Tacoma Trd Pro With Wheel Spacers (Stock)

tensile

Hmm, I wouldn't base my opinion on just that person's photos/story. Spacers are safe.

One thing that people forget is that wheels rely on the friction of the clamping force between the wheel/spacer/hub.

The studs do not touch the sidewalls of the spacer/wheel.

The cone/ball of the nut centers the stud between the hole and screwing it together creates a clamping effect, this is what keeps the wheel on your car - rather than the vehicle being 'carried' or 'sitting on' the studs and it taking all the load.

So if a nut is over torqued, it'll stretch/elongate the stud to where it can fail - tensile deformation. When you see a failure in spacers, it's in wrong equipment or poor design. IE: not enough material between the cone and back pad of the wheel/spacer causing a blow out. However, it is likely most people over torque their nuts than under torque, as many people don't own these tools they are done often by hand. Also, using ball nuts instead of cone nuts - or vice versa.

Torque wrenches can be considered expensive and possibly they don't know the physics and material properties causing something that is safe, very unsafe.

So get a torque wrench that's calibrated and always go back to re-torque after a few miles. Make sure you're using the right nuts for your configuration. Race cars, drifters, trophy trucks use spacers all day so don't think of it as aftermarket modding hype.

Too tight, stretch stud - tensile deformation. Uneven torque, more stress on other studs. Too loose, and you'll get slippage between the surfaces - loss of clamping force. Wrong nuts, not seated.

 

The blue one was from a guy that tightened them with out a torque wrench, that said " I was tightening one of the lugnuts to the stud that is preinstalled on the wheel spacer and it wasnt really getting tight so i kept tightening it and the stud actually broke and is now stuck in my factory lugnut!!!"

The tightening and "never getting tight" thing is a dead give away that the nut has crossed a thread. I can tell in an instant when it's occurring, others just keep going. If you do, it pretty much always results in a sheared bolt.

He never even suggested guilt on the manufacturer, more so on his own part by not checking or being careful with his tightening.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/broke-my-spidertrax-wheel-spacers.49273/

 

I have seen spacers and/or adapters failure enough times on various vehicles to not want them, even if I followed the instructions and used proper torque settings for that vehicle. I worked at a tire shop for a long time which is how I was exposed to what spacers/adapters can do.

I like to keep things OEM as Mr. T intended when it comes to tires/wheels.

 

Thanks for all the good info guys. Still not sure what Im going to do. Of course there are better and maybe safer alternatives to obtain the stance and look I'm going for, but as I stated earlier I am trying to keep me stock wheels. I don't necessarily want to gain width by just getting a wider tire and risking rub.

Its funny how people always throw up their arms when it comes to spacers. I figure if properly installed and if I purchase a quality product I dont see the issue.

I've even heard of some brands running spacers on their performance vehicles right from stock, Mercedes being an example. Cant be that bad.

 

OP just get spacers, you will be fine. I ran spacers on my Evo for 4 years DD and autocross. Just torque them down to spec and check them after driving a few hundred miles to make sure they are still torqued properly. As far as rubbing, I cant vouch for that. My guess is will stock tires you will be ok.

 

I agree with you and I'm all about leaving things OEM, I don't plan on adding spacers to my Pro wheels either. The ideal thing to do is get a wheel in the specs you'd like rather than adding an adapter - but that's not always an option.

I've worked for several wheel manufacturers and spacers for many years. There are a reason that you'll see guys run to a tire shop to have things fixed - they probably don't know about the things I posted previously.

Obviously there is inherent risk by going with spacers over a stock setup. But I hope people can look over images of mangled wheels/spacers and treating it like all spacers are dangerous and you shouldn't run them.

I'd rather post about what I know about the topic to weed away the misconceptions of what is likely user error - not the fault of the spacer

 

Good way to put it. I always tell people it is your truck to do with as you please.

Bob may tell you that he never had any problem with spacers on his EVO and Bill may say that his wheel flew off his STi because of spacers but it is up to you to do your own research and make the decision.

 

The problem with some of those "spacers broke by lugs!1!" pictures are that the installers didn't properly (re)torque after run in.

Just for an additional data point.. many aerobatic aircraft aircraft have spacers between the propellers and crankshaft (the G forces are huge and a failure can be fatal.) The key is proper torque and maintenance. So if someone isn't willing to perform proper maintenance or doesn't have access to a calibrated torque wrench then they probably shouldn't use hub-centric spacers and should purchase different wheels (the KISS approach.)

Edit: softened the language.

 

OP, I have same AG TRD PRO 2020.

I also coming to this same topic and question. What did you end up doing? Any issues, etc.

I will likely go to 265/75/16 with Mud Terrain (probably BFG KM3s).... Leave suspension stock for the Pro, but was considering 1.25 or 1.5 spacers.

Thoughts ...