Installing Wheel Spacers

[maxhopper]

Special thanks for this write up goes to Fezzik (David Honey). Posted with permission from the author.

This is going to be a simple How To for the H&R wheel spacer on the rear. When you do get a spacer, make sure it is hub centric and not the ones where there is lug nuts on it. Get one similar to the picture below.

This picture here shows most all the tools you will need to install a 20mm spacer. If you are installing a 10mm or a 5mm spacer then you can probably ignore the stud removal and install.



First jack up the car in the rear and take off the wheels. I did this one wheel at a time. First loosen this bolt on the caliper. There is another at the bottom that you will have to take out too.



Once you get the two bolts off, get the rubber mallet and hammer this part of the caliper off. It should come off with ease as shown below. In the pic below you can see the brake pads and the metal cover that goes on the pads. DO NOT BEND THE METAL COVER. It easily bends.





Next remove this bolt and the one below to remove the second part of the caliper. Once you remove these two bolts, The 2nd part of the caliper comes off easily.





Next the rotor should come right off. It may take a bit of a tug or a few hits with the rubber mallet. DO NOT HIT THE ROTOR WITH THE METAL HAMMER. You can break this if you do.



Next with the metal hammer, knock out the studs. After a good hit they should pop right out.





This next pic shows the studs removed and the difference in the size of studs if you get spacers bigger than 10mm.





The pic below show the rotor cover that has to be knocked back to fit the studs in. This was the only way I could get the studs in. You may try to give it a shot, but after about 30 mins you will resort to this I promise.

Before



After



Put the new provided studs from H&R in and put on the rotor





Now put the wheel spacer on as such and put 2-4 washers on each stud and the lug nut. This will tighten the the studs into the holes better.





Once you have the 2-4 washers on and the lug, tighten that lug up a bit until you can not push the stud out no more with a good amount of force so when you put on the wheel they will not pop out.





Here is fellow maxima owner Cullen Jones helping me out putting on the wheel.



You really have to tighten up the lug nuts to ensure that they are forced into their holes well. I would tighten a little bit beyond torque specs and loosen and retighten a few times. Be sure to check the tightness for the next few days.



Here are some pics before the spacers in the rear.









Here are a couple of after the spacer has been installed.





And a comparison between two 2002 Maximas. Notice the huge difference.





This How-To was brought to you by David Honey (aka Fezzik on all the car forums). Sorry for the lack of effort put into this. Right now it's 3am and well, this is all I wanted to do.

[whiterps13]

spacers are the only way to make stock wheels look good. i gotta ask, whats he smokin?

[audtatious]

spacers are the only way to make stock wheels look good. i gotta ask, whats he smokin?

Cigar for a job well done....

[MinisterofDOOM]

Wow, that looks great!

[MetaOrbit]

Sigh, makes me impatient for my spacers to get here.

I put some 20 mm eibach spacers on my rears and they looked great...but I decided I wanted 25mm instead.

So, the 25mm and 5mm spacers are forever backordered, soon to arrive, I hope, one day.

[audtatious]

You still have the factory chomies, right? Won't 25mm be a bit aggressive? My 18's have a 40 offset and I don't think I would want to go any more than 10mm on the back to even things up.

[MinisterofDOOM]

Maybe I should try spacers with my stock 15s...certainly cheaper than a set of new 18s with tires...

Too bad I know next to nothing about wheels/spacing/etc...

[audtatious]

There are threads here where I have detailed info on offset. There is also the tire/wheel forum for answers...

[MinisterofDOOM]

There are threads here where I have detailed info on offset. There is also the tire/wheel forum for answers...

Yeah, sorry. Sort of thinking out loud...in text...or something...I'm not too lazy to find the info myself...

[elwesso]

Jolly good!!!

Good to see you are using really good spacers.. I run H/Rs on the Q

[nissanS15]

spacers make it look real hot.....how much do they usually go for?

[elwesso]

I got mine for $120 shipped, i cant recall where i got them... Unfortunately, im not aware of any of our sponsors that carry them.

[TgduMg]

The 17x7 00-03 Maxima SE wheel has an offset of 45mm. From the look in the comparison pic, the difference looks really close to a 03 SE or GLE I saw just a couple of days ago with the 350Z 17x8 rear (33mm I think) wheels on the back of it, though with 235/50's. It looks great and may decrease aerodynamic drag. Possibly improving 1/4 times and might even slightly increase mpg. I need to do this mod!

Danisiti 1

[audtatious]

Factory wheels can probably go to a 25mm or so offset. Going to 18+" and lower than 30mm offset can cause the tire to scrub the fenders inner panel (from what I have heard, but does not quite sound correct if the larger rim/tire combo keep the OD nearly the same as factory)). Since I have a 40mm offset with my 18's, I would only add a 10-15mm spacer. IMO, the 45mm factory offset is great for the front.

[TgduMg]

IMO, the 45mm factory offset is great for the front.

Absolutely. The 03 Maxima that I saw had the 30mm 17x7.5 350Z wheels on the front with 225/50's and they were just barely flush with the fenders. The factory SE 45mm and GLE 40mm 17 inchers are great for the front, but with the rear track being close to 3/4 of an inch narrower than the front, spacers or staggered offsets are needed to rid the A33 Max/I30/35 of the "side scoop gap" in their rear wheel wells.

Danisiti 1
Modified by TgduMg at 3:54 PM 1/25/2006

[AZhitman]

A couple minor suggestions to add to an otherwise AWESOME writeup!

1) Use a bigger hammer to drop out the old wheel studs - If they're really in there good (due to corrosion or age), you can "mushroom" them by using too small a hammer.

2) DO NOT "press in" the new lugs using the rotor, and certainly not using the wheel! Excessive torque will jack up your rotor (and/or wheel). Use stacked washers (I prefer hardened nuts a size bigger than the thread, interchanged with good washers).

It takes a LOT of torque to properly press in wheel studs, and it's a LOT easier if you just pull off the hub and use a press (less danger of stripping a lug as well).

Awesome writeup, and the new stance looks GREAT!!!

[MetaOrbit]

You still have the factory chomies, right? Won't 25mm be a bit aggressive? My 18's have a 40 offset and I don't think I would want to go any more than 10mm on the back to even things up.

Yeah, I still have the OEM wheels.

They're 17x7 with a 45 mm offset. With 20 mm spacers it looked like I still had about 5 mm worth of room, so I'm going to give it a shot. Plus I wanted ones that didn't require wheel stud replacement, and the 25mm have the longer lugs already pressed into the spacer and hubcentric (of course, the 20mm eibach spacers I had were the same way).

And the 5 mm spacer is just to go up front. Ideally, I think I'd want like 15mm up there, but I don't want to pay for that spacer nor do I want to replace the wheelstuds at this time. So we'll just see how that 5mm looks up there..