Wheel spacers, or nah?

1" spacers for years. I've had the truck at 3 different tire shops.(all national chains) None of which have ever balked at doing work because of spacers.

Never an issue with "tire scrub".

Seems the only peolpe WITH issues have never used spacers . Those who have complaints are simply talking about biased opinions. With no personal experience of their own.

Again....
177k miles with NO PROBLEMS.

 

Who you quoting their?

 

I took off my spidertrax and sold on Craigslist months ago. I’m over with the whole stance thing 10mins into it. I’m hauling around some heavy ass steel beams, concrete, gravel and at time 4 guys in the cab heading to job sites. I have a trailer for these heavy loads but sometimes you get caught without it. Tires keep throwing mud all over the truck and it gets old. No need to advertise to people I’m a handyman, especially when I take my lady to out diner. No spacers for me thanks.

 

Unless you have a history of leaving lug nuts loose, the nuts on spacers are no more likely to loosen. It's just that simple. I do NOT use thread locker.... And NEVER had the 1st lug nut come loose. I'm not using spacers for stance....Using them (1" Bora) to keep 285/75r16 sidewalls from rubbing upper control arms when turning to full lock. Never had a problem, never had anyone refuse service because of spacers. Never had anyone even so much as question them. That said, I don't personally like spacers that are thicker (wider) than they need to be. IMHO, I always thought the Bro look with wheels setting 4" past the body look ridiculous. But that's my opinion. I won't pretend my dislike is "science based"....I simply don't like the look. But that's a matter of personal choice.

Oh...I have broken 2 studs....BOTH TIMES when I accidentally cross threaded a lug nut when in a rush to change a tire in the rain....So is RAIN a "physical cause" of broken studs?

I can type the word "physics" 25 times in a post.....That doesn't mean the post is 25 times more of a fact in reality. It is HIGHLY unlikely Toyota designed track width of a Tacoma right on the razor's edge to where the slightest bit of added track width sends them cascading into destruction. After 147K miles (on current truck) wheel bearings are FINE. Axles are FINE.... No extraordinary tire wear. Not one single issue. And this isn't the first truck I've ran spacers on in the 44-1/2 years of owning 4wds. Fact of the matter is, I've never even used a torque wrench on my spacers. Just get 'em tight TO A REASONABLE POINT. and call it good.

Theories are just that. THEORIES. REALITY is reality. Install spacers right and they are safe, reliable, and absolutely no more of a threat than a wheel with same additional offset....

 

If that's all you got; more passive-aggressive straw man bullshit, justified by your own anecdotal experience...have at.

 

So you resort to personal insults when reality proves your comments to be opinions not based on actual facts?

I was hoping our difference in opinion could be discussed rationally and without childish insults. I did my part. YMMV.

 

Anybody behind you on the road is screwed. I own a windshield repair shop and I love you guys that run offsets and wheel spacers. Keeps my guys hopping.

 

This ^ been running the cheapest wheel spacers I could find, since 2010. 2nd gen taco, 2014 JKU, and now 2018 TRD sport. Torqued them in at 90ft/lbs, with blue lock tite, then just check them everytime I rotate the tires. set torque wrench for 80ft/lbs. never had one back off.

 

Yes

 

You are correct about positive scrub radius and its effects on suspension geometry. I believe most of us, myself included, are saying that wheel spacers are not as bad as everyone is making them out to be. Many people in here have chimed in that own, or have owned, spacers with zero detrimental side effects. As I stated in my earlier post, I had spacers on two of my daily drivers that I raced very frequently and have never had an issue. I have also seen many race vehicles with them on that have never failed.

To address your statements about positive scrub. The front suspension of the Tacoma is a double wish bone style suspension. These types of suspensions are already prone to positive scrub due to their geometry, whereas McPherson style front struts are prone to negative scrub. Generally speaking, double wish bone style suspensions will benefit from positive scrub, up to a point. Also, front wheel drive vehicles will suffer more issues (such as steering wobble, and toe-out on braking) that have positive scrub, than a rear wheel drive vehicle with positive scrub. And even then, the effects will only show up when under extreme cornering and braking conditions.

With that said, people will blow the effects of wheel spacers out of proportion, but will never say anything about how modifying ANYTHING that touches your suspension will effect your suspension components. Adding different brand tires, bigger tires, heavier tires, lift kit, any weight to the vehicle... all of these things will have an effect on your suspension components. Hell, just driving the damn car will cause wear and tear on your cars suspension.

Point is, get quality wheel spacers, install them as per the instructions, and you will not have any issues.

 

So puttin a wheel spacer on which changes your trucks stance, therefore increasing stress and wear on bearings and such is fine.....but if you install a 1 inch strut spacer you’re dead before the final bolt is even torgued down so i can see a small spacer bein ok as well as i can see a small strut spacer bein fine too.So get quality spacers for either one and you will be fine im sure.

 

LOL. I stopped listening to all the warnings a long time ago.

 

Do you have a pic of how much bump out you have?