H&R Spacer... Lip shaved/broke off?!

Tauruszguy

oh boy... just installed H&R drs spacers yesterday.... day late and a dollar short! Wish me luck! lol

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2009 370Z PG SP 6MT, I. Kplates, K&N, FI CBE 12" Res , Berk HFC, Swift Spec-R, H&R

flashburn

Stupid spacers!

I definitely like the idea of the ring just being removable, as long as it doesn't cause vibrations.

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Current Ride: 2012 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport Centennial Edition Carbon Flash 6M
Previous Ride: 2009 Nissan 370Z Sport Platinum Graphite 7AT

kenchan

i think in HR's case they make their spacers with tight tolerances and with the wheel and spacer metals flexing at a different rate it's bound to snap. perhaps unless you're using heavy materials (something stronger than the wheel's metal) you need some level of 'give' and that's achieved with different materials such as the rings Kics use.

again, im no metal expert and im sure there's a better explanation which HR should provide after doing an full analysis on your failed spacer.

cheshirecat

To be fair to HR, it does say via a sticker on the spacer packaging that the warranty is voided if they are installed.

kenchan

So they are a decorative piece for your garage? that is the stupidest warranty of all time.

flashburn

Actually what it says is that they cannot be returned if they've been installed. I don't think they mention anything about a warranty to begin with.

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Current Ride: 2012 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport Centennial Edition Carbon Flash 6M
Previous Ride: 2009 Nissan 370Z Sport Platinum Graphite 7AT

phunk

VERY few auto parts can be returned after installation. its life. its like that because 99% of the time, a failed auto part is caused by installation or misuse/abuse.

there is no expressed warrenty because most people will try and screw them over. however, just because there is no guarentee on the part, doesnt mean they wont replace it for you or help you.

have you actually contacted H&R regarding this? since you are bashing them for this and all, without even knowing why it failed and it could very well be your own fault... perhaps you should ask them for their take on it? it seems logical.

you gotta think man, that is an aluminum part, and its inside diameter must be what it is, and its outside diameter must be what it is. those dimensions cannot change or it will not fit the car/wheel. so you can call it a design error all you want, but the design is the only way it can be. therefore, the only way to make it stronger would be to use a stronger material, such as STEEL, which is what your OEM hub is made of.

I wouldnt be surprised at all if H&R says that these spacers are not meant for use with hubcentric wheels due to the loads it will transfer to that thin *** aluminum lip. what do you expect? i can only assume that the removable KICS ones are removeable because they are steel inserts? i dont know.

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flashburn

Actually, any "warranty" type service for H&R goes through where you bought the parts from. For me, that was Stillen, who did contact H&R and said exactly what I already stated "No warranty since it's been installed", end of story.

I hardly see how I am "bashing" them, I'm only stating the facts and what I know, nothing more or less. Granted I didn't install them myself, but from what I've seen, I don't see how there could of been any sort of "installation error", it seemed pretty straight forward, and I didn't see anything obviously wrong.

Also, why else would a spacer have a hubcentric lip (as advertised) if it wasn't meant for hubcentric wheels?

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Current Ride: 2012 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport Centennial Edition Carbon Flash 6M
Previous Ride: 2009 Nissan 370Z Sport Platinum Graphite 7AT

phunk

of course they werent installed wrong, thats not really possible with wheel spacers lol... well for the most part, im sure someone could find a way to screw it up.

the hubcentric lip helps center the wheels for installation and absorb some of the load that would typically be shared with the lug nuts... but if you are strictly hubcentric lugs, most all of that load is on the ring.

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ZForce

That sux...mine held up on both 350z's for well over 20k miles and no issues. Have about 10k miles on both 370Z's and no issues. Hopefully the mfg will want to inspect the spacer for the cause of failure.

Did the front wheel ever take an impact that would cause it to weaken and eventually break? Is tracking the car gonna gonna play a role in the failure? Josh@Stilen comes thru again! It's not often a vendor steps up to plate to take care of a member when the mfg will not. g\l on finding the root cause. Does aluminum match up well with steel?

flashburn

From what Stillen said, it didn't sound like H&R was interested in inspecting the spacers at all, but I'll contact them directly to see what they say. I'm not expecting much though.

Nope, no impacts or anything like that. I think it happened before the car even hit the track.

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Current Ride: 2012 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport Centennial Edition Carbon Flash 6M
Previous Ride: 2009 Nissan 370Z Sport Platinum Graphite 7AT

kenchan

Yah, I agree again that the manufacture needs to analyse this and find root cause. The lip should not break off. Completely defeats the purpose and a false sense of security. If this was a bad lot they need to recall and purge their stock, but atleast then they will gain user confidence.

phunk

analysis: broken

what do you think they are going to hire a forensics team to look at it and say what the entire world already knows; it couldnt handle the lateral load and it broke. LOL, thats all there is to it.

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kenchan

hey smartarse, since im a nice guy i will coach you how things are done in the manufacturing world.

if this was a non-injury or non-life threatening piece of a car like say an emblem, i wouldn't mind as much, but a spacer/stud failure can cause serious accidents especially if one is getting false sense of security while driving.

since you don't have basic knowledge of what real manufacturers go through, any top tier manufacturer will have lab equipment in-house to do this analysis... nowhere near involved as what a forensics scientist would go through. LOL

they will first look at the angles of the break under a microscope to determine if it was a stress fracture or material fatigue or material contamination. they can also find where the load was on the lip which caused the failure to see if within design. if the material appears pure, they will run spectro-analysis to check the material alloy itself, and determine root cause.

there's basically 3 suspects. design, material contamination, wrong material combination used.

fix the problem, prevent it from reoccurring, done. if our wheel design is outside the design tolerance due to material, then that needs to be highlighted on the box/instruction manual.

the end. hope you enjoyed basic QC 8D Reporting 101.

fuct

could you possibly be over tightening your lug nuts causing added stress on the spacers????