Wheel Spacer Consequences and Gains?

[blue_kjR417]

Hey fellas, after installing my OME/Bilstien lift and still rocking the 245/70/16's I've been thinking about buying some of the Spidertrax 1.25" wheel spacers to set my wheels and tires out a little farther than they are now. From the direct front my KJ has a great stance but when you look at it from the front/side it looks tall but looks like the tires are sucked in underneath. I was wondering if the wheel spacers would fix my problem. What are the bad things to spacers? Will they cause my tires to rub any? Will they mess up my freshly alligned front end? Will they be any more strenuous on the jeep?

 

[Ry' N Jen]

Hey fellas, after installing my OME/Bilstien lift and still rocking the 245/70/16's I've been thinking about buying some of the Spidertrax 1.25" wheel spacers to set my wheels and tires out a little farther than they are now. From the direct front my KJ has a great stance but when you look at it from the front/side it looks tall but looks like the tires are sucked in underneath. I was wondering if the wheel spacers would fix my problem. What are the bad things to spacers? Will they cause my tires to rub any? Will they mess up my freshly alligned front end? Will they be any more strenuous on the jeep?

Hey Wes.

Other than many people telling you that you will prematurely burn out your wheel bearings and that you now have 40 lug nuts/spacer nuts to re-torque
every time you rotate your tires...

No, no problems at all!
Our Rig has the very same spacers fitted and have been on for the last 22 months with No, Nil, Nadda, problems what so ever.
Check out this thread, post number 9,
That is Tim's Jeep (LibertyTC) and his 2245-65-17's look good under his Jeep.
In Tim's case the spacers actually got rid of the rubbing and gave better
clearance between the tires and upper control arms.
http://www.jeepkj.com/forum/showthread.php?t=49119

 

[Ry' N Jen]

Hey fellas, after installing my OME/Bilstien lift and still rocking the 245/70/16's I've been thinking about buying some of the Spidertrax 1.25" wheel spacers to set my wheels and tires out a little farther than they are now. From the direct front my KJ has a great stance but when you look at it from the front/side it looks tall but looks like the tires are sucked in underneath. I was wondering if the wheel spacers would fix my problem. What are the bad things to spacers? Will they cause my tires to rub any? Will they mess up my freshly alligned front end? Will they be any more strenuous on the jeep?

Hey Wes.

Other than many people telling you that you will prematurely burn out your wheel bearings (So would wider wheels and wheels with a different offset.) and that you now have 40 lug nuts/spacer nuts to re-torque
every time you rotate your tires...

No, no problems at all!
Our Rig has the very same spacers fitted and have been on for the last 22 months with No, Nil, Nadda, problems what so ever.
Check out this thread, post number 9,
That is Tim's Jeep (LibertyTC) and his 245-65-17's look good under his Jeep.
In Tim's case the spacers actually got rid of the rubbing and gave better
clearance between the tires and upper control arms.
http://www.jeepkj.com/forum/showthread.php?t=49119

He just needs man tires now...
And take it wheeling with us!

 

[tjkj2002]

Does your state have safety inspections? If so spacers will fail you and almost all repair shops will not take your wheels off with them installed for any repair work.

Still don't understand why poeple buy them as you can get rims with less back spacing for about the same price(alloy's for just a little more) then a good set of spacers.

 

[blue_kjR417]

Hey Wes.

Other than many people telling you that you will prematurely burn out your wheel bearings (So would wider wheels and wheels with a different offset.) and that you now have 40 lug nuts/spacer nuts to re-torque
every time you rotate your tires...

No, no problems at all!
Our Rig has the very same spacers fitted and have been on for the last 22 months with No, Nil, Nadda, problems what so ever.
Check out this thread, post number 9,
That is Tim's Jeep (LibertyTC) and his 245-65-17's look good under his Jeep.
In Tim's case the spacers actually got rid of the rubbing and gave better
clearance between the tires and upper control arms.
http://www.jeepkj.com/forum/showthread.php?t=49119

He just needs man tires now...
And take it wheeling with us!

Thanks Ryan I really like the way TC's widened out in that pic!

Does your state have safety inspections? If so spacers will fail you and almost all repair shops will not take your wheels off with them installed for any repair work.

Still don't understand why poeple buy them as you can get rims with less back spacing for about the same price(alloy's for just a little more) then a good set of spacers.

Arkansas does not have safety inspections, and very rarely is it that a shop works on my rig but if they did I reckon I could take them off. The reason I was considering them instead of new wheels, I hate soft 8's on a Rene, I like the way my wheels look now, and after paying for the new wheels I then have to have my tires broke down and reassembled on these new and then re-ballanced.

 

[badkittystt]

Anything ever come of this? Looking at wheel spacers for Mr. Darcy.

 

[rockymountain]

Anything ever come of this? Looking at wheel spacers for Mr. Darcy.

he got wrecked unfortunately.

 

[sevenhelmet]

I still vote for the soft 8s or other rims that sit out more than stock over wheel spacers. For ease of tire removal, if nothing else.

/resurrection

 

[Ry' N Jen]

I still vote for the soft 8s or other rims that sit out more than stock over wheel spacers. For ease of tire removal, if nothing else.

/resurrection

Ya, that works.
Puts just as "stress" on the wheel bearings as spacers...

 

[sevenhelmet]

Ya, that works.
Puts just as "stress" on the wheel bearings as spacers...

Sure does, but I've had no problems so far in the 4 years I've been running soft 8s on my Jeep.

 

[Ry' N Jen]

Sure does, but I've had no problems so far in the 4 years I've been running soft 8s on my Jeep.

And nor have I had any problems in the last two plus years using spacers.
250000.0 Kilometers with the original factory installed wheel bearings.
I use spacers on my other ride as well without any problems.

 

[Strike]

The only thing I've ever heard about spacers was that a long time ago they weren't good, but they are really good now they just have a stigma. I don't have any problems with them and have a set of my own.

 

[bjeepin]

ive got 1.5" spacers on my renegade, love em. makes the wheels come out from under the fenders more and looks beefier

 

[badkittystt]

So here's a question, do you have to have a lift in order to use them or is that a myth of the past as well? I would really like to get a little bit of spread on Mr. Darcy, not past the fender flares, just closer to them. Sometimes I feel like I'm talking to a ballerina on his beefy toes.

 

[sevenhelmet]

If you keep regular sized tires (235 70 16) on your Jeep, you can reduce the backspacing on your wheels without issues on a stock suspension. Keep in mind though, rubbing will be an issue with bigger tires, even if you have a lift. Mine has 235 75 16 tires and 4" backspaced wheels (equivalent to 1.5" spacers) and I still get rubbing at full lock even with 2" of OME lift over stock. It's minimal though, and once I heat gun the fog light door area it should be gone.

 

[Ry' N Jen]

So here's a question, do you have to have a lift in order to use them or is that a myth of the past as well? I would really like to get a little bit of spread on Mr. Darcy, not past the fender flares, just closer to them. Sometimes I feel like I'm talking to a ballerina on his beefy toes.

Yes Kitty you need a lift in order to use wheel spacers.

 

[surfRenegade]

Ive had Rough Country 1.5" spacers on mine for over a year. No problems at all. Looks way better than before especially after loosing some width in the front after the lift. The RC spacers are much cheaper than the spidertrax. The only issue I have had is that the place I bought my tires will no longer work on it with the spacers on. Also, I didnt even think about it when I bought them but since the lift the front is narrower than the rear. Would have been better off getting like 2" for the front and 1" for the rear or something. I got 1.5" all around