Wheel spacers are used to widen the track of cars, trucks, and SUVs. They are also widely used to fix backspacing and clearance issues. Properly spacing out your wheels makes sure that your tires fit in the wheel arches safely. Improperly spaced wheels can rub against your brake calipers, your shocks, or even your fenders, causing potential damage or even a crash. Drive with 10+ wheel spacers manufacturing experience, having witnessed countless successful cases, we have the confidence to say that as long as the spacers you buy are reputable and made of top quality material, wheel spacers are completely safe when installed correctly with care and patience. Anyway, a few things may help you improve the safety of wheel spacers:
Proper Wheel Spacers Installation is Important
Proper installation is paramount to ensuring the safety of your vehicle. Typically, it is not recommended that you try installing them on your own if you are not a professional or under the guidance of a Qualified Mechanic. In case of that, we include installation instructions that enable the most novice of mechanics or DIYers to safely install their wheel spacers (strongly recommend under the guidance of professionals). The wheel spacers need to be properly torqued to manufacturer-recommended torque specs. This means making sure the spacer, wheel, and hub assembly are secured enough to where they don’t get loosened. Untightened lug bolts/nuts (the clamping force is not enough) or overtightened lug bolts/nuts (the stud has been stretched past its tensile strength limit, so the clamping force has gone away) will cause most lugs failures. Find a suitable balance in the level of tightness and the stud will remain strong, providing the greatest possible force to keep the wheel attached to the hub.
Don’t Hesitate to Use High-quality Spacers
Quality means everything in wheel spacers. While you may consider that a simple and cheap wheel spacer is “just enough to use”, the fact is, lower quality means lower safety. Never skimp on price and end up with unsafe low-quality spacers. The quality is always a huge deal when it comes to the components you add to your car. In the market, wheel spacers made from aircraft-grade (or higher) aluminum are the basis of quality spacers. When you find a reputable store, you’ll find that they use 6061-T6 or 7075-T6 billet aluminum as the material of spacers. This ensures strength, service range, and safety as well as high resistance to corrosion. If the store you’re buying from can’t confidently say that it uses aircraft-grade 6061-T6 or 7075-T6 billet aluminum, you should probably find the nearest exit. Although many stores claim that they are selling 6061-T6 aluminum spacers, they are not made by the forged process. In fact, they are cheap casting spacers. Forging, at any time, provides higher performance spacers than casting. It further enhances the hardness and toughness of the spacers. With the same material and cost, the strength and safety of forged spacers are far higher than casting ones.
In Summary
Most of the disadvantages that people associate with wheel spacers are actually blamed on the low-quality spacers and improper installation. Those low-quality casting spacers are not strong enough and will be deformed and destroyed under intense impacts, leading to disasters. And improper installation, for example, untightened or overtightened lug nuts will also increase the chances of accidents. So, are wheel spacers safe for daily driving? — as long as you take the appropriate safety precautions, they are totally safe. Avoid buying cheap spacers because you may ultimately pay much more for them. It is always a great idea to regularly inspect and give the spacers another check after 100 miles of driving to make sure they’re still in place well and the lug nuts are tight. Authentic stores that are able to customize to your needs can provide products made with genuine quality and help you avoid deception by unscrupulous merchants.
FAQs
The short answer is, yes. As long as your wheel spacers are of high quality and properly installed, you should be fine. And, as aforementioned, spacers are a simple and effective way to get the fitment you want.
Can you daily drive with wheel spacers? ›
And improper installation, for example, untightened or overtightened lug nuts will also increase the chances of accidents. So, are wheel spacers safe for daily driving? — as long as you take the appropriate safety precautions, they are totally safe.
What are the negatives of wheel spacers? ›
Secondly, installing wheel spacers on a car increases the leverage on the wheel bearing. The larger the spacer, the larger the leverage becomes. This reduces the life of the wheel bearing as they are not made to take leverage forces and can therefore wear faster, increasing rolling resistance and power loss of the car.
Are wheel spacers safe for highway use? ›
Wheel spacers and adapters can be safe if you purchase a high-quality product, install them to spec, and routinely inspect them for signs of damage.
Can I drive long distance with wheel spacers? ›
Yes. Since the weight of a vehicle is not sustained by its wheel studs/bolts, the use of wheel spacers is considered to be safe. The vehicle's wheels are actually fastened to the corresponding wheel hub by a clamping force achieved by tightening the lug nuts/bolts of each wheel.
How long can you drive on a spacer wheel? ›
The maximum distance you are advised to travel on a saver tyre is normally around 50 miles (as the wheels have a limited 3mm tread) but if it's necessary you can drive up to 300 miles. This is provided that the road surface is good and that you drive at a slow speed – so absolutely no racing along those country roads!
Can you go high speeds with wheel spacers? ›
Wheel spacers are basically not safe for they through extra force on the spindles and especially the bearings. If you need better handling there are better ways that are safer. Are wheel spacers safe at high speeds? As with everything else, if done correctly, they are safe.
Why are spacers not recommended? ›
The use of spacers moves the load point outwards, applying more load to the outer bearing, which is usually smaller than the inner bearing, which in turn can cause premature (and possibly catastrophic) failure of the outer bearing.
Are wheel spacers bad for bearings? ›
By increasing the offset of the wheel, you place more stress on the axle's studs, and in a front axle application on the unit bearings (or spindles) and ball joints of the axle. You also increase the tire scrub radius, changing the way the vehicle handles and increasing the difficulty of slow-speed turning.
What is the problem with car spacers? ›
More Vibrations When Going Over Bumps
Another problem with a wheel spacer is that it moves the wheel to a wider position while leaving the rest of the suspension arms in place. Any road bumps will be amplified through the steering wheel, making the steering jerky and unpredictable.
We prefer to stay under 2 inches when running spacers. However, you will need to be aware that some OE studs may stick out past the spacer's mounting surface. This means you'll need to trim off any overhang before mounting your wheels. Also, look for hub-centric spacers when possible, for the best and strongest fit.
Are 2 inch wheel spacers bad? ›
If you installed them properly, 2-inch wheel spacers are exactly very safe to use and will not cause any vibration. It is recommended to get your wheel spacers installed at a reputable wheel shop. To ensure safety, the lug nuts need to be torqued properly.
What are the disadvantages of wheel spacers? ›
The improved handling wheel spacers grant has a downside: increased steering effort. With the wheels farther apart, it takes more steering wheel input to get the tires to turn. This is due to the increased tire scrub radius, or angle of the steering axis with the tires. You'll notice the effects more at low speeds.
What is the speed limit on spacer wheels? ›
For safety reasons, you should not exceed 50mph in a car that's fitted with a space saver spare wheel. It is important to note that a space saver spare wheel is designed to get you (and your vehicle) to a place of safety, where you can fit a new full-size tyre or call for breakdown recovery.
Do spacers wear out tires? ›
In fact, no, they don't cause your tire wear. Wheel spacers simply serve as the extension parts of the vehicle assembly, they don't bear the vehicle's weight. So, there is no extra force that applies to the tire when installing a spacer.
Do wheel spacers effect driving? ›
Decreased Ride Quality
But with the installation of wheel spacers, this balance is disturbed. The distance between the wheels and suspension components increases, resulting in a poorer ride quality. This effect is positively correlated with the size of the spacer.
Can I drive with a spacer? ›
Many modern vehicles are equipped with space savers, a temporary replacement for a full-sized tyre. They are usually smaller and lighter than standard car tyres and are safe to drive on, as long as they're in a good condition and you keep to some guidelines.
How long does a wheel spacer last? ›
Ideally, wheel spacers should last forever. However, that's not always the case. Wheel spacers can fail as a result of poor workmanship, botched installation, or sizing issues.
Can you still haul with wheel spacers? ›
Wheel spacers are exactly safe for towing, as long as they are high-quality and mounted in the right way. Spacers are installed between the hub assembly and the wheels. Simply put, this means that the rims and tires are pushed further outward from the suspension, and this increases the clearance inside of the wheel.
