Inexpensive Handling upgrade/Mpg increase
 

i'm talking about wheel spacers

you can get a 1/4 inch pair at you local car performance shop aluminum for 20$,

you'll thank me when you dont crash your car later

I wouldn't recommend this for heavy cars... anything under 3000 lbs you're fine,, skills needed: be able to remove wheels and line up spacers

you can put too much weight on your studs if the spacers are too big.. and I believe you're supposed to be able to turn the nuts a certain amount of time 11 or 15 or something.. if you're studs aren't long enough this is unsafe..

also I tried putting these spacers on the front of my car(disc brakes on the front, drums on the back, that's why they fit on the back) and broke some studs and I could have broken my calipers, because they looked like they fit but just barely didn't, Not recommended at all, could screw up the car with these types of spacers on the front, but they sell special spacers for racing that screw into the studs that might work well for this.. Make sure you know how to torque you're wheels back on correctly!

This will work with aligning your car.. I have talked to the mechanics at the alignment shop and they say that if I have the spacers on the back wheels it will not affect in any way them aligning the car for me. so just do it right.

This would probably help RWD vehicles that fishtail..

savings: less slowing down, priceless

I guess you're talking about wheel spacers. It does help, but on some cars, like you mentioned, they can put too much stress on the wheel bearings, and wear them out faster. They also make most cars look better in my opinion.

You should read zilvia.net about wheel spacers. then you will see people crashing their cars because of them. Anything over 5mm on stock studs and your risking everybodys safety.
https://www.splparts.com/main4/parts/.../LostWheel.gif

I have quarter inch, thats 4 or 5 mm. They are legal, and I put them on the right way

I dont do powerslides, or drive a Curb Weight 3,250 pounds (1,470 kg) (base) nissan 350z and take feroscious corners with insane grip



https://www.automotiveforums.com/t412...l_spacers.html
If you do this make sure the spacers mount flush to the disc or drum face. Remove the original star lock washer if it is still on the stud. The wheel must also mount flush to the spacer and not contact the studs or nuts that hold the spacer to the hub. If there is any vibration at speed something is wrong and needs to be corrected if you don't want to crash. Done right spacers are very safe. Lots of offroaders pound the heck out of them with no problems.

So, we should risk breaking calipers or rotors, give up wheel alignment, and risk tires and wheels falling off, all for an unquantifiable "benefit?" What am I missing here?

Huh? :confused:

Besides, aerodynamically speaking wouldn't this be a negative?

I fail to see how pushing your tires further into the air stream increases your MPG.

Wheel spacers would be a negative due to increased air resistance.

The scenerio I was assuming was; If you get skinnier tires for less rolling resistance, you can push them out to stock total width, so you don't in crease the chance of roll-over... I was thinking of something like Suzuki Samurai. Also, when you get skinnier tires/rims, they would be sunken in (unless you increase the offset), and that would cause more turbulence in your wheel well.

ok but you loose no speed around corners, so you can hug all corners alot better, and use less hp to do so. the place where you do most cornering is the cities, so you would see way better mpg in the city from this..

but hey if you want to try to swing this as an aerodynamic convo be my guest


if I take a right hand corner I can slow down to 15 instead of 10, those 5mph are the different between 2nd and 3rd gear for me, so less shifting, lower rpms..
I have Toyo Spectrums, and for the wheel size they are actually wider than most tires of the same size 7.75 vs 7"

These also have low rolling resistance, yet they're so wide, who knew?

excuse me but you do not work at an alignment shop, please call you alignment shop and ask them if 1/4" spacers on your back drums will change your alignment, and they will say, NO...

and time and again I keep saying, if you use these correctly you will have no problems... as is reflected by many others...

you guys like to misconstrue things with a seriously odd twist