Wheel spacers?

mikebike357

mikebike357

New member
The Prodrive P7's are a +52mm offset and the Forester prefers to have a +48. To compromise (and give a little more strut clearance) I thought about adding a 2mm spacer? I can still squeeze a finger between the tire and strut on the rear. I'm running 215/45R17's at the moment but will get something with a taller sidewall so teh speedo is a little closer. Just want to have enough room with the bigger tires w/o buying new wheels. Thoughts?

 
give me the prodrives and take my 99 rims ;D

in all honesty im running 215/55's and they wouldn't rub at all if the car wasn't pretty well slamed. as long as it clears the strut, and mine JUST barely do you should be fine. it's not like there going to rub on the fenders. or you can add the 2mm spacer, 2 mils isn't going to hurt anything. 8mils might be a little much

 
Knowing that Subarus hurl wheel bearings like theres no tomorrow I'd stay away from wheel spacers...but I ran spacers on my car for a few months when I had them coil overs on it, no issues yet. knocks on wood

...And, since P7s are nice an light I doubt it will matter to much to yur wheel bearings.

 
So, you can squeeze a finger in without spacers? If so, run 'em. They don't get any closer to the strut as the suspension travels.

 
The P7's are friggin' HEAVY. I noticed it as soon as i took off from the driveway.

I know they won't get any closer to the strut as the suspension travels, just want to be safe you know... safety first... subaru... safe... and friendly to deer & rabbits (except when you plow into them at 75mph)

 
So, you can squeeze a finger in without spacers? If so, run 'em. They don't get any closer to the strut as the suspension travels.
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exactly.

the only reason to use spacers (assuming you dont have a tire/strut rubbing problem, which you dont) is if you are going for perfect offset for more bearing life.

4mm of difference isn't much, usually 15mm is the limit before people say bearings start to get obscene axial forces on them. but spacers are what you need if you want it perfect. l

 
wheel spacers can screw up your wheel's hub-centric fit.(where the center bore of the wheel fits precisely over a raised lip on the hub to keep everything lined up) then you are likely to get weird vibrations from the wheels due to them being lug-centered (ie, not quite perfectly centered on the hubs) I had 4mm H&R spacers on my WRX wagon to fill out de wheel wells a leetle...eventually pitched em because I could never get entirely rid of the hubcentric fit/balance issues.

one way to deal with this is to torque lug nuts in a star pattern with the wheel unloaded. this works some of the time (it's what we do with the rally cars, whose wheels are usu not hubcentric) but it didn't work on my WRX with spacers.

wheel spacers = poop

 
That's what i've been hearing... vibrations... and the explanation of the hubcentric thingymadoodle makes even more sense. So I guess my question should really be... is it SAFE to run an improper offset that places the edge of teh tire only a few millimeters from the strut?

My stock wheels had a comfortable finger width between the tire & strut

The P7's have a tight finger width between teh tire & strut

If I put a 225/50R17 on it'll be an even tighter fit with the wider tire.

 
a "tight finger" space is OK, less wont really leave any margin for, say a tire going soft...imagine what that'd to the sidewall. BTDT.

sounds like you need either different wheels, or to stick with the pretty phat tires you got on dere now.

of course, you could attack the strut spring perch with a BFH, but that's a kinda rad solution (and I don't mean his Royal Rad either)

 
I think your fingers have just gotten fatter Mike.
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of course, you could attack the strut spring perch with a BFH, but that's a kinda rad solution (and I don't mean his Royal Rad either)
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I don't know, i bet he'd do it...
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Love the leggy BTW!! ;D

 
i think it would be fine, but if you need a reason to tell the wife why you need new wheels, go for it ;D

reason being, even if the tire were to go soft (the only thing that could change the tire/strut clearance) it would only be wider where it was sitting on the ground and had load on it. up near the strut it would be back to its normal shape.

 
even if the tire were to go soft (the only thing that could change the tire/strut clearance) it would only be wider where it was sitting on the ground and had load on it. up near the strut it would be back to its normal shape.
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that theory sounds good, but in practice, If you try to drive very far on a flat, the tire tears itself up against the spring perch and/or strut body. I have the half-ground-off locking collars from 2 DMS 50 coilovers to prove the point.
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