Shaky Steering After Spacers
 

Hello to all... Last week I installed eibach pro 4 springs and ordered 15mm front and 20mm for the rear. Stock 19" Rays. I purchased Garageline spacers and installed them and drove my car home. Holy crap i can't go over 35 without the steering wheel shaking and I mean moving left and right.... I realize I dindnt do something correct with all the shakin. Maybe I didnt center them up??? Or is this because I just need an alingment??? Your input is certainly appreciated. Thanks

Are they bolt on?

And your install was incorrect. 99.999999% of spacer issues come down to user error

Yes, they are bolt on. And I definitely know I did something wrong just not sure what.

You need to make sure you torqued the nuts to spec using a torque wrench in the cris-cross pattern.

Im hoping you also install the hubcentric rings that came with them :ugh2:

What you screwed up on is that on the front you need AT LEAST 20mm... On some cars the studs are like 21mm

Well, I sure didnt. Good thing I didnt throw the box away. I sure hope they included those. Box at work so ill sure check monday morning.

Yea, You definitely need to slide them in

I don't think you will need to remove the spacers to get them on.

Yep, im gonna learn that reading directions can certainly be beneficial.

I was thinking that the 15mm and 20mm was a common setup. I may have got that info mixed up or something.

For stud replacement, maybe.

I think he's talking about the stud size not the size of your spacers

Oh, ok.

I'd reinstall each spacer and make sure you clean the surface of the hub and torque each spacer in star pattern then get your car on the alignment rack.

Not the issue, you can't install 15mm on the front

You can if you either do a stud replacement or ghetto it and trim the studs so there not going past the spacer so the wheel is flush.

If remember right :ugh2:


If the Op would use 20mm? all this extra work can be avoided plus the 5mm difference is tiny when looking at it from a distance

Now im confused. With the rings installed I wont have enough stud length??? If so can I purchase some longer studs??

Now I'm confused are we talking spacers or studs? Lol nismos run 15's all around just fine. What if he switch the 15s to thee rears that would probably work.

Lets clear the air.

For STUD REPLACEMENT you can run any size spacer
For BOLT ON, you need AT LEAST 20mm in the front

Fk it just sell trade the 15s with someone in the classified

Just great, rings were not included. Thanks garageline for the great quality control on packaging your orders.

I have hubcentric spacers and my steering wheel shakes as well. Only on speeds 60-80mph. Doesnt shake at any other speeds. 20mm all around.

Still doesn't help out your problem if you have bolt ons on the front...

Might want to reinstall them. I use anti seize between the hub and the spacer, and I've never had and vibrating issues

Take them off, sand the hub clean, put anti seize, install, put wheels on, drive around, make side to side motions as much as possible without getting a DUI, come back home, take wheels off, retorque spacers, reinstall wheels

I seem to have developed a similar shake, from about 70-80 mph. I installed 15mm on all four corners with stud replacement. Not too bad, but annoying nonetheless. Recently had an alignment done due to a Swift spring install. Also noticed that some wheel balance weights might be missing from the rear passenger side tire. Mystery continues......

I took my car to nissan when I hit 65,000 for the 60k Service.. It was $800 & They were supposed to check the alignment and tires, etc.. They said they balanced all the tires and i noticed there were different brand new weights on every wheel..

After a couple days of wobble I took my tires in for balancing at Discount Tire (Free w/Warranty) and had them check the balance. Apparently Nissans balance was off on EVERY wheel by around .25? Whatever that means. All i know is that Nissan mechanics were drunk on the day I brought my car in. (JK)

Anyways, long story short, my tires are balanced, wheels are aligned and yet they still shake.. Ill have to torque them down again and do was DEpoint told me

Another idea is having the spacers and wheels balanced together

Got the dremel out and took down the studs a bit... only had time to do the left front. Idid a test drive and 70 percent of the shake is gone already. I will do the other wheel in the morning and that should fix things.

Well, my Nismo wheels are stock, the car has just under 12k miles on it, so I assume whatever wheel weights are on there are from the factory. That said, I can see old adhesive where wheel weights were at one time on the right rear wheel. Half are still there, but a few appear to be missing. Oh well, guess I'll see how the shake goes......

For what it's worth ... I did 15mm front and 20mm rear with stud replacement on stock Sport Rays and not even a slight shake at 135 mph. I swear by Eibach Pro Spacers with Hub Centric as they are very high quality, very expensive but high quality. I recently purchased new wheels and had to go with bolt on Eibach Pro Spacers 30mm in the rear and still not even a slight shake.

Don't cut corners!! Replacing the stock wheel studs took me approximately 2 hrs for all four wheels. Another good point made on this thread is to be sure you torque the nuts in the crisscross pattern and be sure to drive a few days then torque once again. :tiphat:

ive never heard of that. :icon17:

so you would bolt the spacer to the wheel and then spin it on the balance machine, then remove the bolts and nut and in the same orientation mount the spacer to the wheel as you mount the spacer to the car.

and still same result.

Wanted to thank you guys for good solid advice. I shaved the front studs down a bit with my dremal and now my Z has no shake and drives perfect. Since my floor jack happened to be at the farm I was forced to use the factory jack... So, I wanted to share my experience and made a couple of mental notes while doing all this.

* Jack For being small it works pretty good, however I was using it on a concrete floor. So on the side of the road might be a different story. The jack has a small base so I will cut a 6x4 inch aluminum plate and drill 2 holes that are already in the bottom of the jack. This will give the stability needed on loose gravel etc. I will keep 2 bolts and wing nuts for easy installation of said stability plate. Then just keep plate and hardware in a small bag for storage with jack.

* Pinch Weld Not hard to find where to place the jack.. But at night it could be so I recomend a lil dab of paint or I just cut a piece of yellow tape so it will be quick and easy to find in the dark with a flashlight...

*Lug Wrench I noticed a couple of rough spots on the end and I sure recommend wrapping the end nicely with electrical tape... Having a flat is bad enough but scratching rims removing lug nuts will ruin your evening for sure.

This advice has probably been covered but its something I kinda want to share.
Thanks, Darin

Except it isnt the same result since you accounted for the imbalance the spacer causes

the spacer if installed properly, should not cause any imbalance to begin with.


good to hear op. have fun with your new setup. :tup: