wheel spacers

[rlp]

Hi All. I fitted 20mm wheel spacers to the rear of my Octavia and have found that both tyres are wearing on the inside edge. would this be down to the spacers or alignment, just past MOT so I don't think its bushes.

[Paulbrown]

On a side note did you use longer wheel bolts or just standard ones

[rlp]

 20mm longer which they need to be with the correct shoulder, I don't think the original bolts would even pick up on the thread. I  was thinking if the spacers could alter the suspension geometry.

[BlueVRSTom]

I would highly recoomend having a 4 wheel laser tracking done.

When ever you bring your wheels further out (spacers) or lower a car you massively increase negative camber ( inside tyre wear ) so yeah I'd start with that!

[rlp]

thanks will try alignment as you said

[rlp]

Well bit the bullet and had the alignment done. Went to autostop in Bridgend where they have a Hunter laser machine and hunter trained mechanics( Certificates hanging on the wall) seamed to know what they were doing and quite happy to have me watching. Computer read-out showed considerable misalignment front and back. and sorry Tom but they said that spacers would not alter the alignment. To finish the Job I bought 4 new budget tyres to see what effect the adjustments will make. I will report any adverse tyre wear and any difference in handling over the next few months. watch this space. By the way not cheap. will check for free but all the adjustments cost about £100.

[KrispInk]

We're they hubcentric spacers

[rlp]

yes hubcentric and exact same siize o/d , correct hole pitch an the correct bolts shoulder and length.

[BlueVRSTom]

Okay...it'd be interesting to see why that is but if that's what they said I'd be inclined to trust them.

However I'm deffo right about it altering when lowering a vehicle as from my own past experience.

Well I'm glad it was out as that should hopefully have been the problem. I hope all is sorted now and apologies for my potential incorrect statement about the spacers.

[rlp]

No worries Tom, I have run the car for a few days now and found the steering to be much lighter. Mechanics said  it would be as I 'm not dragging the back of the car around. the only thing i'm finding is that the car tends to drift a bit on the motorway at 70 mph.  All this could be down to the new tyres so I will see what happens when things settle down.

[JR RS]

My understanding is if the wheel was already correctly aligned, then adding a hubcentric spacer will have no affect to the wheel alignment.

if, however, it was wrong before, then the spacer will exaggerate it even more.

[philbes]

The cost of Hunter checks and adjustments seem to vary considerably.  A couple of recent posts quoted free checks and £90 and £100 if adjustment needed.  I pay under £50 even when front and rear require adjustment.

[rlp]

50 quid for all round adjustment seems really cheap , how good are they and see how your tyres wear, I paid doble that but had immediate improvement in handling.

[brad1.8T]

 and sorry Tom but they said that spacers would not alter the alignment. 

They won't alter the alignment but if the alignment is already wrong they will accentuate the "wrongness" because you have increased the distance from the fulcrum / pivot point.

 

eg: In this sketch the angle remains the same but the further you get from the centre the more the gap is accentuated.

 

 

That's really basic alignment theory that any operator should know.  Is it me or have trades dumbed-down over the last 20 years?