Help please...

I want to put spacers on my car, just to get those whells out a couple of inches...

Is it safe to do so, or does it mess up the ECU settings??? Has anyone done this in here? You see, I really want them, but the service manager in Skoda recommends not to use them.

If I can get those wheels out I know it'll handle much better, and it will look good too.

Please help :(

IIRC theres no problems with adding spacers, as long as they are hubcentric and you get longer bolts to suit.

the thing to be weary of however is the life of the wheel bearings, which can sometimes be a weakspot.. ive had a rear bearing fail, and i know a few have had front bearings go too.

How long is the life of wheel bearings on average, and by how much does it shorten with spacers?

Help please...

I want to put spacers on my car' date=' just to get those whells out a couple of inches...

Is it safe to do so, or does it mess up the ECU settings??? Has anyone done this in here? You see, I really want them, but the service manager in Skoda recommends not to use them.

If I can get those wheels out I know it'll handle much better, and it will look good too.

Please help :([/quote']I'm not sure why you think it might "mess up the ECU settings" and without a significant spacer which might come to Mr Plod's attention I can't see it would make a significant difference in handling... - so appearance would be the main reason?

You'll also require an allignment adjustment as the forces on the suspension will change.

How long is the life of wheel bearings on average, and by how much does it shorten with spacers?

Its hard to predict.. but spacers will increase the forces exerted on them greatly.. and increase the chance of failure (not saying they will tho)

I'm not sure why you think it might "mess up the ECU settings" and without a significant[/u'] spacer which might come to Mr Plod's attention I can't see it would make a significant difference in handling... - so appearance would be the main reason?

I was told that it messes up some geometric thingymajiggy with the positioning and settings of wheels on the axle. That's why I'm asking. And no, it's not just appearance. The wider apart the wheels are, the 'lower' the centre of gravity and the better the handling. Think about it.

All depends - yep lower center of gravity, but the impact of messing up the designed suspension forces may negate the benefits, hard to say.

I was considering spacers on the rear wheels, just to bring them out, they apear to be lost in the arch lol

I was told that it messes up some geometric thingymajiggy with the positioning and settings of wheels on the axle. That's why I'm asking. And no, it's not just appearance. The wider apart the wheels are, the 'lower' the centre of gravity and the better the handling. Think about it.

I now see why there's a possible confusion here - I think you're misusing the term "ECU" - ECU usually stands for Electronic Control Unit i.e. the car's central computer - and I can't see why the settings of that would be affected. But it will certainly alter the suspension geometry.

Spacers in general are a very bad idea. As has been mentioned, you mess up the suspension geometry, you move the load point from the centre of the bearings so that you're applying force in the wrong place, and mechanically, they can be weak (particularly if they affect how the wheel sits on the hub).

You won't affect the centre of gravity, either: widening the track doesn't move any weight about!

You'd be better off buying some decent tyres, or better dampers. Wheel spacers should only be used where there is no other alternative (i.e wheels of a particular offset are not available).

you might as well just by the correct offset wheel if you wanting to increase the track width but it can cause problems a few mm will be fine but i really wouldnt change the offset too much

I'm running 15mm spacers on each side on the rear (30mm in total)

They are Eibach hubcentric ones and were supplied with the correct bolts from Badger5.

You dont need them on the front apparently otherwise you will counteract the benefit of fitting them to the rears (the rear track is narrower than the front as standard)

Its not so much of a cosmetic mod for me but it makes the back of the car much more settled and reduces the light back end feel under hard braking. The car feels less twitchy overall.

Its a common mod on Seat Ibizas apparently.

I was thinking of going for 5 or 10mm on the rears.. but saying as ive already had one wheel bearing go on me.. think ill pass

I'm running 15mm spacers on each side on the rear (30mm in total)

They are Eibach hubcentric ones and were supplied with the correct bolts from Badger5.

You dont need them on the front apparently otherwise you will counteract the benefit of fitting them to the rears (the rear track is narrower than the front as standard)

Its not so much of a cosmetic mod for me but it makes the back of the car much more settled and reduces the light back end feel under hard braking. The car feels less twitchy overall.

Its a common mod on Seat Ibizas apparently.

I'm surprised that people want to do this! Overall, the Fabia is pretty stable, but lift-off oversteer is possible. I don't know why you'd want to eliminate that.

What is the tell tell sign of a knackered wheel bearing???

I'm running 20mm spacers (no comments please) on my Fabia vRS and I have come to the conclusion one or both of the front bearings could be failing.

Reason I think so is; I have recently had almost everything on the engine replaced because of performance problem under accelleration. Latest replacement was the turbo.

I have a boost gauge and with the new turbo I can see that boost is correct, but it still feels like someone is holding back the car. Just as if the handbrake was stuck a little but instead comming from the front drive system (only my gut feeling).

The strange thing is that it gets worse the longer you drive (the warmer it gets). After 50 km it feels like you're taking part of a tractor pulling competition, and I'm now sure that's why my previous turbo initially failed.

It has never been reckognised by the garage because it's less noticable on a short test drive, and even less noticable without the spacers on.

Other symptom is the car pulling strongly to the right even though I have had it alligned two times now.

Since almost everything on the engine has been changed regarding boost (all sensors too) I'm now thinking it must be mechanical as it feels like the engine wants to pull but is being held back by some resistance. I should hope it is either the brakes or the bearings. But I'm confused by the fact that the bearings are not singing as I'm told they do if they're knackered. But then again the fact that it gets worse the longer I drive fits more on a bearing problem rather than a brake problem.

I'm so much hoping it's not an internal bearing being knackered (oooh so expensive to fix).

You guys with replaced wheel bearings please share your symptoms of failure...

You guys with replaced wheel bearings please share your symptoms of failure...

I've no direct experience of wheel bearings going on a car - but in all the cases I do have experience of - two car trailers and a racing car - the bearings appear to have failed very quickly. Once they start to go, they overheat owing to the increased friction, and !!!!!!!!!

Here's the racing car one - disintegrated the aluminium hub!

I now see why there's a possible confusion here - I think you're misusing the term "ECU" - ECU usually stands for Electronic Control Unit i.e. the car's central computer - and I can't see why the settings of that would be affected. But it will certainly alter the suspension geometry.

Bro, I know what an ECU is I misused it, my bad. I was just recently told that the suspension geometry will mess up. I have been strongly advised not to put spacers. Wider wheels are fine, but no spacers. Oh well...

Thanks DRJ, and everyone in here. I've made my decision not to risk stressing my car out in order for it to handle better. I'll get myself some nice wide BBS rims instead.

So should I go for spacers or not? Come on guys. Yes or no? Would YOU do it?

well they fit them to ibiza's all the time and I haven't heard of any probs........

Also then the adaptors for fitting Porka wheels to 4stud cars such as Golfs and Rado's would cause such problems too, I have been involved in the VW scene for nearly 10years and never heard of fitting wheel spacers making wheel bearings fail!!!!!!

Ok, 1 vote for ok, any others?