Thinking of adding front / rear spacers. Anyone have any problems in doing so? Makes the mini look beefier and wider footprint.

Stock wheel/tire is 17". Parelli 205/45/17 current.

Also, I will be adding aftermarket wheels down the road - will this force the tire to be outside the wheelwell? Narrowed the wheels to Team Dyno Pro-Race 1.2 or Konig Feathers. Anyone who has these/this combo?

Thanks for the input.

Texas Cooper

 

I use 15mm spacers with no real problems other than a slight rub in the rear when under a heavy load but it all depends on your specific setup.

First you need to decide on what size (thickness) spacers will work with your wheels (dia, width, and offset), tire size (dia and width), and amount of car lowering (if you have a plan to lower the car). Since you plan to switch to an aftermarket wheel you also need to take the planned dia, width, and offset into account.

The stock wheels are probably 17 x7" but you also need to determine the offset (probably 52mm) so you can compare to your planned aftermarket wheels. Offset is the number of millimeters that the wheel mounting surface (at the hub) is offset from the centerline of the wheel. The Mini wheels are offset towards the outside of the wheel which moves the tire towards the center of the car (away from the outside edge). That is why many people add spacers or use aftermarket wheels with different offset to move the tires towards to outside.

If you do not know the offset of your wheel, you can probably determine the offset of your stock wheels by doing a search in the NAM Wheel/Tire forum for your specific wheel.

When you switch to aftermarket wheels you should be able to obtain wheels with the proper offset so you do not need wheel spacers. For example, if you stock wheels are 17x7 with 52 offset and you use 15mm spacers that would be equivalent to an aftermarket wheels that is 17x7 with 37 offset and no wheel spacers (52 -15 = 37). Also, the aftermarket wheels might be 17x7.5" instead of 17x7" so the extra wheel width has to be taken into account.

If you plan to go with aftermarket wheels you might want to hold off on wheel spacers for your stock wheels because you will also need to purchase longer wheel lug bolts to go along with the spacers and you might not need the spacers or longer bolts if you purchase the correct size aftermarket wheels.

On my 2003 MCS with went with 17x7 with 38 offset wheels to replace my stock 17x7 with 52 offset wheel so I did not need wheel spacers. However, on my 2006 MCS I wanted to keep the stock 18x7 with 52 offset wheels so I had to add 15mm spacers to get a better stance.

 

I ran 15mm H&R spacers on my S-Lites. Loved the look. It made them just about flush with the fender flares.

 

MisterDangerPants,

What size tires do you have on your Mini, and is it lowered?

Also what is the offset of your wheels?

 

With the stock offset, doesn't adding spacers put a lot of strain on the wheel bearings? That's what I was taught in high school autoshop many decades ago. Things may have changed since then.

 

I was taught the same thing but I think about it differently now.

Adding 15mm spacers to a stock wheel that has a 52mm offset is no different than using an aftermarket wheel with around 38 mm offset (52-15=37). Many people use 38mm offset wheels on the Mini with not additional wheel bearing problems. I think Mini tends to use wheels with too much offset.

However, I would agree that going too far can be stressful on the bearings.

 

I don't think that's entirely accurate.

Wheel spacers simply push the wheel further away from the rotor, displacing the weight of the wheel and increasing the stress on the bearings. That's not what happens when you use a wheel with a lower offset, that more or less just pushes the lip of the wheel further out.

 

 

As long as the rim width remains the same, whether you use a spacer or a rim with an offset equivilant to the spacer, the results are identical. Either way, the changes to the stress on the wheel bearings is exactly the same. In both cases, you're moving the center of the wheel further out exactly the same amount.

And wheel weight has nothing to do with it.

 

I guess maybe some wheel manufacturers treat it that way? Most wheels gain lippage (or concavity) as the offset decreases.

 

Exactly right.

Just to give some perspective -- Porsche lists wheel spacers (up to 15mm, IIRC) as a factory accessory you can add to your brand-new Porsche for a little wider track.

--Dan
Mach V

 

I guess I just don't understand how it works then. To me, if you add a piece of metal 15mm wide in between the wheel and the car, that should have a different effect than simply buying a wheel with a different offset. I understand how adding a spacer effectively changes the offset of the wheel, but I guess I just don't understand where the stress on the wheel bearings comes from.

 

Think of adding a spacer as simply adding material to the inside of the wheel where it mates with or contacts the hub on the car. And material you add there will move the wheel out the same amount. It doesn't matter if it's a separate spacer or the wheel manufacturer has left an equivilant amount of material there. The wheel ends up in the same location.

Here's a drawing that may help explain things:

 

As for the added load on the wheel bearings, it's the simple physics of a fulcrum. Imagine that you've got a small hole drilled through one of the interior walls of you home, right through the drywall on one side and through the drywall on the other. These holes represent the two wheel bearings on your car's axle. Now, take a steel rod and insert it through both holes in both walls. Then, press down on the rod with your hand about 6 inches from the wall. The holes in the drywall (wheel bearings) may give a little bit, but they'll hold up pretty good. Now, more your hand until it's 2 feet from the wall and press down with the same force as before. Now the holes in the drywall (the bearings) become badly distorted and deformed, not because you are pressing harder, but because you've got more leverage. The same things happens when you start moving your wheel further and further out away from the wheel bearings. The even though the force applied by the wheel remains the same (the cars weight on that wheel), the forces that the wheel bearings have to deal increases because of the extra leverage from the wheel being further out.

Fortunately, most cars are fairly well over-designed and 15 mm or so usually isn't going to make much of a difference in the long run.

'Hope that explains it.

Cheers!

 

I think the issue is whether you are moving the wheel center line in relation to the location of the bearing. If you get an after-market wheel with a larger than OEM offset, you can move the wheel center line to the right position with a spacer.

If you put a spacer on an OEM wheel, you would be moving the center line of the wheel from where it was designed to be. What I don't know is whether this is a problem with modern bearings. It was a problem with 20th Century bearings. I recall people putting spacers on late 1960's VWs for a wider stance, and trashing the wheel bearings.

 

i just added 12mm wheel spacers with the extended hub bore, texas speedworks extended bolts, and lug nuts onto my 17x7 et42 wheels with 215/40/17 tires. i'm lowered on m7 springs and koni yellows.

every time i brake there's a clanking noise coming from the back. it doesn't seem like i'm rubbing much but i've never experienced what rubbing is like. the wheel spacers weren't flush onto the hub, but i made sure i tightened the wheel all the way. furthermore the sound only happens when i brake, not while driving.

can anyone help diagnose my problem?

 

I'm thinking of using 12mm as well with 17x7 et48, 215/45/17.

Are your spacers hubcentric? Can you put a close up picture of your wheels & fenders?

 

When I bought my 06 JCW cabriolet, it came with 18" JCW black wheels and 205-40/18's. It also came with 15mm spacers, to (according to the previous owner) give it a slightly wider stance for esthetic and performance reasons. The car also has the complete JCW suspension package so it sits lower.

So far, I've not had any problems with wheel rubbing or weird noises. And that's with me (at 265 lbs) and also my wife (lbs unknown, but she's 5'10") both in the car and driving hard.

As long as the wheel center isn't moved too far out, most modern wheel bearings can handle it. Materials and manufacturing processes have improved greatly. And as for the old VW's, they were simply designed to the "bare minimum" and couldn't take a lot of modification (in many areas) without something failing or experiencing a noticeably shortened life span. However, technically speaking, any movement of the wheel center out further from the stock location will result in accellerated wear of the wheel bearings. However, that percentage increase in wear may be, for all practical intents and purposes, insignificant.

 

To VicSkimmer:

In simple terms, think of it like this...

Try doing a push up with your arms, shoulder width apart. It requires a certain amount of effort to complete the task.

Then, move your arms far apart, and try the same push up. While it technically requires the same amount of effort, LEVERAGE is what makes it more difficult.

When you widen your overall "track" of the wheels, by means of moving ONLY the wheel centerlines further apart in relation to the mounting points (not the other suspension components), your suspension must handle the loads with it's 'arms wider apart'. Whether you use spacers, or a lower offset wheel, the net leverage change on your suspension geometry is the same.

 

12mm racemax hubcentric spacers. this is the front wheel and the rear wheel in the background. the front sits extremely flush (with my wheel specs) but the rear could use a few more mm... now i need to kill that wheelgap with some coilovers!

 

That's fair enough. I understand why spacers add stress, but I guess I just never thought about how adding wider wheels would do the same thing, since where they mount on the hub is the same.

 

Sweet! But dang! I just went on ebay & BMP Design, and there out of 12mm for my R56. The last Racemax 12mm that they had on ebay was mislabeled, and they refunded my money. I also tried Pro Mini and there out of 12mm as well. Any idea where I can get a set of 12mm Racemax Spacers?

 

good/bad: i got mine from promini and it took more than 2 months. the first set were defective; they're sending me a new set free of any additional charge that doesn't wobble. it's eh and i'd be hesitant about ordering with them again. but the new set of 12mm's should arrive this monday i'll keep you updated.

 

For what it's worth, mine are from H&R.

http://www.hrsprings.com/products/trak/

 

'Forgot to mention, they're the DR series. Requires longer wheel bolts sold separately.