Is it safe to have wheel spacers together??

[seen_]

At the moment I have got 5mm wheel spacers on the front two wheels. But the inside of the tyres are still rubbing against the suspension twist nuts.

I am thinking to add 3mm spacers to the 5mm spacers to equal 8mm, is this safe or not? the reason i don't want to buy 10mm wheel spacers is because i don't want the wheels to catch on the arch.

The wheel nuts I am using are standard, i've heard if you get 3 or more turns on each nut its fine.

Is it ok to have 2 or 3 long nuts and the rest standard or does this affect the wheel when turning?

Sorry for all the question but I am in need on some guidance.

Thanks in advance

 

[Mpathe]

yes would be safe to use the 2 spacers together but as for the bolts i wouldnt risk the chance, for the sake of 25-50 quid its not worth it, to think how much damage it could do if 1 wheel comes off.

 

[PH1L]

as for the spacers you could always tack em together, by gas, mma, mig or tig welding em

 

[Ronburgandy]

I would go for new bolts too mate,

with all the questions asked from the Edition38 and Golf forum the general 'sensible' answer is you need to accomidate for what your changing, if you think you will nearly be taking 1cm from the bolt lenght and thats a bit worrying when you look at the length of the bolts

You also need to think are they HUBCENTRIC spacers as the general weight of the wheel is on the centre bore of the hub where as the bolts are literally to hold the wheel on the centre bore!

if your spacers arent HUBCENTRIC all the weight is on the bolts and you will def be asking for probs!


Is the ET on your wheels really high?


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[A3Tom]

From an engineering point of view.....one spacer will ALWAYS be better than 2 stuck next to each other.

Now sorry for sounding harsh...BUT

Lashing 2 sets together and tacking them IMO is ****** stupid unless you know what you are doing and you can get them TOTALLY lined up and straight. Doing them by eye isnt good enough. You have to make sure you get them in line and butted up correctly, tacking them together...I wouldnt.

As for only using 2 long bolts, why oh why would you do that??. For the sake of the extra cash just buy a full set of bolts!!.

How the wheels attach to you car is quite important, if one falls off then you're in the sh*t so you should make sure that if you're doing anything wheel related you DONT cut corners and do it properly.

I'd enquire about getting some spacers made rather than using 2 sets.

T

 

[Lemon S3]

if your spacers arent HUBCENTRIC all the weight is on the bolts and you will def be asking for probs!

Mine aren't hubcentric n I haven't had any probs, they've been on for quite a while. I am using 12.9 grade bolts though. When I have money, I will evetually get some hubcentric ones, it's just the 20mm hubcentric spacers are quite pricey.

I do advise you to get longer bolts like all the others are saying.

 

[sportquattro]

I imagine your insurers would have something to say if a wheel came off due to you not using longer bolts, there's an old saying,"if in doubt, there is no doubt" and IMHO the very notion of using too short a bolt to hold your wheels on is just asking for trouble. In other words I'd get the right spacer and the right bolts, anything less is dangerous and irresponsible. Sorry if that sounds harsh.

 

[seen_]

Hey guys...thanks for your responce!!!

You lot are right...will probs get new spacers and longer bolts! will probs try and get hubcentric ones but can't find any that are 8mm-10mm.

Btw if i wanted to get spacers made where could i get them done from?

 

[S3Steve]

H&R do 8mm hubcentric spacers mate, you can get them from DPM

http://www.dpmperformance.co.uk/wheel-spacers-vag-5100-571-c-2207_2868.html

 

[<tuffty/>]

Generally speaking you won't get hubcentric on anything less than 15mm spacers as the chamfer to the spigot will be too thin... that said I do have hubcentric 10mm spacers but they will only fit certain wheels like OEM for instance as aftermarket wheels differ on the chamfer from the mounting face to the hole in the middle.

While H&R spacers may well do hubcentric 8mm spacers, they may not allow your particular wheel to mount flat on the hub/disk which is...... bad.....

<tuffty/>

 

[seen_]

my wheels are rs4 replicas so they must be aftermarket

so my best bet i guess is 8mm normal spacers and longer bolts?

 

[A3Tom]

Yep, you got it.

 

[jojo]

as for the spacers you could always tack em together, by gas, mma, mig or tig welding em

Wouldn't this effect the balancing of the spacer?

 

[DPM]

Personally I'd say get 8mm spacers and don't use 5mm + 3mm and always get the correct length bolts.

Damian @ DPM Performance

 

[badger5]

get 10mm hubcentric.. so you have a hub to hold the wheel..
if you use plain flat or stacked spacers like you are, you have little or no hub engagement in your wheel, allowing for the chamfer lead in the wheel itself.
longer bolts mandatory.. and no 3 turns is not sufficient.. 3 x 1.5 pitch is only engaged 4.5mm on an M14 bolt.. Unsafe what you are currently doing

 

[<tuffty/>]

Wouldn't this effect the balancing of the spacer?

...not to mention potential for heat distortion upsetting the flat mating surfaces...

<tuffty/>

 

[seen_]

thnx evry1!

just curious?!? has anybody just got spacers at the front of the car and none at the back? or is it best to have spacers on all wheels? because my rear wheels are fine! just need to get my front wheels away from my suspension slightly!

 

[A3Tom]

I dont have any on mine