Wheel Spacers...Pros/cons?

Anyone know how spacing wheels wider affects gas mileage? any other pros/cons?

 

You're gonna wear out your wheel bearings faster, but the same thing would happen if you went with wheels that had a greater offset. So, if you want to keep your stock wheels and want a wider stance rather than buying new wheels, I say go for it. If I didn't daily drive my truck I'd be doing it too.

 

Pros: None

Cons:
Lower fuel mileage due to more exposed frontal area.
More mud and rock chips on the side of your truck.
More stress on wheel bearings.
Double the lug failure points, especially if not maintained.
Scrub radius no longer where it should be as designed.

Seems like a lot of people are willing to sacrifice a lot for looks though. 10% reduction in fuel economy in order to have aggressive looking tires for example. To each their own, but my truck will never see a lift, spacers or aggressive tires UNTIL I find I am limited on any offroad I might do. Then again, others do a lot more serious offroading and need a lift and stout tires.

 

Cool. Enjoy your stock truck.

Wheel bearings are a cheap fix if you do it yourself and it's not a big deal if they need to be replaced a few thousand miles earlier. I got spacers to give me more clearance between the OEM wheels and the UCAs.

 

Pros:
great for arguing about on TW.

Cons:

 

OP, for what it's worth, I had a 2008 Taco and ran 1.25" spidertrax wheel spacers every day for three years with above average annual mileage (~16k). I did not notice any material decrease in MPG or abundance of new rock chips. No mechanical issues to note either. It was a pre-runner though so the most offloading I did was driving through campgrounds. I personally feel that if you get a good wheel/hub-centric set, follow proper install and maintenance schedules you will not have any problems. That is a sample size of 1, though.

 

/thread

 

Similar experience. I've had 4.5 bs wheels on my last 2 Tacomas, so they stuck out an inch over factory. Logged about 60k miles total between the two trucks with 0 mechanical issues or rock chips (but I don't drive a lot of gravel roads, either). My gas mileage did go down, but that was likely because I went to an LT tire that weighed 25 lbs/tire more over the factory tires. I did run the factory tires on the aftermarket rims for a while and didn't notice a change in gas mileage.

 

They are fine. Used reasonably, they add some track width, which is beneficial. It’s nice to have more stability without a wider body. There is a line though, keep it classy, don’t get all tarded and stickem out to the point you look like a tacky asshole. There are no cons. There is no data from research on how much they decrease bearing wear, because no one ever gave a fuck to research it, because the bearing wear is so negligible. If we’re just gonna spit out nonsensical figures, which I love, let’s just say adding wheel spacers decreases your bearing life by 16 minutes. Over the course of 3 decades. Sounds about right.

 

The only pro if you want to call it a pro is that you can keep a few dollars in your pocket now that you will undoubtedly be spending in the future, and it isn't a great return on your investment. Spacers give you a little more clearance that you should get by correct fitting wheels while putting you at a much greater risk of having a wheel separate from your truck. The spacers themselves will not impact gas mileage, but assuming if you are asking about them, that you are planning on larger tires which will negatively impact mileage.

Also assuming that you are talking about spacers and not adapters. Spacers push your wells out a 1/4" or so to clear your UCA. Adapters bolt on to your hubs and your wheels bolt on to the adapter. These give you more room, but also push your wheels out substantially putting more stress on your suspension components. Maybe safer than spacers, still introduces risk into your set up.

You are better off buying the correct fitting wheels along with the correct lugnuts. Spend the money correctly the first time or don't be shocked when you have issues starting with a vibration up to seeing your tire pass you on the freeway.

 

Oh I have to add a story too. December of 2016 I was driving home on the highway in my 2008 Pre-runner with the 1.25" spidertrax spacers when I hit a patch of ice on the road underneath an overpass at maybe 50MPH. The ass end started drifting and I over corrected, went off the highway and slide sideways through the median (think perpendicular to the road) and across the oncoming lanes of the highway before ending up down in the shoulder of the oncoming side. After I came to a stop and was done shitting my pants I could not help but wondering if I would have rolled over without the extra 2.5" of track width. It's probably silly but to this day I think about it every now and then. I don't have the spacers on my 2017 right now.

I have it on my dashcam footage somewhere actually.

 

Something most people don't usually bring up, but that added track width does give you better cornering. Thats why the tuner guys go for them too.

 

Pros: They kept my tires from rubbing on my UCAs after lifting the front
Cons: I didn't rub a hole in my KM2s on the UCA and have to keep waiting to get 35s

 

Another con with both spacers and adapters. Unless something has changed, they are not DOT approved. That means if you have an accident that is spacer/adapter related, you can expect your insurance company to deny the claim. Scary situation if your wheel does fly off and crushes and on coming car.

 

I've ran them for 51k miles with 33x12.50's
no problems here. Warranty is still ok at my dealer.

Spydrtrax hub centric bolt on does not void warranty or insurance claims. *

 

I'm a casualty claims (auto liability) insurance adjuster and I can tell you that is just not true. Not sure who you heard that from. In fact, if the accident is caused due to a failure or malfunction of the part your insurance company will coming knocking on the manufacturer's door for subrogation dollars.

 

I'll tell you that I heard it from a State Farm Attorney who was representing me in a case. I am not going to discount your knowledge of working in the business, but when it comes to civil suits before state farm offers representation they verify your responsibilities as they relate to your policy. I don't know how it works with your company, but once they 'lawyered up' the adjuster dropped off and turned it over to their attorney.

In my case a woman pulled out in front of me. I wasn't charged in the accident, but the woman hired one of those sleazy "you don't pay unless we win your case" lawyers. I was asked to provide any aftermarket modifications because when the sleaze found that I was driving a 4wd they sent an inspector that went over my truck with a fine tooth comb looking for any modifications. At the time I was running Bilsteins and ARE wheels. In civil suits, they sue the individual, not the insurance company. Your policy is your contract with your insurance company to represent you and pay up to your limits if you lose your case. Buried deep in your policy is something to the effect of only approved equipment. If you don't hold up your part of the contract, your insurance company is not obligated to honor it. Even if they do represent you and the judgement happens to be more than your policy, you are on the hook for the difference.

That situation scared the hell out of me. Luckily they got nothing, but considering they were asking for $1,000,000 in damages and my coverage was about a quarter of that I could have been in a bad way if I had to go at that alone.

I totally agree that they will go after a manufacturer if the accident is caused by a manufacturer's part failure, but in the case of spacers/adapters you know they are not approved for highway use because it is clearly stated so they have no recourse if a failure is related to that part. Of course that part would have to fail and be the cause of the accident. If you were to hit a pedestrian in a cross walk, they are not going to claim it was because of your spacers.

 

That move by the plaintiff's attorney was all BS scare tactic crap by the way. I see it all the time. And by the way the underlined portion relates to first party vehicle damages, not liability damages. The intention there is that you pay premiums for a stock Toyota Tacoma and if you load on $10,000 in aftermarket parts your insurance company isn't too keen on replacing that because they aren't charging you premium. Some states allow endorsements for aftermarket coverage where you can "buy" coverage for an additional $xx in value though.

I would say the takeaway here is, when properly maintained and installed you should no fear of any civil liability. And even if you negligently install/maintain them AND the accident is related to that, your insurance carrier will still cover the damage you caused to another party and cover your vehicle if you carry collision coverage. The adage is "insurance covers stupidity". Anyway, I know this isn't an insurance thread so I'll bow out.

 

What kind of lift are you running?

 

DOT is not an approving authority and vehicle parts are not required by law or through insurance policy to be DOT or SAE certified.

As another poster mentioned you fell victim to a classic scare tactic.