Risks of Wheel Spacers?

Alright guys, I searched for a thread about this particular topic and couldn't find one, so I'm sorry if its already been posted, but I have a question that I hear one answer to and then I'll turn around and hear another. What are the risks if I use wheel spacers rather than buy new rims with a smaller backspacing? I do understand that widening the stance can increase stress on the hubs and studs and perhaps some suspension components, but is it that big of a deal? Is it negligable?

 

Wheel spacers or even different wheel specs can put more stress on wheel bearings and wear them out faster. Wheel spacers, you just have to be careful with, make sure you use the provided loc-tite, torque them on and check them frequently. Go with a reputable brand. Personally, I wouldn't want them on my truck, I'd rather get wheels with the proper backspacing, I wouldn't want the potential failure point.

 

X2

 

thousands of miles here with spacers with no problems, a lot of Long travel guys run them without issues

 

Wheel spacers and different wheels with back spacing just put more stress on your wheel bearings/wheel studs. Expect your wheel bearings to last a little shorter time. I have spacers in the rear. Work fine.

 

As noted, a little bearing wear, but frankly running larger tires and getting in the dirt does way more in the way of wear and tear than spacers do.

Take your time to ensure they are installed correctly. Clean the hub and studs thoroughly. Use red loctite. Give each spacer a full 10 minutes for the locktite to set before putting the wheel on. Do not overtorque the lug nuts.

Common sense will prevail.

 

Did you end up running spacers in the rear? the Stealth 6's are 4.3" backspacing right?

 

They are and I ended up running 1.25s all around. The rear needed 'em, did the front for symmetry.

Should help when it's time to clear dirty-fives

 

Okay thats what i have too, i was hoping to go down to a .5" with the stealth 6's

 

Thanks guys! As far as of road applications go, would I be hurting anything running spacers more so than if I was running smaller backspaced rims? I have 265/75R16 and I eventually wanna go to 285, so I'm going to have to space out one way or another. I'm already rubbing slightly on the drivers side at full lock.

 

Offroad just takes onroad wear and multiplies it by orders of magnitude.

So no, nothing new. What would've happened in 50,000mi on pavement will take 5,000 off it.

Might be able to. I got the 1.25 because I knew I wanted to go to a larger tire later on.

 

subbed

 

Well would it be the same difference to add say a half inch spacer to a 16x8 inch rim with 4.5 back spacing as running a 16x8 inch rim with 4 back spacing?

 

ive had my 1.25" wheel spacers for 5000 miles. on road and beaten them offroad, not a single problem plus my truck has the perfect stance with them!

 

The physics are identical.

 

That's a good answer.

 

I already have over 10,000 miles on my 12 DC 1.25 spacers on frt 50% street 50% hard Baja off road.So far no problems