wheel spacers urgent help needed...

[dan-hipgrave]

Ok, after doing some work on my car just now i have noticed that my rear wheels are rubbing against the rear shocks - they have taken great gouges out of the shocks, so i have to get some rear wheel spacers for them, but whats the deal with these, do they just bolt on behind the wheel and then i bolt my alloys on as normal or do i need extra long wheel bolts as well?

If i do need extra long wheel bolts that means im gonna have to find longer locking bolts as well :(

So before i go out and buy just spacers can someone tell me what else i will need..

Dan

[J4MES]

it depends on the spacer size, if longer wheel bolts are needed...

[m.d.]

i was thinking about spacers too. just to bring the astra gte wheels i have out closer to the arches as there is loads of room due to running 16s before. ive heard that it fucks up the handling of the car tho. is this true

answer to the main question is to get a stud conversion from rally desighn. all they do is send you a set of studs and nuts which you lock tite into the hubs and then slot the wheels over them. like ford do

[dan-hipgrave]

ok, well i went down to my local motorfactors and all they had in stock was a universal kit, which i wasnt too happy about buying but under the circumstances i had no choice really - it was that or let my wheels continue to eat away at the shocks.
The guy at the shop said that it should be ok with the original bolts becuase it was only a 5mm spacer kit, any bigger and i would need longer bolts.

They fitted ok, but the camber looks to be out now, dunno if it is just me, but the wheels seem to be sticking out at the bottom and in at the top (i think thats negative camber).

Dont know about handling yet, but will be driving it tonight so i will be finding out..

[Funkdocta]

I would have thought it would help the handling with spacers on as this would spread the weight of the car out further so it should take corners better. I had 10mm spacers on my SR a while back and it was difficult to tell if it helped or not but i'm sure it did very slightly, lots of little improvements make the big difference.

[Adam]

ok, well i went down to my local motorfactors and all they had in stock was a universal kit, which i wasnt too happy about buying but under the circumstances i had no choice really - it was that or let my wheels continue to eat away at the shocks.
The guy at the shop said that it should be ok with the original bolts becuase it was only a 5mm spacer kit, any bigger and i would need longer bolts.

They fitted ok, but the camber looks to be out now, dunno if it is just me, but the wheels seem to be sticking out at the bottom and in at the top (i think thats negative camber).

Dont know about handling yet, but will be driving it tonight so i will be finding out..
Yeah thats negative camber, just watch your tyre wear.

[dan-hipgrave]

it still amazes me how my alloys can rub on the inner arch - they are ET45 and now with 5mm spacers on effectively making them ET40 they are only just clearing the inner arch - this is only at the rear as well - it makes me think its something to do with it being a 5-door.

[nova_172]

i have gsi wheels on my nova, i had to put 50mm wheel spacers on the bk just so the alloys wud fill my arches and 5mm at the front, the gsi wheels are 47.5et is this something to do with it

[dan-hipgrave]

i can understand having to use spacers to fill out the arches, but in my case its not to fill out the arches its to stop the wheels from rubbing against the inner arch, and when i first bought them i was worried that they would rub against the outer arch.

[Adam]

GSI wheels should fit well because they are made for a Nova, the offset is right.
They shouldn't rub or anything, nova offset ET49, wheel offset you said ET47.5
So they should sit fine.
Do you actually mean a 50mm spacer or 5mm?

[corsa gt]

With ET 45, rims have to be 7.5" wide to scrub the schocks. I use 5mm spacers too, handling decreases actually. Feels stiff and nice, but lets go of the rear easier.

Novas have stiff rear axles, can't see how rear camber can be affected?

[Al Wilson]

5mm on the rear of mine as they hit the inner wheel are not the shocks. they're on 215/35 tyres as well. can you not get more slender shocks? I had coliovers on mine but had to return to separate springs shock because of the tyre/set-up.rubbing problems.

[nova_172]

yeah i mean 50mm spacers cos the wheels looked set bk in the arches, just for cosmetics.

[nova_rally]

With ET 45, rims have to be 7.5" wide to scrub the schocks. I use 5mm spacers too, handling decreases actually. Feels stiff and nice, but lets go of the rear easier.

Novas have stiff rear axles, can't see how rear camber can be affected?

Bollocks, spacers make the car handle considerably worse, especially over bumps. You'll be eating bearings in no time as well.

Running 5mm spacers on mine to clear the brakes and cornering is terrible, It's like being back on my old ET 38 alloys and standard suspension again.

Alan

[_JH_]

when he said handling decreases i think he meant it gets worse nova_rally. no need to swear!

in relation to some other comments. yes a wider track has its pros, but the affect on the whole of the front geometry causes the overall handling to be worse.

there are loads of factors to consider, too many to write about here without boring people. but having said that, there are certain situations where some of these negatives improve the handling for some driving styles in certain situations.

go read up on steering and suspension (not a max power guide, get a decent book)

and anyway, are they eating the shocks or just the dust covers? are your rear bearings ok?

[DirtyDave]

yeah i mean 50mm spacers cos the wheels looked set bk in the arches, just for cosmetics.
are u sure cause thats 5 cm which is dik loads.
why don't u get some g-max rear shox which have a slimmer dust cover and u shud find they won't catch, thats the problem i had with mine and i did the shox and bob's ure uncle and fanny's ure aunt its fixed.

hope thats a help

Dave :D

[nova_172]

yeah they r massive, maybe my car has had some arch mods in the past, but they r definetly 5cm spacers with extra long bolts.