Dont buy cheap wheel spacers...or else!
Discussion
Just a warning to anyone interested in wheel spacers on the cheap, just pay the extra for a decent branded set!
I bought a cheap eBay rear set for our Lexus IS250 (branded ones I usually buy were out of stock).
Had them on the car for about a year without issue. Then about 3 months ago, there was a strange grinding noise from the rear at low speeds which grew progressively louder over time. Took to a couple garages who couldn't diagnose the issue. I was going to remove the spacers over the weekend and take to Lexus dealership to diagnose once and for all.
Went to pick my daughter up from nursery when the grinding became even worse than ever. Ignored, and drove home.
Came back out to the car armed with my torque wrench to take the offending wheel off and there were only 2 lug nuts there!! Three had sheered off which I presume was the grinding sound we were hearing.
Dangerous cheese spacers now removed and will replace with some Japspeed ones which I should have purchased in the first instance (currently have 3 other Japspeed sets on our cars, including Lexus front set). Me we had any issue with them running on 4 cars previously.
So, a warning to others don't buy spacers like these https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/333303778896 (seller called DVB) for the sake of a £30, you might see your wheel roll down the road one day!
I bought a cheap eBay rear set for our Lexus IS250 (branded ones I usually buy were out of stock).
Had them on the car for about a year without issue. Then about 3 months ago, there was a strange grinding noise from the rear at low speeds which grew progressively louder over time. Took to a couple garages who couldn't diagnose the issue. I was going to remove the spacers over the weekend and take to Lexus dealership to diagnose once and for all.
Went to pick my daughter up from nursery when the grinding became even worse than ever. Ignored, and drove home.
Came back out to the car armed with my torque wrench to take the offending wheel off and there were only 2 lug nuts there!! Three had sheered off which I presume was the grinding sound we were hearing.
Dangerous cheese spacers now removed and will replace with some Japspeed ones which I should have purchased in the first instance (currently have 3 other Japspeed sets on our cars, including Lexus front set). Me we had any issue with them running on 4 cars previously.
So, a warning to others don't buy spacers like these https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/333303778896 (seller called DVB) for the sake of a £30, you might see your wheel roll down the road one day!
sunbeam alpine said:
Did you start a thread from
about wheel wobbles? Was this the car?
Yep same car. I should update the other thread too.about wheel wobbles? Was this the car?
The point of spacers isn't for any mechanical reason, it's to fill out the archers as the stock wheels are set far too within them. Purely cosmetic. Whether or not spacers are to your liking or not, my point of adding this post was to just warn other from buying these cheap ones from this seller.
All nuts were torqued to correct spec by myself.
Edited by KC_TypeR on Friday 30th October 18:07
Edited by KC_TypeR on Friday 30th October 18:08
I hate to be that guy, but jesus wept man take some responsibility for yourself and your family.
Driving around in a car with grinding sounds coming from a wheel, picking up children while it's happening, never mind the damage a wheel hitting the pavement at 30mph would do to someone minding their own business.
Driving around in a car with grinding sounds coming from a wheel, picking up children while it's happening, never mind the damage a wheel hitting the pavement at 30mph would do to someone minding their own business.
LaurasOtherHalf said:
I hate to be that guy, but jesus wept man take some responsibility for yourself and your family.
Driving around in a car with grinding sounds coming from a wheel, picking up children while it's happening, never mind the damage a wheel hitting the pavement at 30mph would do to someone minding their own business.
I agree it's an unnecessary risk, but fitting high quality spacers (which o should have done) isn't any more dangerous than fitting heavier aftermarket wheels with different offsets than stock wheels. Would you say that is also irresponsible?Driving around in a car with grinding sounds coming from a wheel, picking up children while it's happening, never mind the damage a wheel hitting the pavement at 30mph would do to someone minding their own business.
I fully accept my stupidity for fitting cheap eBay spacers but that doesn't really stop the fact that anyone can go and buy the same inferior spacers and something much worse happen to them. I'm not on here seeking sympathy I'm warning others. You don't like wheel spacers fitted to your car? Good for you.
Thanks for sharing, worth people seeing those pics.
I have to admit I've only used slip-on spacers, i.e. just an aluminium disc that you bolt the wheel through. In that case the quality of the parts is pretty much irrelevant, they can't fail per se, you just need to ensure you have enough thread remaining for the wheelnuts to hold on securely. Obviously spacers like this that come with their own bolts are more safety-critical.
It's easy to say 'don't use spacers', but cars look incomparably better when the face of the wheel is in line with the plane of the wheelarch rim. A spacer is no different in that regard from a lower-offset wheel of the same width, and it subtly enhances the OEM look rather than going so visibly aftermarket. If the bearings of that model can handle that inch or so of extra leverage, it's a cheap and super-effective way to make your car look better. Just as long as they're good quality, obviously!
I have to admit I've only used slip-on spacers, i.e. just an aluminium disc that you bolt the wheel through. In that case the quality of the parts is pretty much irrelevant, they can't fail per se, you just need to ensure you have enough thread remaining for the wheelnuts to hold on securely. Obviously spacers like this that come with their own bolts are more safety-critical.
It's easy to say 'don't use spacers', but cars look incomparably better when the face of the wheel is in line with the plane of the wheelarch rim. A spacer is no different in that regard from a lower-offset wheel of the same width, and it subtly enhances the OEM look rather than going so visibly aftermarket. If the bearings of that model can handle that inch or so of extra leverage, it's a cheap and super-effective way to make your car look better. Just as long as they're good quality, obviously!
LaurasOtherHalf said:
I hate to be that guy, but jesus wept man take some responsibility for yourself and your family.
Driving around in a car with grinding sounds coming from a wheel, picking up children while it's happening, never mind the damage a wheel hitting the pavement at 30mph would do to someone minding their own business.
It's easy to call the correct course of action with hindsight, now knowing precisely what the problem was and how near it was to complete failure. And of course no-one wants a wheel to come off their wagon.Driving around in a car with grinding sounds coming from a wheel, picking up children while it's happening, never mind the damage a wheel hitting the pavement at 30mph would do to someone minding their own business.
However, prior to today the OP was completely in the dark about which of the ten thousand parts that make up a modern car were causing the noise.
So put yourself in his shoes. Your car's making a funny noise. You've taken it in to two different garages and asked them to look at it, and neither have found anything amiss. You've asked on PH. I'm genuinely curious, what do you do next?
Spacers are banned by the MSA. Why?
They deem them unsafe. Nuff said
If you want to fill the arches, massively increase the wheel bearing loading, adversely affect your suspension geometry and increase turning scrub radius - fit wider offset wheels.
At least your bloody wheels won't fall off!
They deem them unsafe. Nuff said
If you want to fill the arches, massively increase the wheel bearing loading, adversely affect your suspension geometry and increase turning scrub radius - fit wider offset wheels.
At least your bloody wheels won't fall off!
samoht said:
So put yourself in his shoes. Your car's making a funny noise. You've taken it in to two different garages and asked them to look at it, and neither have found anything amiss. You've asked on PH. I'm genuinely curious, what do you do next?
Fitting silly spacers to any car is madness. The rest of it simply compounds the situation. No excuses.Using spacers to alter a wheel offset to make it compatible with another car is no different to the wheel being cast with the same extra metal already on it to bring the offset to spec, in terms of load on the bearing.
As long as longer bolts of a decent quality and tensile strength are used and the spacer locates on the hub spigot, and has a duplicate spigot on its face for the wheel to sit on there is no safety issue there whatsoever.
Using a spacer to take the face of a wheel further out than it would be as standard is a different matter though.
I'm also not convinced of the efficacy of the spacer used by the OP that attaches to hub studs and then has duplicate studs - just looks to me like more failure points, which is exactly what happened here.
As long as longer bolts of a decent quality and tensile strength are used and the spacer locates on the hub spigot, and has a duplicate spigot on its face for the wheel to sit on there is no safety issue there whatsoever.
Using a spacer to take the face of a wheel further out than it would be as standard is a different matter though.
I'm also not convinced of the efficacy of the spacer used by the OP that attaches to hub studs and then has duplicate studs - just looks to me like more failure points, which is exactly what happened here.
Edited by Evercross on Friday 30th October 18:53
rockin said:
Fitting silly spacers to any car is madness. The rest of it simply compounds the situation. No excuses.
That's a legitimate argument that can be made (pending perhaps a precise definition of 'silly').But it isn't the argument LOH made, so your response doesn't address the question you quoted.
samoht said:
So put yourself in his shoes. Your car's making a funny noise. You've taken it in to two different garages and asked them to look at it, and neither have found anything amiss. You've asked on PH. I'm genuinely curious, what do you do next?
Find a garage that would take the wheels off to have an actual look?Gassing Station | General Gassing | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff