So I got my new ZR1 wheels, and I was talking to the guy at the tire store and he said it was a bad idea to use spacers. Has anybosy had or know of any problems with 4th gen wheels and spacers?

 

He is thinking you are talking about the spacers you just slide on. The "spacers" you will be using are actually adapters and they bolt on and then you bolt your wheels to the adapters. I have had these on my car for over 2 years with no problems none of them have even loosened up. I bought mine from www.skulte.com and reccomend them, they are high quality and they were good people to do business with.

 

thats were I'm going to get mine from.

here's my wheels, right out of the box.

 

Everyone that I've talked to connected to the wheel business has told me to avoid them. :-/ some Z06 wheels would be dope. I'd love to do it

 

Those are going to look sweet on your car, where did you get them and how much were they?

 

wheels with tires on them: $1100 (ebay)

shipping: $120

spacers: $350

The smell of new rubber in my apt while i wait to get spacers: priceless

 

I would recommend getting a 4th gen rear and buying 2 spacers for the front wheels.
That is basically what I did. I bought (4) 2-1/4" spacers so I could drive my car around till I found a 4th gen rear, then I could sell the rear set to someone that was doing the same thing.

My friend Clint did the 4th gen rear swap first, bought my extra set of chrome 4th gen wheels and my 2 spacers, then when I put my 4th gen rear on, I gave him his spacers.

Spacers are $160 a pair, that could go towards the 4th gen rear which you can find for $250-350 complete with disc brakes.

 

aren't spacers $90 a pair? $160 a pair is highway robery. They're not airplaine landing gears for heavan sakes.

 

Um, tthe pair comes with 20 lug nuts, 10 washers, weigh about 5-10lbs each. These are high quality units. Worth every penny to me. I wouldn't have these cool wheels on my car if these weren't available.

 

lets just say i don't have the best track record with spacers...



done right tho, you shouldn't have any problems. Since that incident, mine have been on the car without problems for a full year, but i seriously considered getting rid of them at first.

and for the record, i was misquoted, what actually happened was the lugnuts holding the spacer onto the hub got loose and the spacer itself popped off. The wheel was still firmly bolted onto the spacer, but the spacer came off the hub. The reason was the shop who installed the wheels and spacers neglected to use washers with the shank style lugnuts that are used with the spacers.

 

So I have to get shank style lugs and washers, I was just going to use my old lugs to hold the adaptors on. Good thing I found that out. Does anybody have a pic of these lugs so I know what to look for?

 

Spacers will change the geometry of the axle. Particularly the moment of force placed on the wheel bearing. Some mechanics will tell you this will lead to premature failure of the wheel bearings. Don't know how extreme the 4th Gen spacers are, but 2+ inches sounds like alot. Most likely will change your camber also. Good Luck!!

 

If you buy the spacers thru Skulte or Vette brakes you'll get all the lugnuts you'll need.

 

this is what they look like. They are sitting on top of their washers.


as far as changing the geometry of the axle, i don't believe that's true. If you used spacers and then rims with the same offset as original, you would run into a lot of problems, because the rims would stick out too far, affect the geometry, etc. But with the spacers and 4th gen wheels, the end result is wheels that sit in an extremely close to stock location, so it has little or no effect on suspension.

The rear doesn't matter much anyway. It's a sold rear axle.

 

I have 2inch spacers with 98TA wheels on my car and I haven't had a bit of a problem. Like the others have said, they come with the proper lug nuts. I've taken my car 145+mph on those spacers and haven't had a problem, not to mention the countless twisty tests.. They have been fine.


Brendan


www.geocities.com/leirch_/

 

I would not use spacers if you plan to do any type of hard driving ... if its just for simple daily driving .. not racing .. then go for it.

 

Oh yea I have a a 4th gen rear end also.

 

I don't think that is true. When you buy, for example, ROH Snypers, there is 3 inches of metal from the backside of the wheel to the hub on the car, looks almost like a spacer is sitting there.

When the wheel is attached to the spacer, they in effect become one.

 

I agree with Zepher. I have always heard if the are install correctly they are as safe as any set of rims.

I've not had any problems with mine. I went to a front wheel drive rim and had to get a lug conversion as well. The suckers are close to 3 ins thick. Billet Aluminum rocks.

 

Running those adapters(not really spacers) is just as safe as a properly set-up wheel. It won't change any of the geometry. Look at it this way, if that wheel had the correct backspace like the stock wheel it would just have a thicker center. How is a thicker center going to be different than a thin centered wheel with an adapter. All the suspension geometry is the same.

2 things that people get confused on this subject:
First is that you aren't spacing the wheel out past the stock location(or at least very, very little). Spacing the wheel out from the stock location of the stock wheel will change the suspension geometry and other stuff. These spacers are to space the wheel to the Correct original location.

Second is that they aren't spacers. A spacer is 'just along for the ride' and isn't holding anything. With a spacer you have less threads into the lugs. Also the wheels are bolted through the spacer so more stress is placed toward the end of the stud instead of right next to the brake rotor. And again, a shop tech. hears "spacer" and they assume you are spacing the tire away from the stock location--which isn't true. "your not putting them on a lowrider with 13x8 daytons w/185/80's that hang way outside the wheel well"

Circle track cars around here run them once in a while to help the race car corner better. 700+ hp on a tacky track without fail.

 

no racing (except for stangs and civics every once and awhile)

 

My camaro had adapters on it for a set of 4th gen 5 stars, and the billet adapters broke and my driver side front wheel shot off when i was going around a corner about 10 mph, and i riped up my front and side ground effects, my driver side door, fender, brakes, shock stut sway bars, all kinds of suspension parts done. I was soooooooo lucky that my insurance actually covered wheel adapters, I will never ever use them again and count my blessings that my insurance saves my ***! So I just bought a set of chrome irocs instead

 

hay MAC where were you adaptors from??

 

Hey Mac,
Where did you get the wheel adapter from? How did the wheel adapter break? Was it because the lug nuts were loose or ???? Any pics of it being destroyed?

 

hmmm......almost 2 years and still no response from mac?

 

they will wear out your bearings when was the last time you guys even checked you wheel bearings for play??? i work in a tire shop and all the guys that do the aligments say the all do the samthing. and dont stand by them. we even had a 3rd gen come in with them and guess what they took it for a test spin and the dumb **** didnt tighten the pass rear wheel spacer and dam near lost the s.o.b.

just my 2 cents