Can anybody explain how wheel spacers..

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15 Handicap

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Are bad and off set rims are ok? Both will throw out the (leverage weight) on the wheel bearings.
 

RVGuy

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More things to come loose on spacers with wheels vs just an offset wheel. You have a whole 'nother set of lugs you need to be retorquing with spacers and a lot of people neglect them.
I honestly don't think one is putting more strain on components than the other, it's just the simpler you keep things the better they tend to work.
 

89grand

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Neither are actually ideal, depending on how offset the wheels actually are. A wheel spacer needs to be mounted to the hub similar to a wheel, then a wheel mounted to the spacer. Two mountings make it have more failure points.
 

IRSmart

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Plus, a lot of people don’t understand the difference between a wheel SPACER:

2695A806-4078-4A66-8904-D56D1F960BB8.jpeg

And a wheel ADAPTOR:

3D90DEE7-526F-4BA8-9C09-3D8AEB71C0DA.jpeg

A spacer is just going to get sammiched between the hub and the wheel. It’s a glorified washer. It is not hub centric, so the wheel has much less to grip onto, and the lugs are now doing all the work to hold that wheel onto the car. THOSE are the kind that fail much more frequently since the wheel is attached to the car in a much less safe way, and since people do not differentiate between the two styles well enough, the negative reliability ratings tend to be equally (albeit unfairly) shared as well.

I have 1” wheel adaptors on my power wagon. I make sure that the nuts on the adaptors are tight every time I rotate the tires. I’ve wheeled (hard) in them, and had the truck up to it’s 97 mph limiter on multiple occasions. No issues for me.

7E451007-E252-4C73-BC1E-2FC4478A1743.jpeg

FA5B609A-30B8-443E-87FC-283C9AD1130C.jpeg
 

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Thank You for the education on this, I was wondering the same thing.

The off set to me seems bad as one said here, you have a extra set of tightening points to tightrn doen, if I was reading that right.
 
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15 Handicap

15 Handicap

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So my take away from this is "wheel adapters " good if Maintained and "spacers" bad ?
 

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Are bad and off set rims are ok? Both will throw out the (leverage weight) on the wheel bearings.
You are right!Both are hard on wheel brgs and ball joints.
 

ram1500rsm

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If you're going with spacers a good set of hubcentric ones can do the job just right. What i dont like about them is the extra attention to details needed to safely have them. Make sure theyre torqued down to specs every tire rotation, dont use impact when doing tire rotations, little dab of antiseize between the back of the spacer and the hub will prevent the fackers from getting fused with your hub overtime, make sure to use red locktite etc etc.
I had them before in another vehicle that i had for offroading and never had any issues but i was always paying attention to keep them in good shape.

So much better to run aftermarket wheels with the proper offset though, spend once cry once.
 

18harvest

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I myself like wheels bolted directly to the hub with nothing in between.
 

Luau_Pig

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I ran spacers on my last truck. They held up fine. Only issue I ran into was Firestone not wanting to complete a thorough alignment due to the spacers being on. Their excuse was they were unsure of correct torque on the spacer even after I told them it was the same as the wheel. Then they stated they couldn't do it due to lugs being cut to ensure proper fitment. On my new truck I just went with an offset wheel.
 

hunter99

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If you need them, as mentioned the hub centric adapters are the way to go. I know most say a proper offset wheel is the way to go but if you prefer say a stock wheel and just want to get it out a little farther, then the adapter is the way to go. As mentioned you need to keep up with them. Some tire shops won't touch them (Discount Tire here in the east is good if they are hub centric) but some will.

Biggest thing is get a quality set from a a reputable company. Do not buy the eBay hubcentric specials. Garbage metal and won't hold up. Most on the market are made by companies that handle serious off-road parts such as Bora.
 

Gary2

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Many people use these spacers with no issues at all from Motorsports. They are not going to stick way out like the wheel bearing killer wheels do but will clear the UCA with a 12.50 tire on our stock wheels on a 1500 and ARE HUB CENTRIC apposed to some opinion.

IMG_4881.jpeg
 
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E-rok

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If you need them, as mentioned the hub centric adapters are the way to go. I know most say a proper offset wheel is the way to go but if you prefer say a stock wheel and just want to get it out a little farther, then the adapter is the way to go. As mentioned you need to keep up with them. Some tire shops won't touch them (Discount Tire here in the east is good if they are hub centric) but some will.

Biggest thing is get a quality set from a a reputable company. Do not buy the eBay hubcentric specials. Garbage metal and won't hold up. Most on the market are made by companies that handle serious off-road parts such as Bora.

Ive ran ebay hun centric adapters on half a dozen vehicles with no issues. They are literally just a piece of 6061 aluminum roundbar turned to size with studs pressed into them. Its not like they are made from pot metal or something.
 
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