My NTB guy says wheel spacers are a bad thing

[geddy lee]

I have a friend who is a manager at NTB. Whenever I buy tires ( quite often ) he gives me the tirerack price. He is very knowledgable about the business. I asked him how much he would charge to install some wheel spacers if I bought them. He said NTB will not install spacers and that they would be bad for the car. He said that installing spacers , either of the 2 types , causes the car to flex differently , putting forces on the suspension and other parts of the car that it was not designed for. The car was designed for a specific wheel base and width and that I should not mess with that. Any thoughts?

[daisuke149]

Originally Posted by geddy lee

I have a friend who is a manager at NTB. Whenever I buy tires ( quite often ) he gives me the tirerack price. He is very knowledgable about the business. I asked him how much he would charge to install some wheel spacers if I bought them. He said NTB will not install spacers and that they would be bad for the car. He said that installing spacers , either of the 2 types , causes the car to flex differently , putting forces on the suspension and other parts of the car that it was not designed for. The car was designed for a specific wheel base and width and that I should not mess with that. Any thoughts?

hes right. Which is why most cars only ever come with 1 choice of tires / wheels. Like the 370z. The 18" base wheels are a myth, as are the Nismo rays.

P.S by his point, the car was designed for certain suspension also... so dont change your suspension. It was also designed for particular intakes, so dont change those.. Or your exhaust.. or tune.. or any bulbs in the car.. (see the point?) Any one category of item.. isnt bad on its own.. Getting the wrong type, a bad install, or bad combination of things can be bad.

Also.. for being a friend and giving you tire rack places.. you can walk into any tire shop and tell em the price on tire rack and they would match it. Kauffman, NTB, Discount tire and butler all said they would match tirerack. Were he your friend, he'd cut you something better.

[Davey]

Actually there is some truth to that. You change the scrub radius and the load on the bearings by varying the offset too much from stock, which you could do when adding spacers.

Imagine if your front hubs are right in the middle of your tire's center line, and how the wheels move when turning right or left... And how the side-to-side load on the bearings would be distributed. Now, imagine that the hub bolts to the edge of the wheel. If you can visualize that difference, then you understand scrub radius, and how you might be wearing out wheel bearings much faster using an offset that varies a lot from stock.

Scrub radius - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

If you're correcting the offset to stock (or near stock) using spacers then bearing loads and scrub radius won't be a problem but still, some spacers also create more load on the studs and can cause problems with balance.

I don't think a quality spacer that is hub-centric would be an issue and as long as you don't vary the offset too much from stock the suspension geometry changes shouldn't be a big deal.

Then again, you know, poke and stretch and run 215's on some 11-inch-wide wheels that rub your fenders when you go around turns, all the other kids are doing it.

[w0rM]

With typical spacers being 20mm or less, I honestly don't think the scrub radius is altered enough to make a significant difference in wear. If you were running a 100mm spacer, your Z would look like a roller skate.

I certainly wouldn't even think about running any spacers what weren't hub-centric. That's just asking for trouble.

[Mike]

running spacers is no different that getting wheels with flush offsets.

[daisuke149]

Originally Posted by w0rM

With typical spacers being 20mm or less, I honestly don't think the scrub radius is altered enough to make a significant difference in wear. If you were running a 100mm spacer, your Z would look like a roller skate.

I certainly wouldn't even think about running any spacers what weren't hub-centric. That's just asking for trouble.

Hrmm. thats a good point.. need to find spacers so wide, that the whole wheel is outside the fender. And then still dont need to worry about fender mods.

[Davey]

Originally Posted by daisuke149

Hrmm. thats a good point.. need to find spacers so wide, that the whole wheel is outside the fender. And then still dont need to worry about fender mods.

Just add 90 degrees of positive camber...

[w0rM]

Originally Posted by daisuke149

Hrmm. thats a good point.. need to find spacers so wide, that the whole wheel is outside the fender. And then still dont need to worry about fender mods.

At least you know you'd get tons of attention.

[kenchan]

Originally Posted by geddy lee

I have a friend who is a manager at NTB. Whenever I buy tires ( quite often ) he gives me the tirerack price. He is very knowledgable about the business. I asked him how much he would charge to install some wheel spacers if I bought them. He said NTB will not install spacers and that they would be bad for the car. He said that installing spacers , either of the 2 types , causes the car to flex differently , putting forces on the suspension and other parts of the car that it was not designed for. The car was designed for a specific wheel base and width and that I should not mess with that. Any thoughts?

the wheel rate will change, so from a factory suspension geometry point of view, he is correct.
also from the wider track the wheel bearings and maybe the axles will take more abuse from the drivetrain point of view.

but that's no different than getting aftermarket wheels with more aggressive offset. i think most cars will be able to take 10-15mm with no issue. 20-25 is getting kinda aggressive. 30+ you're probably asking for trouble.

[w0rM]

I'm running a 20-25 setup. I ran it for almost 3 years on my 350 without issue.

Think about it... it's no worse than running a +12 offset on aftermarket wheels.

[binary0x01]

I'm getting 20/25 installed Tuesday. I hope it will work out with stock wheels and won't f-up my car. I have never heard of anyone speaking about putting spacers on and getting their car deformed. I'll ask Seb at specialty Z what he thinks about it. I hope he won't laugh at me lol

[Baer383]

Originally Posted by binary0x01

I'm getting 20/25 installed Tuesday. I hope it will work out with stock wheels and won't f-up my car. I have never heard of anyone speaking about putting spacers on and getting their car deformed. I'll ask Seb at specialty Z what he thinks about it. I hope he won't laugh at me lol

Your car will be fine
Your will look good

People just need something to piss & moan about

[w0rM]

How can a fitment this good be wrong?

[fuct]

Originally Posted by w0rM

How can a fitment this good be wrong?

because it needs a drop

[evoAXE]

Buy wheels that fit.