5x120 bolt pattern but the spigot (72.5mm) has to be turned down for the Lotus wheel. I have a lathe so it was an easy modification. I think I needed to remove .060 of material off the spigot. I went with the 30mm spacers which really improved the look on the rears, filling out the wheel wells nicely.

Best,

Jeff

[Dave Freeman]

Mark, the same place as my brakes, they haven't made them yet but they're next on the list.

They currently have an old one bolt of mine they are setting up - I'll be talking to them monday about it, I'll ask them - what do you want +20mm on the original bolt ?

Hi Johnathan, how did all this pan out, I am looking for some 20mm spacers for my 1990 SE, am i too late.

dave

[Jonathan]

Not enough interest really to warrent me spending too much time on it at present.

It will get done but it's low down the list atm

[Loose Cannon]

Apologies Jon this sort of went off the boil a bit over Christmas, can you post up when you are getting yours made and then get we can get some positive numbers for demand/cost?

Just for me to be clear (thickhead) are these spacers the bolt-through type where you need extended bolts (and is so is it possible to secure them to the hub with an extended disc retaining screw?)

OR are they the type that bolt the spacer to the hub and use the regular wheel bolts?

Edited January 14, 2010 by LooseCannon

[Jonathan]

Mark, it's not a problem at all.

They're originally going on the GT2, I've put that particular on pause atm because of winter.

One big problem was that I wasn't able to make the internal spiggot before I left work, now I have no access to machine tools so I can't continue -easily-

I will be doing the spacers but it's a case of as and when, I've not even got my GT3 done yet because of 101 delays and there aint much in doing anything atm until all that shite clears off the road.

As I say it is very low down on the priority list atm.

If anyone else has access to a lathe and some material (nylon would do) they can do some / all of the work for it ?

[ramjet]

I saw wheel spacers on DanR's S4 when I caught up with him in Sydney recently. I must admit I liked the look of the original S4 wheels in the arch as well. Danny had used 32mm on the rears and I think 16mm on the fronts.

With a specified wheel nut torque, would you use the same torque when you add a spacer? I presume the torque is for two reasons. 1 to not strip the thread out of the hub and 2 to exert the right amount of pressure between the hub and rim (coefficient of friction) to assist the bolts with the torsional load of acceleration and braking. What happens now there are two sliding faces?

What sort of extra cantilever force are we applying to the wheel hub bearing by extending the pivot point out past original design?

Should you also look at different rims with a different offset and therefore width to achieve the same look as a standard rim with a spacer?

Do you lose wheel travel since the inside of the wheel arch is not parallel to the tyre surface in cross section so effective distance between the tyre and the arch has been decreased?

Ultimately, if this all gets too technical, I'll just stay with bog original and just be happy.