Beware of cheap ebay spacers.

[kaanage]

I didn't figure much could go wrong with a pretty simple piece of metal, and it said it was made of quality 6061-T6 billet Aluminium and so in theory it shouldn't have been much different to the big brand name spacers. Is there an easy way to see what sort of grade of Aluminium it is short of putting it in a tensile testing machine? It doesn't seem like it is made out of what they claim it was.

The material wasn't the problem in this case - it was the insufficient machining out of the chamfer on the inner side which caused the ring to be bent, which then led to it breaking from the strain. A poorer grade (or unheat-treated 6061) aluminum would have just conformed to the new shape forced upon it (and loosened up as it deformed more over time, leading to the wheel bolts loosing tension and falling out...)

[MCiN7]

I've been using some H&R trak+ spacers for over a year now, 25mm and 30mm with no problems.

[Diesel_vert]

I've been using some H&R trak+ spacers for over a year now, 25mm and 30mm with no problems.

I wouldn't expect any issues with H&R spacers, though on their website, I found this interesting:

H&R TRAK+ WHEEL SPACER IMPORTANT MOUNTING-INSTRUCTIONS

Important Mounting Instructions. Must be read before installation!

H&R TRAK+ Wheel Spacers are intended exclusively for use in vehicles which are
permitted for use on public roads, and which fulfill the applicable legal requirements.
You are unconditionally advised against any other use.

Avoid unusual and aggressive driving manoeuvres which place excessive demands
on the vehicle (racing events, etc.).

H&R TRAK+ wheel spacers are manufactured under permanent quality control and
with the greatest of care; nevertheless, even top-quality products may become
defective.

So if H&R are ethical enough (or smart enough) to state this disclaimer, despite their R&D facilities and engineering nous, what hope do lesser manufacturers have?

[kaanage]

H&R aren't the cheap spacers at the heart of this thread.

But in any case, in their disclaimer, they're covering themselves against failure in other connected components like hubs and the wheel bolts (or studs) themselves since they get loaded beyond their intended design by the cantilevering effect of the wider track.

And once again for the "What about Porsche using spacers?" crowd, those cars are designed for the loading caused by a wide track.

To fuel the debate, what about spigot rings?

These similarly adapt different wheel's center bore diameters to the hub size. I had no idea these existed until I had bought a set of used rims and found one had a broken bit of plastic in the hub mounting area...

Spigot rings help reduce the loading on the fasteners (bolts/studs) by transferring the loads vertical wheel loads to the hubs leaving the fasteners to handle only the tension loads needed to clamp the wheels on to the hub face. They don't cause any additional loadings on the car's suspension. Wheels that have oversized centerbores and don't have an appropriate spigot ring are a danger as well but the spigot ring material and dimensioning is not as critical as that needed for spacers.

[kapowww]

This is what I was saying from the start. I originally bought 10mm wheel/hub centric spacers and realised that my hub protrusion was longer than 10mm (that's why I bit the bullet and got the spacer's wheel centric part machined off). Obviously this means the spacer doesn't sit flush - you'll have a problem no matter what brand. When torqued up and the car is static it would feel tight, but disaster is lurking in the shadows.

IMO this spacer broke because of human error. The title is misleading and is just fueled by brand snobbery. All the spacer balanced on was the hub protrusion with no support on the outside and with lateral forces of course it would strip the bolt threads and snap in half.

[kaanage]

Sorry but I don't understand either of your points - can you add some pics or diagrams to further illustrate what you are trying to say?

[Ben J]

I understand what he is saying. I will take some of the blame for this breaking, I should have got the vernier calipers out checked more thouroughly that they were right. I know brands like adaptec can make 10mm ones that will work but these were obviously off by just a little bit (less than a mm probably). When I put them on the car they looked like they were sitting fine, but obviously they weren't quite right.

[kapowww]

Yeah it's hard to explain but I tried to draw a crappy picture in good old Paint to try and illustrate what I'm saying.

I understand what he is saying. And yeah I will take some of the blame for this breaking, I should have checked more thouroughly that they were right. I know brands like adaptec can make 10mm ones that will work but these were obviously off by just a little bit (less than a mm probably). When I put them on the car they looked like they were sitting fine, but obviously they weren't quite right.

I don't think 10mm would work regardless of the brand. If you're going from 57.1mm CB to 57.1mm CB no matter what happens you can't fit more than 10mm of hub in there.. Please correct me if I'm wrong but I can't picture a working 10mm hub & wheel centric design.

It's not necessarily a faulty eBay product, but definitely a faulty eBay description and dumbass seller.

[Ben J]

Re: Beware of cheap ebay spacers.

You're probably right. I have read of people having success with this size though and adaptec said they could make some that would work (and ive only heard good things about them)
But 10mm is just too small in reality and so I certainly won't be buying this size again. The sellers description was definitely misleading. I'm still waiting to hear back from them after complaining, but being us based they probably haven't even started work for the week yet, so ill give it a few days and see what they have to say.
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[kapowww]

You're probably right. I have read of people having success with this size though and adaptec said they could make some that would work (and ive only heard good things about them)

Yeah I'd recommend thicker if you want hub and wheel centric

[Ben J]

Re: Beware of cheap ebay spacers.

I've done a little reading on the whole wheel centric debate and also discussed it a little with one of my mechanical engineering uni tutors. I also wouldn't be overly concerned about not running wheel centric (I'm actually currently using non wheel centric spacers in the back) but preferably I would like wheel centric up front. Am not sure what size spacers ill buy for up front now, will do some more measuring and figure out how small I can go while still clearing the brakes. Probably around 6-8mm non wheel centric (obviously)

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[kapowww]

Beware of cheap ebay spacers.

I removed my comments about non wheel centric spacers as I didn't want to open another can of worms =] but I know exactly what you're saying.

Good luck with it all bro and thank God your mishap wasn't any worse.

[Ben J]

Thanks! Yeah, I'm glad the hate has died down a bit on the last page or two, people are always going to disagree with this sort of thing but I don't want to turn this into a big fight and have the thread locked. Hopefully people will read through and be cautious when buying cheap spacers off ebay, and stay away from 10mm hub and wheelcentric spacers in general.

[gareth_oau]

interesting! is that 12.5mm each side? or 12.5mm over all track (half each side...)

track can be increased 25mm overall

[kaanage]

Yeah it's hard to explain but I tried to draw a crappy picture in good old Paint to try and illustrate what I'm saying.

Christ! There's no way that would work but I would have thought it's be pretty obvious too, when you tried to fit them on, even if you have hugely exaggerated the gap in your pic.

I also wouldn't be overly concerned about not running wheel centric (I'm actually currently using non wheel centric spacers in the back)

stay away from 10mm hub and wheelcentric spacers in general.

The big chamfer around the hub on a good hubcentric spacer does help locate the wheel and transfer load - it's better than nothing. For sure, a wheel centric spacer won't work if the spacer thickness aproaches that of the hub protrusion (unless you go to a larger centrebore)