Bought the Black Racing Pro N1 for my STI, 17x7.5 +48. The rear are fine but the front I have to use 1/8" thick wheel spacer to clear the brembos. Is this a good idea, to use a wheel spacer? Need some info/opinion on this. Thanks.

 

Spacers work fine as long as they're done correctly. It should be hubcentric and allow 7-8 turns of the lug for adequate assembly strength.

 

OK i talked with the guy at H&R about putting spacers on my STi. He said there was no problem because there hub centric custom made for each application.

Im going to try and say what he said, but i forgot some of the terms. The said the 5mm ones have no "hub lip" or some thing because they do not need it. The 15mm ones do have a "Center lip" or "hub thingy" and that its ok to use them as long as i put in the correct studs.

Reason for asking is i was thinking about putting 5mm on the front and 15mm on the rear. Any ideas about this from anyone?

I autocross alot and "my style" of driving gives my alot of oversteer. Dont really know how i went from pushing the car to oversteer. Must be the bald tires on my STi.

But anyway, if anyone has any advice, id love to hear it. THanks.

 

They are hubcentric and 12 turns on the lugnuts.

 

Simply put, spacers would move the wheels further out which in turn would "lower" the #.

 

what does offset measure and what is the definition of that?

 

This should explain it all for you:



http://www.tirerack.com/wheels/tech/offset.htm

 

Are you sure? B/C, if your offset is exactly equal to 1/2 of the width of the wheel, the offset is zero. 11+in deep dish rims for Supras & the like have negative offset. I think the more/thicker spacers you add the more you increase offset.

"Positive

The hub mounting surface is toward the front or wheel side of the wheel. Positive offset wheels are generally found on front wheel drive cars and newer rear drive cars." -- TireRack Tech Center

 

The lower the #, the closer your mounting surface is to the center line of the wheel.....right? Let's take a wheel with a 50mm offset. Now lets say we take that same wheel and add a 5mm spacer. The wheel has just moved 5mm's more "outward" and you've just reduced the distance from the center line of the wheel and the mounting surface (keep in mind that the mounting surface is now the spacer). Hope this makes sense? It's usually easier to draw it out on paper.

- Kean

 

ok then if that is the case, what i wanted to do was put the 25 mm spacers from h and r. is that going to be ok, if not then what are the problems will i incur? and does anyone know what a really good price is for a set for the front and rear. i was going to go with the 15 mm in front and 25 mm in rear but i read somewhere that it would cause more wear and tear on the diffs. so in conclusion i will be happy with 25 mm all around. man i really want to put spacers cause the stock car looks kinda weak with out the tires up or a little out of the wheel well.

 

Kinda...remember that a wheel mounting surface can be nearly flush with the outer portion (the part that we see most of the time) or the inner portion (deep dish wheels). If the mounting surface is exactly in the middle of the wheel's width, then the offset is 0mm. But if the mounting surface is closer to the outer portion of the wheel then you have a positive offset, and the further out it is away from the middle of the wheel, the more positive. So if you have a wheel w/ 50mm of offset & you add a 5mm spacer, it would be similar to a 55mm wheel.


I think. Maybe our fearless Moderator can get involved.


asianboy101 -- I'm pretty sure you dont want 25mm spacers on your car. If memory serves that's about 1 inch. That won't even come close to allowing proper stud/nut engagement, unless you get longer studs. But, possibly a better option is simply buying wider wheels for your car. I know Volk, Advan & a few others make wheels up to 8.5in for Scoobies.

 

I think H&R 25mm spacer comes with new studs, and have hub lip. Like EsoterikWRX said, go for a wider wheels and lower positive offset.

I think in my scenario, I have a +48 offset and I use a 2mm spacer this would make my offset +46.

 

I see you understand the concept of an "offset", but you're not understanding what exactly a spacer will do to it. The mounting surface is on the inside of the wheel......agreed? Look at the picture below once more:

See the horizontal arrow that is labeled "offset"? On the right of that arrow is the mounting surface. Now, if you add a spacer then you've just moved the mounting surface closer to the middle of the wheel (not further out). As a result, the offset will become lower (i.e. a wheel with a 50mm offset that has a 5mm spacer would then be 45mm). Trust me, if you draw it out on paper it makes more sense.

- Kean

 

What kind of car do you have and what is the stock offset?

Either way, I wouldn't suggest upsetting the stock configuration by pushing the stock wheels further out. .....and I think staggering the offset would be inviting more problems than it's worth (handling, possible suspension/drivetrain stress, etc).

- Kean