Wheel Spacers Opinions

plumber802 · October 3, 2010

Hey guys I"m looking at these wheel spacers for my truck.Anybody running these?They are 1 Inch thick,will I need to cut down my wheel studs to make them fit?Any thoughts?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/4-Chevy-Sil...sQ5fAccessories

fraiolib · October 3, 2010

Matt_ · October 3, 2010

while they're at least a better quality wheel spacer.... I wouldn't put them on my truck.

You'll probably have to cut the studs which just isn't worth it IMO.

Zembonez · October 4, 2010

Spacers are for use when you need extra clearance and don't want to buy the correct wheels. They are not for use as a fashion statement. Anytime you add another component to the axle, you run the risk of the wheel not being centered as well.

ruggedlife · October 4, 2010

agreed you'll have to cut the studs for it to fit, and then depending on what you're running you could actually make your wheels rub pretty bad on the fenders

stlavsa · October 4, 2010

agreed you'll have to cut the studs for it to fit, and then depending on what you're running you could actually make your wheels rub pretty bad on the fenders

I have something similar to that on my truck now but i believe they are 1.5". I NEEDED them because I my aftermarket 20s and tires didnt work with my fabtech lift. I had to cut the nipple piece off of the studs to get the wheels to sit flush against the adapters. By nipple i mean the smaller part of the stud that the plastic center cap nuts from the stock wheels bolt on to.

Not hard at all to cut off, but if you are plannin on running your OEM wheels you wont be able to run your centercaps as designed.

stlavsa · October 4, 2010

agreed you'll have to cut the studs for it to fit, and then depending on what you're running you could actually make your wheels rub pretty bad on the fenders

I have something similar to that on my truck now but i believe they are 1.5". I NEEDED them because I my aftermarket 20s and tires didnt work with my fabtech lift. I had to cut the nipple piece off of the studs to get the wheels to sit flush against the adapters. By nipple i mean the smaller part of the stud that the plastic center cap nuts from the stock wheels bolt on to.

Not hard at all to cut off, but if you are plannin on running your OEM wheels you wont be able to run your centercaps as designed.

and another thing, if u do cut the studs make sure you have the lug nuts threaded on to the studs so you can back them off and clean up the threads after the cut.

plumber802 · October 4, 2010

Well,I'm not sure I want to cut the studs on my axles.this would make it a PIA to put back to stock.As someone mentioned,I wanted to use these to widen the stance of my truck,basically a " fashion statement".I'm not sure it's worth the effort.

Stex · October 4, 2010

I am old fashion. I try to stick with oem offset...

plumber802 · October 4, 2010

A little more offset would widen the stance a little a fill out the fenders more.

Wires · October 4, 2010

A little more offset would widen the stance a little a fill out the fenders more.

Swap the tires with ones with a different ratio to get a wider stance. That will look a lot better, and not "ghetto".

My 08 SD came with the GM 20" tires, with pretty fat rubber. Looks pretty cool the way it fills out the wheel wheels (so I know where you're going with it).

My last truck I bought 18" summer rims, and went wide on the profile. Looked really awesome. When I had to put the OEM back on for winter, made the truck look gay.

Zembonez · October 4, 2010

A little more offset would widen the stance a little a fill out the fenders more.

I'll be the first to admit it looks a lot better with a wider stance. I went with aftermarket wider wheels on mine to do that. It's pricy but I just could not trust add on spacers.

stlavsa · October 4, 2010

A little more offset would widen the stance a little a fill out the fenders more.

I'll be the first to admit it looks a lot better with a wider stance. I went with aftermarket wider wheels on mine to do that. It's pricy but I just could not trust add on spacers.

Theres not really too much there to "not trust" about the add-on spacers.. I mean there could be a freak accident where a stud pulls out, but ive had that happen to OEM hubs on vehicles before so that freak occurance could happen there too.

The real down fall is cutting your stud if you are still planning on running the OEM wheel/centercap it wont work out well. The other down fall would be the negative offset putting a little extra strain on your components but its completely identical to the strain put on by running more offset on an aftermarket wheel.

With that said, i agree that if you dont need them theres no real reason to run them, and introduce the possibility of something going wrong, but i believe the chances are slim if you do it right.

Zembonez · October 5, 2010

A little more offset would widen the stance a little a fill out the fenders more.

I'll be the first to admit it looks a lot better with a wider stance. I went with aftermarket wider wheels on mine to do that. It's pricy but I just could not trust add on spacers.

Theres not really too much there to "not trust" about the add-on spacers.. I mean there could be a freak accident where a stud pulls out, but ive had that happen to OEM hubs on vehicles before so that freak occurance could happen there too.

The real down fall is cutting your stud if you are still planning on running the OEM wheel/centercap it wont work out well. The other down fall would be the negative offset putting a little extra strain on your components but its completely identical to the strain put on by running more offset on an aftermarket wheel.

With that said, i agree that if you dont need them theres no real reason to run them, and introduce the possibility of something going wrong, but i believe the chances are slim if you do it right.

My distrust comes from the fact that anytime you add a patch to solve a problem, it can cause issues. Maybe not a catastrophic failure, but the chance of not having a truly centered wheel becomes a likely possibility. Most spacers are not vehicle specific and therefore are not hub centric. People can argue about wheels not having to be hub centric (I don't buy that either) but when you add multiple new mating surfaces on top of the current ones, you are asking for issues.

I would not not do it on a bet.

stlavsa · October 5, 2010

A little more offset would widen the stance a little a fill out the fenders more.

I'll be the first to admit it looks a lot better with a wider stance. I went with aftermarket wider wheels on mine to do that. It's pricy but I just could not trust add on spacers.

Theres not really too much there to "not trust" about the add-on spacers.. I mean there could be a freak accident where a stud pulls out, but ive had that happen to OEM hubs on vehicles before so that freak occurance could happen there too.

The real down fall is cutting your stud if you are still planning on running the OEM wheel/centercap it wont work out well. The other down fall would be the negative offset putting a little extra strain on your components but its completely identical to the strain put on by running more offset on an aftermarket wheel.

With that said, i agree that if you dont need them theres no real reason to run them, and introduce the possibility of something going wrong, but i believe the chances are slim if you do it right.

My distrust comes from the fact that anytime you add a patch to solve a problem, it can cause issues. Maybe not a catastrophic failure, but the chance of not having a truly centered wheel becomes a likely possibility. Most spacers are not vehicle specific and therefore are not hub centric. People can argue about wheels not having to be hub centric (I don't buy that either) but when you add multiple new mating surfaces on top of the current ones, you are asking for issues.

I would not not do it on a bet.

I know exactly what you mean on that.. and when i ordered mine i didnt think of it, until i had the wheel off and i was lookin and thinkin... and it crossed my mind "how am i gonna keep these exactly centered" But then i realized that the way the lug nuts are shaped with a slight cone to it, it self centers them on there and you cant really screw it up even if you try. (atleast that is with MY spacers and lugs).

I DONT believe that the lug nuts that came with the spacers were like that, but I re-used the factory lug nuts on the actual adapter itself to keep it centered, and my wheels required custom spline drive lug nuts that also have the same feature.