Wheel Spacers

Ian

Club Member
I run out of lock too soon due to the wider wheels on the front hitting the chassis so I was considering running 10mm wheel spacers to give me a wee bit more lock before it hits.


However I can see the front wheels are hub centric so I was worried that if I used 10mm spaces the wheel are no longer going to centre on the hub and all the weight would be on the studs.

The rear on our cars don't appear to be hub centric which has always worried me as it means all the weight is being supported by the studs and I've always wondered how the wheel doesn't move around constantly as it rolls.



Is it safe to run 10mm spacers? You can get hub centric spacers but I'm not sure if I can get some that will work on the Datsun fitment and it would also mean changing my long wheel studs for short ones.
 

astroboy

Well-Known Forum User
Hey Ian - What size wheels you running?

Would be good to get specs so others can learn from this when the experts reply.

Thanks
 

Rob Gaskin

Treasurer
Staff member
Site Administrator
Well I ran 'flat' spacers for 10 years on my track 240Z without a problem. I know others who did too including a rally car. I used 10mm.
 

johnymd

Club Member
Neither the front or rear are hub centric. The front has a rough casting that is tappered but this is not used to hold the center of the wheel in place. Anyway, you are not just relying on the studs to hold the wheel in place. The friction between the two mounting faces is doing most of this.
 

Ian

Club Member
I had a look at the front wheels and as my wheel touches the centre part of the hub I assumed it was hub centric.

There may be friction also holding the wheels but that is a lot of force on the rear studs when you launch in a car with lots of power, I'd be surprised if the wheels didn't move a little.



Well I ran 'flat' spacers for 10 years on my track 240Z without a problem. I know others who did too including a rally car. I used 10mm.
I guess then I'd be fine running 10mm flat spacers. Already got extended wheel studs so there will be plenty of thread.





I'm running 16x8 +10 all round, plenty of room at the rear but at the front they only fit with narrower aftermarket coilovers and also as I've found out limit the lock available.
 

johnymd

Club Member
My rota's would touch part of the tapper on the hub but I found the tapper prevented them from reaching the mounting face. I had to remove a bit of material from the inside edge of the wheel to allow it to seat properly. If I used a 5mm spacer it was ok.
 

ben240z

Club Member
I have run spacers on the race car forever. It is the taper on the wheel nuts or the tube nuts that locate wheels not the hub centre.
 

Ian

Club Member
I have run spacers on the race car forever. It is the taper on the wheel nuts or the tube nuts that locate wheels not the hub centre.
It might locate the wheel, but on my Honda the weight is all supported by the hub, the nuts just hold the wheel on, that seems a much better/stronger way of doing it.
 
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