Wheel Spacers vs. Caliper Grinding

Please bear in mind, I'm very new to trucks and the dynamics of them...I've stuck to tuners for the last 7 years, but now I'm hooked on these!

I'm in a tight situation where I was sold a set of 4 used wheels/tires from a fellow 2nd gen Tacoma owner, and he claimed they fit his Tacoma no problem. They are Ultra Type 164's wrapped in 285/75/16 BF Goodrich AT KO's. He had a 2007 4x4 DCSB, so basically the same truck I have but 3 years newer. Of course 33" tires wont fit on stock height without some decent trimming, which I have done to the point where I do not rub anywhere and I still have some of my wheel well to spare.

The problem is where the front brake calipers meet the backside of the wheel spokes. The space between them is barely big enough to fit a single sheet of paper through on both sides. Under semi-hard braking (not engaging ABS but definitely nose-diving) I hear a significant grinding/scraping sound, but this will go away once the truck has been on the road for more than 10 minutes. Is this because of the AT's being cold? My mechanic buddy offered an explanation where the caliper is flexing and scraping against the wheel well.

The bottom line is, I paid good money for these wheels and tires, and I'm determined to make them work. They look great and feel great and I got a amazing deal on them. What is my safest option?

Wheel spacers - Spidertrax only makes them as small as 1.25" which will make my truck look like a wannabe prerunner (not the look I'm going for). How safe are these? I'm scared of using the generic 5mm 6 lug ones from Pep Boys...too many horror stories.

Grinding down my caliper 1/16" to increase the distance from the wheel spokes...messing with the integrity of a part that saves my life every minute of driving, but it's only 1/16" taken off.

What would you do in my situation? New wheels are not an option for me right now. I can put on my stock setup until I figure this out, but I really could use some help.

Thanks in advance!

Photos:

 

i wouldn't grind the caliper. i only say this cause when i was putting on my rims, that's what 4WP did and they ground through the caliper. so i had them replace the caliper and rotor from a 2004 model one they had lying around just so i could get home seeing how it was a sunday and toyota was closed. its still 4 piston but just a little smaller. on the way home i did some hard breaking on and off-road just to see how they worked on the truck and they did great. so the next day, i had them pay for new brake pads, rotors and rebuild kits (which they gladly did since it was WAY cheaper then buying new 05 calipers) and i got to run the rims i wanted (black steel rock crushers). its been 7 years now and i've had no problems stopping.......yet lol. hope this helps you out.

 

x2, I wouldn't grind the caliper either.

 

dont grind the caliper

 

Lurry ground down his

was not a good result

 

oh and any thickness wheel spacer can be purchased in 1/4" increments if my memory is correct from another company - I forget the name.

wheel spacers are only slightly worse for your truck because they add another point to fail.

 

what happened?

 

I pretty much knew this would be the consensus, and I was not going to do it...but those seemed to be the only 2 options on the table.

I guess I'll just suck it up and have a really wide stance in the front...I'm going to call 4wp to see if they have the Spidertrax in stock today so I can pick them up on my lunch and install tonight.

 

He's no longer with the TW community

 

oh he's back

 

How do I miss out on these things?!?!

 

check out bora spacers as well. you can get them in .75" which isnt as bad as 1.5". I had a similar situation however I did grind my calipers but Im still gonna add the .75" spacers just for that extra clearance. There was another site that sold hub-centric 5mm spacers instead of the .25" ones that are lug-centric and could give you vibes. ill see if i can find it

 

My rims were about the same without the grinding noise but close maybe .030 (1/32 of an inch) clearance. You have like .005 a sheet of white line paper is .003 or no clearance. Made some .060 spacers (1/16) aluminum sheet on our water jet at work (just od, Clarence hole pattern, and hub dia) got some e/t lug nuts and now have some clearance for my calipers.
The pic shows a stack of 8.

 

Check these out. lil bit more $ but might be just what your looking for. another member on here has them, forgot who, said they were good quality

 

There was a group buy on Bora wheel spacers a couple of weeks ago - closed now, but it could go again soon. Here is the link to the thread:

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/group-buys/216478-bora-wheel-spacers-up-25-discount.html

Good Bora info in the OP.

 

Yeah your options are limited.

Cheapest is to get a thin spacer plates that is thick enough to clear the caliper but still thin enough to keep the wheel hubcentric. Likely 1/8"
You can get these made to any spec you desire, motorsports tech will build anything you like.

I searched for a lil for you to see if there any this thin off the self but none that I found. Only ones are 1/4" but that is too thick for you to stay hubcentric.

You need to check your hub bore as well for the wheels you have to see if you need a hub ring or not to keep them correctly centered.

You can get bolt on wheel spacers as thin as 3/4", only vendor with this size motorsports tech

Grinding the caliper is typically a last ditch effort for minimal clearance but you are in need of more than what grinding allows for safely.

 

I appreciate everybody's insight. Some great information here but I guess I'm too paranoid to go with any spacer, so instead I placed an order with 4wp to pickup a set of 1.25" thick Spidertrax adapters. I'm going to install them tonight, torque them down, and see how badly they stick out. If it's really noticeable, I'll probably throw a set on the rear as well.

I'll update tonight if I have time to put them on after work.

 

So... you're paranoid about putting a thin spacer and running extended lug bolts but you're ok with doubling the number of lug nuts, half of which you can't see if they're loose because they're blocked by the wheel?

 

I know I would notice if front wheels stuck out 1.25" and my rears did not.