Lets Talk Wheel Spacers

Hey guys.. i was trying to figure out a starter setup for my Tacoma. Going to keep it at stock height for now.. probably purchasing a set of HELO HE835 17X8 with 4.50 BSpacing, Zero offset

wanted to get some wide stance appearance though, and was contemplating some spacers.. saw these

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/gta-93-83-125t/overview/year/2013/make/toyota/model/tacoma


Now first off, i will say that i am a noob to this, and i could really use some guidance, so forgive my noob question.. i am not aware if the rims or spacers are hubcentric or lugcentric, so i am lost there

Says the center bore is 106.25 millimeters, and im not sure what that equates to.. lol


will these spacers be beneficial to achieve some wider stance? does a wider stance mean it will rub the fenders with a 265/70/17 tire?

just curious, as id like to order some wheels and tires as soon as i can

thanks for all the help and knowledge guys!

Ron

 

265/70/17 and 4.5" BS will rub, I imagine adding wheel spacers will make it rub a lot worse.

Edit: You have a first gen so Idk really.

 

i forgot to add. this will be on a 2013 regular cab!

i have since upgraded from my old 99 to a brand new 13.. now i have to make it pretty... hehe

BTW, so what proper backspacing should i be looking for? hmm

 

Lose the spacers and run that size on the 4.5" BS wheels with minimal trimming.

 

Will the wheels have an aggressive stance with that back spacing? Anybody have any pics to provide comparison

 

hmm.. so i finally ordered the tires... what about 1.25 spacers on stock Tacoma Sport wheels with a 265/70/17 tire?

 

Nobody?

 

Forget the wheel spacers man. If you want to make it look 'pretty' you'll most likely end up getting wheels at some point anyway, so just put that money towards wheels. Those spacers are about 200 bucks for all 4. You can buy inexpensive new wheels for $400 or even less, and get the exact rim offset and width you want.

Wheel spacers.. I've been there done that with another vehicle, waste of time and money. They looked ok at first but after a month I was bored and bought new wheels and tires and total waste of money big time, especially since the spacers I had were the nicer ones that require new wheel studs. Had to buy shit twice. Though yours are different but still, you may be pissed you spent 200 bucks on something you'll sell later for half what you paid. Plus 1.25" will look like shit (just my opionion) with such a relatively skinny tire. If your tires stick out some, they should be sticking out due to running a wide tire, not pushing skinny stock wheels with skinny tires and looking like old school metal wheeled roller skates going down the road.

It's just my 2 cents LOL. If you really want wheels spacers and NEVER plan on upgrading wheels, 1/2" would look ok and probablly give you the room you need to clear the UCA's.

 

What the wheel spacers do is make room when your wheels don't have enough backspacing on the current wheels to clear something. In my case it was the UCA. I got my new tires on and the tires were sitting on the UCA.

I asked about wheel spacers and the guys at the shop said they were unsafe and were not allowed to sell them. Figuring they were just trying to make a sale on more expensive rims I went to another place and they also warned me they were really unsafe on the highway and they lost a sale on spacers so it's not like they had an incentive to lie to me.

Wheels+Rims that have proper back spacing would have the same stance as wheels with spacers.


Don't cheap out for shit on your truck because you get what you pay for. Buying a 30kish truck and then cheaping out for 100$ spacers seems like an awful idea.

 

^been running spacers just fine for a while. A lot of guys with Long travel usually run them in the rear to match front stance.

Look up Spidertrax 1.25 spacers. They are quality spacers.

DO NOT buy unknown or cheap spacers, that's how you end up with a wrecked vehicle. Maaaaaaaaaany people on this site have been running Spidertrax without an issue

 

Thank you very much for the responses guys! I will disregard the spacer idea than.

Btw, i am definitely not "cheaping" out on wheels. Lol. To be frank, i am just uncertain which wheels to buy. Price is no factor. Just want to make sure i am "in love"'with the ones i buy. Not sure weather to get something all black, or black and brushed aluminum

 

One thing to add here... To be clear, there are "wheel Spacers" and there are "wheel adapters".

The difference being "spacers" are more or less a large "washer" for lack of a better term that space the wheel away from the hub. see link below:

Wheel spacer: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/aaf-all44121/overview/

These are BAD and should not be used for general day to day commuting vehicles.. why? well because you reduce the amount of thread engagement onto the wheel creating a dangerous situation where you cannot get a good torque on the lug nuts. (They will torque to factory specs but the thread engagement is minimal...)

Now, lets talk about Wheel "Adapters" as Volcom (above) indicated...

Spidertrax have a proven history with a quality part. See below for Spidertrax link:

Spidertrax: http://www.spidertrax.com/Toyota-Hub-Centric-Spacer?sc=2&category=9982

Many people run these and they work well. Caveat: (Keep in mind these are my own personal thoughts and I am not affiliated in any way with ANY of these products..) so what is the difference between a spacer and an adapter?

"Adapters" have studs pressed into the product that will allow you to get the proper thread engagement on both the adapter, and the wheel. THIS is the reason Adapters are better than Spacers... Also note that a quality adapter such as the Spidertrax adapter uses quality material that will ensure that the adapter can be properly torqued, and they even provide lock tight to keep these from working their way loose.

The 1.25" spacing is the minimum for our trucks to ensure you have the proper amount of thread engagement to the vehicle studs, making them very safe. Lets face it. if these were not safe, they would not be able to sell them, or, if they had an incident with this product, guess what? Someone would likely sue the pants off Spidertrax causing them to remove these products from sale.

The only other thing I would add here is that you potentially put more stresses on driveline components such as your hub bearings, by using spacers, as they change the geometry (leverage point) of the wheel placement.. but in reality so does changing the backspacing on your wheel.

Finally, as indicated above I am not an advocate or affiliated with any of these products, (I do own a set of Spidertrax - but I wanted them so I could run chains on my truck during hunting season).. The intention I have here is to hopefully shed some light on the misconception that Spidertrax products are "Spacers." and even though they even call them "spacers" on their website, they are in fact "Adapters"... BIG difference.....

My $.02

 

VERY well said!