Spacers

[Silvia_Drift]

Hey guys. I am running 7mm spacers on stock studs. I managed to get about 6 or 7 turns by hand. Do I need extended studs? I track my car a lot btw.
Modified by Silvia_Drift at 11:47 PM 3/29/2008

[heartagram]

personally I wouldn't go more than 5mm without extended studs but thats just me.

[r3v_v3ng3]

yes you should use extended stud pass 5mm. better to be safe than sorry.what spacers are they? is it the universal ones? someone told me your not suppose to use those for racing, only for regular driving/show. they are made by a cast metal that is brittle. if you track it, get a spacer set that is made of aluminum/magnesium alloy, has a extended stud and hub centric.

[94_240sx]

Replacing studs is not that hard, so you should do it.Get Nismo or ARP and you are good to go.

[Silvia_Drift]

Weak, I guess I should replace my studs lol.

And the spacers are the weak universal ones... I think I need to look into higher quality spacers.

[lifewater]

Sorry to thread jack in here, but what are adapters? I was told spacers are unsafe, and adapters are the safer/stronger solution.

[ILoveMyRHS13]

PowerByMax makes some good spacers.

[94_240sx]

Sorry to thread jack in here, but what are adapters? I was told spacers are unsafe, and adapters are the safer/stronger solution.

[mech_E]

The problem with spacers is you increase your scrub radius and wear your tires faster, due to the offset of the suspension geometry with the center of the wheel.

[E7-S14]

scrub radius?

[smocan]

The problem with spacers is you increase your scrub radius and wear your tires faster, due to the offset of the suspension geometry with the center of the wheel.

false, your tires can always be aligned, and usually uneven tire wear is the problem. Either I'm not understanding or your pulling this out your hiney, haha.

Spacers and low offset wheels wear out your bearings faster, and depending on how crazy they are, acouple other parts as well.

And op, don't cheap out on studs and spacers, get the real deal and eliminate all the little things that go wrong, not to mention, these parts need to be safe.... i've seen alot of shady parts these days and you shouldn't trust your life on them.

[mech_E]

false, your tires can always be aligned, and usually uneven tire wear is the problem. Either I'm not understanding or your pulling this out your hiney, haha.

them.

The scrub radius actually has nothing to do with tire alignment but has to do with the king pin offset of your wheel and where it connects with the center of your tire at the contact patch. When you space out the wheel, the scrub radius actually gets larger and as you turn your car at lower speeds, the wear on the tire actually increases, by an increase in deformation of the tire. This is also due to the tire rotating around the kingpin axis, which as you rotate the wheel the movement of the tire is like a truncated cone. As you space out the wheel, it is actually harder to turn your wheel due to the increase in the scrub radius. When cars did not have power steering, the scrub radius was very small, so the car was easier to steer. Now, there is power steering in cars, so the scrub radius is not taken into as much consideration. The scrub radius is also affected by many other things such as wheel diameter and offset of wheel compared to width. All in all, it is not a big deal and probably doesn't wear the tire to a noticeable degree. I was just putting in my two cents of how wheel spacers effect the wheel platform. I actually have spacers on my car, but it is always good to know how changing something on your car is going to affect the suspension geometry or your contact patch. It is the same thing as the belief that as you increase the width of the tire, you will increase the contact patch. But this is not true due to P=F/A. All it does is widen the contact patch, but narrow it in the longitudinal direction, to where there will be a change in the pneumatic trail as you turn. This will then affect the lateral forces that your tire can handle before the slip angle goes to **** and you lose grip.Im sorry for this long explanation. I just wanted to explain why I said what I said and how I did not pulling it out of my "hiney."

[E7-S14]

Mech_Ewhats your profession?just curious you seem to know alot about this stuff

[mech_E]

I am actually just a mechanical engineering student, but interested in vehicle dynamics.

[babababutler]

what school do you go to and how do you like your major im just now graduation highschool and looking to go to a four year 4 mechanical engineering still undecided on which school

[mech_E]

what school do you go to and how do you like your major im just now graduation highschool and looking to go to a four year 4 mechanical engineering still undecided on which school

I go to Colorado State University. The engineering school here is okay, but could be perfected. CSU is one of a few schools that offer a motorsport engineering degree, so if you are interested in motorsports, it is not a bad school. I like the major a lot, but it is a lot of work and have to be dedicated to putting all your time into it. I would say if you are wanting a motorsport degree, go somewhere else and then have them pay for you to come to CSU and get your masters.

[smocan]

The scrub radius actually has nothing to do with tire alignment but has to do with the king pin offset of your wheel and where it connects with the center of your tire at the contact patch. blah blah blah...

Ok thats all good an all... understand your explanation... but still, spacers really don't do anything in the area of tire wear. And yes, low offsets would act in the same way as spacers.

I'm an engineer too, at penn state, and sometimes applications aren't as real world as you think. All though the king pin axis is true, there is no noticeable difference in wear on our cars. Theres no point to even come up with the scrub radius explanation. It would be practical if someone used a 100mm spacer or a -60 offset, which even then, barely noticeable... The most important issues with spacers is the effect on wheel bearings and safety.

Its good an all you want to explain that, but theres not reason too, because this added "tire wear" will not effect anyone on this forum.

Good detailed info, but its only good for the books, but no real world use in this thread. I'm not trying to sound like a d!ck or anything, you really do know your stuff, i won't argue that! We need more people like you on here.