Wheel Spacers: How To Install, Pros And Cons, Safety

Wheel spacers are round discs and are attached between the wheel hub and the wheels. They are used for increasing the wheel offset and increasing the vehicle’s track (the distance between the front wheels). The thickness of wheel spacers can range from 3mm to 23mm, which allows you to choose from a wide range of sizes to match your modification requirements. Wheel spacers allow your wheels to sit further out from the hubs, creating extra space for wider and bigger tires. This also prevents the wheel from rubbing against the wheel well liners, brakes, and suspension components. Adding a wheel spacer to your vehicle is an inexpensive mod and is preferred by both streetcar enthusiasts and off-roaders.

Wheel spacers are mainly of two types: hub-centric and lug-centric. Their applications mainly depend upon the wheel hub and the wheel on your vehicle. While choosing the correct type of wheel spacer for your vehicle, it's necessary to consider the purpose and use of your vehicle as well. Read on to understand more about the types of wheel spacers and how they can be used.

Car manufacturers design their wheels to fit a specific vehicle, or a range of vehicles, using a specific wheel bore size. If the wheel bore is designed to fit exactly onto the axle of a vehicle, it is called a hub-centric connection. Here, the center of the wheel directly sits on the axle hub, and the wheel-to-axle connection bears the weight of the vehicle.

A hub-centric wheel spacer slides over the wheel studs and is attached to the hub with the help of lug nuts. The wheels are further attached to the studs installed on the wheel spacers. The center of the wheel fits directly onto the center of the wheel spacer. These wheel spacers are specially designed for a vehicle type and cannot fit on another vehicle unless the latter one has the same dimensions.

Unlike car manufacturers, aftermarket companies make wheels with a wider bore size to accommodate a wide range of vehicles with varying axle sizes. These wheels with larger hub diameters can be used for a large variety of applications, and due to their large hub size, there is a space between the hub and the axle. This means, unlike hub-centric wheels, they are not centered by the hub but by lug nuts, hence the name lug-centric.

Lug centric wheel spacer looks like a large washer that fits in between the hub and wheel. That is attached with the help of lug nuts. With these wheel spacers, the weight of the vehicle rests on the studs to which these spacers are attached. These lug-centric wheel spacers have wider center bores and are made to fit different vehicles.

Since most aftermarket manufacturers offer wheels with larger hub diameters, they also offer small hub-centric rings as an option that allows you to achieve a hub-centric connection. These hub-centric rings are either made of plastic or metal and are offered in various sizes.

Wheel spacers are simple to install, and if you have changed your brake pads or rotors before, you can perform this task easily. Follow the stepwise method below to install wheel spacers on your vehicle.

Tools Required

• Jacks

• Jack Stands

• Wrench and Socket

• Breaker Bar or Pry bar

• Rust Remover or WD-40

• Wheel Chocks

• Lug Nuts and Studs

  
  

1. Park your vehicle on a leveled surface and apply the parking brakes.

2. Loosen the lug nuts using a lug wrench. If nuts are rusted or jammed, use WD-40 or rust remover.

3. Lift the vehicle using a floor jack and place a jack stand under it. Make sure you apply wheel chocks behind the wheels.

4. Remove the wheel by removing the lug nuts. Clean the surface and remove any surface irregularities from the hub surface.

5. Install the wheel spacer and tighten the lug nuts. Make sure the nuts are tight and the spacer is installed properly. Use a pry bar or breaker bar to lock the hub by placing it between the studs, so that lug nuts can be tightened properly.

6. Re-install the wheel onto the hub spacer and tighten the lug nuts.

7. Jack down the vehicle and make sure the lug nuts are tightened properly using a torque wrench.

8. Repeat the steps for other wheels and make sure the installation is done correctly.

9. Check the wheels and tires for any kind of rubbing against the wheel wells and vehicle body.

10. Check the wheel alignment since all the wheels are reinstalled and their offset is changed. Although it isn't necessary, we recommend an alignment after the installation.

    
    

Installing wheel spacers increases the offset of your vehicle, which means a greater distance between the two wheels. While there are several benefits of having a greater offset, there are a few disadvantages that you should know before installing them on your vehicle.

1. Improved Vehicle Handling

Installing the wheel spacers increases the distance between both the left and right wheels. That makes the vehicle more stable, lowers the center of gravity, reduces body roll while cornering, and improves the handling of your vehicle.

2. Allows Wider/Larger Wheels or Tires

If you are a car enthusiast or an off-roader, you must know how beneficial larger wheels and tires are while off-roading. One advantage of using wheel spacers is that they allow owners to fit wider tires for better traction and handling. Even if you add wider/larger tires for aesthetic purposes, the wheel spacers prevent them from rubbing against the wheel wells or fenders.

3. Allows For Larger Brake Calipers

If you plan on installing high-performance brakes, you might need more space because performance brake systems have bigger brake calipers. Installing wheel spacers on your vehicle also offers a larger area and more room for advanced brake systems. 

4. Inexpensive Modification

Wheel spacers are usually made from aircraft-grade aluminum alloys and are cheaper than other aftermarket modifications. A wheel spacer is a low-cost, high-quality modification for your vehicle that only costs a few dollars when you consider the impact on performance.

5. Better Looks

Wider wheels sitting out further from the wheel arches make your vehicle look attractive and improve its road presence.

1. Increased Steering Effort

Wheel spacers improve handling but also increase the tire scrub radius, increasing the steering effort. This happens because the distance between the wheels of the vehicle is greater, requiring more steering wheel input to turn the tires. However, most cars today have modern power steering systems that significantly minimize this problem.

2. Reduced Ride Quality

An increase in wheel track distance disturbs the vehicle's suspension and steering characteristics. Every car comes from the factory with the driving experience already in top shape and designed for comfort. Installing the wheel spacers disturbs the stock balancing of a vehicle, resulting in decreased ride quality. This effect is positively correlated with the size of the spacer. The bigger the wheel spacer, the more you have to compromise on the vehicle's handling and driving experience.

3. More Wear on Suspension Components

As the distance between the wheels and suspension components increases, so does the pressure on the suspension, and components like wheel bearings and wheel hub assembly wear out faster. As suspension parts wear out, they can significantly affect your vehicle’s handling in the long run.

It is safe to install wheel spacers on your vehicle. But it depends on the quality of the product you are installing and the quality of the installation. Sometimes wheel spacers can cause the tires to rub against the wheel wells, depending on the shape of your wheel wells and tire size. It is always advised to consider the dimensions of your fenders, wheel well, and suspension travel before installing wheel spacers and larger tires. Also, in many areas, these are illegal because the wheels are not properly covered by fenders, which can cause rocks or debris to hit pedestrians or other vehicles. 

Although using wheel spacers is fine on small vehicles, when using them on trucks, it is advised to go for hub-centric wheel spacers because the weight is too much for the lug-centric ones. Finally, people also stack up multiple wheel spacers to push the wheels out even further. One can use multiple wheel spacers on one wheel, but we recommend consulting a mechanic before doing that.

Wheel spacers and wheel adapters are quite similar in many ways. Wheel spacers allow your wheels to move outwards and give your vehicle a better ride, and also make it look impressive. Whereas spacers only allow your wheels to move outward, wheel adapters allow you to have a different bolt pattern. The wheel adapter changes the bolt pattern so that you can add wheels of your own choice to your vehicle. With wheel adapters, you can have a larger set of wheels with different bolt patterns, which is not possible unless you re-drill the wheels or change the axles or hubs.

The cost of a wheel spacer varies according to the type of spacer, the brand you choose, and the material it is made up of. The average price of installing wheel spacers lies between $120 and $250, with parts costing you $80 to $150 and the service charge between $50 and $100, depending upon the workshop. You can reduce the cost of installation by doing it yourself. We have discussed how to install wheel spacers yourself above.