949 Racing 50mm Steering Spacer 86 - GR86

[949 Racing]

We will be able to take some pics of front and back of spacer showing the interfaces when we get our next batch. We'll open the site up for pre-orders for that batch in a day or two.

In the mean time, you might visit the link to steering wheel R&R posted earlier. It shows the very interfaces you are seeking. Obviously, our spacer has the exact same interfaces.

[snoxracer183]

Originally Posted by Clutch Dog

and their product was truly not worth it then why did it get sold out within the first 48 hours?

I have a question but this might be knowledge not privy between buyers.

who bought these spacers? Budding enthusiasts? people who want more leg room, even for daily cruises? Guys who track/compete with their vehicles?

No doubt if you are saying " I like it but for not that price"
You aren't trying to win races, push records, or giving everything you have for the sport and the thrill. The car is a convenience for you. And as I am not a shop owner nor offer products, I can be so arrogant to say, your opinion doesn't matter because you are not 949s target audience.

Quit assuming my friend. I am 100% the target audience of this product being 6'2" and having to lean the seat back with a helmet on (not ideal seating position). $300 steering spacer would be absolutely welcome but its not stopping me from getting on track nor is it going to drop seconds on my lap time. Just a nice to have thing. FYI, you will find multiple posts in the 86 Lap Time Record thread from myself

The product is awesome, just out of my acceptable price range for such a convenience item. Some day when I have extra cash I hope they are still available.

[sato]

I have been searching for a device like this for a while now, but have an small doubt. This device keeps the telescoping function of the steering wheel, right? I saw an extension range which shows some adjustment, which leads me to believe the shortest position we will be able to achieve is 10mm (less than half an inch) further than the longest OEM position?

I'm just asking because even though it will basically solve my "short hand problem", other people may shorten it when driving my car. Even though I'm not racing the car, I can't get seat closer if I'm to get more comfortable, or seat more upright else I'll be hitting ceiling.

PS No, I love this car too much to drive a Ford.

[churchx]

Yes, it keeps telescopic (and of course vertical aswell) adjustability as it's just spacer between that adjustable column/hub and steering wheel attached to it. Just that now both min & max positions are 50mm closer to you.

[extrashaky]

Originally Posted by sato

I saw an extension range which shows some adjustment, which leads me to believe the shortest position we will be able to achieve is 10mm (less than half an inch) further than the longest OEM position?

I'm just asking because even though it will basically solve my "short hand problem", other people may shorten it when driving my car.

Looks like you're correct. I just took a sloppy measurement and got a 38mm extension range. A 0mm to 38mm extension range will be increased to 50mm to 88mm. So it does look like your shortest extension with this adapter would be around a cm closer to the driver than the furthest extension without it.

I'm the only person who drives my car, so it wouldn't be a problem for me. But perhaps the 949 people might consider ordering a 20mm or 30mm version to complement the 50mm version for people in your situation or people who just don't need 50mm of extra extension. Or perhaps now that one vendor has done it, others might recognize the need and offer some competition.

[churchx]

Other vendors had 5 years for that. This spacer is not some sudden "invention" out of nowhere. I recall threads on this forum, with users asking if someone makes such spacer. People (including me) had asked other vendors about making such.
But there was none until now (not considering quick disconnect hubs and aftermarket wheels of deep offset due not retaining stock airbag). Thus highly doubt about competition. If there were some reasons for others to not make such for these 5 years, very possibly those reasons are still there.
If you want 20mm extension, get J-Luth steering wheel. It costs 3x this spacer costs though. People often get different steering wheels just for looks (eg. some "carbon look", or oversophisticated shapes, misc. gungrips, D-shape and such), and they all cost fortune. There are several other parts made for this car, that don't look very sophisticated but cost a lot, eg. crawford billet power blocks/spacers ($400), or expensive billet shift knobs of $100-200. If you find these too expensive, just don't buy. Or make one yourself. But i don't see need to blame vendor that needs to recoup R&D costs and make some profit, when weighting out costs and estimate from market evaluation how much can be charged. Even more so, that they are only ones actually making some. Monopoly helps

[extrashaky]

Originally Posted by churchx

Other vendors had 5 years for that.

You never know.

Starting in 1997 the Jeep Cherokee had a center console that was held down with a plastic bracket that liked to break, leaving the center console wobbly. For years people talked about it on the forums, and there were numerous discussions on the best way to repair it.

Finally in 2012 someone made a replacement for his own Jeep out of steel. When people expressed interest, he started having them CNC cut in batches, then he'd bend and weld them in his garage and sell them to other owners.

One of the Jeep vendors saw it, thought it was a good idea and stole the design. Once they stole it, three other vendors stole it from them. Now there are four vendors selling something that took 15 years to hit the market. The original guy wasn't doing it for the money, so he just stopped making them.

Now, I'm not a fan of outright stealing other people's work. But if someone sees a problem with the existing design and comes up with a competing product that solves those issues, I don't see a problem with that. I think there's enough demand here for someone to compete on size, appearance and price. A shorter extension with a plastic housing to make it blend visually with the steering column a little better could potentially compete.

Or maybe 949 will make those improvements themselves. Based on their response to my interest in it on their other thread, I get the sense this product was not something that really interested them beyond just an opportunity to make a little money to fund the more exciting tech they really want to be working on.

Originally Posted by churchx

If you want 20mm extension, get J-Luth steering wheel. It costs 3x this spacer costs though.

I have one. It's not enough of an extension, and the diameter of the wheel is smaller so that part of what you gain toward you is lost toward the center, away from where your elbow might be resting on the center console or door in casual driving.

[churchx]

extrashaky: OK, J-Luth wheel mention seems steering conversation a bit to offtopic to another product, but that smaller diameter .. i actually like it and prefer that way (i have that wheel too), there are people that wish it that way of smaller/thicker steering wheel, and large portion of aftermarket steering wheels are such (eg. TRD one, that is smaller (but w/o offset), and it also helps a bit to reach from offset-ed wheel light&wipers stalks without taking hands from the wheel, and slightly but also nets extra room for knee movement.
This spacer is more meant for performance driving, as helps with getting seating pose ergonomics right for eg. heal & toe, or when you need extra headroom with helmet and lean back of seat for that. And at performance driving it's better to not use bad habits such as not driving with both hands on wheel (as it robs from fine control/precision and reduces force you can apply to wheel for quick maneuvers (that may matter also for DD, for emergency steer around unexpected obstacle for example)). Yes, many are guilty of such habits (also eg. resting hand on shifter, or driving with misadjusted seat, or hands on wheel at wrong positions, and so on), but nevertheless it's wrong (and when i took up HPDE as one of hobbies, now i'm trying to unlearn several of such bad DD habbits in addition to learning just techniques).
I could adjust wheel & seat "right" for daily driving, when w/o helmet, it's when i got on track i hated steering wheel being too far (or seat too close and as result non ergonomic leg position).
I'm slightly confused, if you had budget for J-Luth wheel .. why all complaining about cost of this spacer? :/. Imho it's priced right, and it's good to encourage good vendors that start making something others didn't bother, so that they can recoup R&D costs, make profit and keep designing/making other quality products for us. Actually, if someone will make copies NOW, that would rather make me think worse of such copycats (probably from china), and i'd prefer to support/endorse makers of original, then eg. to save $50.
BTW, imho aluminium billet is also material i'd prefer to see for that spacer material. Steering is one of most important controls in car, if there had been used plastic .. maybe i'm too cautious, but i'd prefer to have there something more i can trust near important control, near several safety things like possibly steering angle sensor/airbag. Spaced out due leverage may also add some less rigidity in construction.

Emilio, Ed: have you guys considered on making v2 spacer that would consist of two spacer halves, or simply cut spacer in half (haven't seen yet it's internal pics, so don't know if it's possible) prior applying coating/finish, or you evaluated that it would overcomplicate making it and increase it's costs (or can one order custom one of 20-30mm thickness)? Way i see, if it had been from two halves (to add flexibility in offset choice with using just one of or both, according to what offset one prefers), and would work also for someone like me, whose steering wheel is at some offset already.

[949 Racing]

For those questions of just how much offset our spacer creates, I would refer you back to the original post.

There is a 10mm gap in reach when you add the OEM and our spacers total range. Making an entirely new part just to cover that 10 mm range would be a bit superfluous. I specifically chose the length I did to offer taller drivers the best possible reach with only the small 10 mm unavailable reach range, as the compromise.

If you're having trouble visualizing what I'm talking about imagine the total telescoping range as OEM as close to the dash as possible, to 949 spacer as close to the driver as possible. The two ranges do not overlap but have a 10mm gap between them.

So if you want the wheel a little bit closer to you than is possible with the OEM set up then you will begin your adjustment range at 10 mm closer than OEM.

10mm is approximately 3/8". I have assumed that anyone who really needs the wheel closer to them is willing to make a jump of at least 10mm to start.

So to encapsulate all that, we have no plans on making an intermediate or modular spacer. When you think about it further you can see why that would be unnecessary.

Edit: this presupposes that the driver in question always drives with the same reach setting. Personally I always run the steering wheel in the same position whether I'm on street or track.

[extrashaky]

Originally Posted by churchx

extrashaky: OK, J-Luth wheel mention seems steering conversation a bit to offtopic to another product

It's a discussion board. Discussion goes where it wants. It's still relevant.

Originally Posted by churchx

but that smaller diameter .. i actually like it and prefer that way (i have that wheel too)

I also like the smaller diameter. I have the ATC version (which is the same as J Luth and Keys), and it feels great in the hand. My comment was not about the diameter itself, but that reducing the diameter loses some of the reach you gain with the deeper wheel during casual driving.

Originally Posted by churchx

This spacer is more meant for performance driving... And at performance driving it's better to not use bad habits such as not driving with both hands on wheel

They may have designed it with performance driving in mind, but casual drivers have been discussing the need for this for years. Sometimes the guys who race forget that the overwhelming majority of these cars never put a wheel on a track. If they want to ignore the casual drivers, that's fine. That just makes more opportunity for another vendor to step in to serve those customers.

Originally Posted by churchx

I'm slightly confused, if you had budget for J-Luth wheel .. why all complaining about cost of this spacer?

I didn't complain about the cost of the spacer. You seem to be more hung up on the cost than anyone. Why are you so intent on justifying it? Seems like thou doth protest too much.

Originally Posted by churchx

BTW, imho aluminium billet is also material i'd prefer to see for that spacer material. Steering is one of most important controls in car, if there had been used plastic .. maybe i'm too cautious, but i'd prefer to have there something more i can trust near important control, near several safety things like possibly steering angle sensor/airbag.

You didn't read what I wrote very carefully. I didn't suggest making the spacer out of plastic. I said include a plastic housing that blends better with the plastic bezels on the back of the wheel and steering column to make the spacer less obvious. An injection molded piece to fit over the aluminum spacer would fill in that gap for aesthetics.

For racing, who cares what it looks like. But for the casual driver who might take some level of pride in the appearance of his car, this adapter's appearance might be a turnoff. I'm somewhere in the middle, willing to ignore the inelegant appearance for the improved function. So to repeat what I said above, there's an opportunity here for another vendor to compete on size and appearance while still potentially coming in cheaper for the folks like you who are hung up on the price.

[949 Racing]

Gents,

Someone will always be "wrong" on the internet. Don't let it keep you up at night. And please don't feed the trolls

[Clutch Dog]

Whats wrong is that this spacer will be here monday ( not 949's fault) and I will be in Bransen Missouri on a "family vacation" (shoot me) until late next week. Meaning i wont get to enjoy the spacer till i get back.


I have thought long and hard on canceling the trip for this...

Also I live in San diego, if i wanted to visit BFNowhere I would just go to Carlsbad or Palomar ..

[Vracer111]

So I'm getting ready to sell my car and a nice spacer finally comes out... From day 1 the seat comfort and steering wheel telescoping reach has sucked. Seating issue was mostly fixed with a Recaro Sportster CS, but nothing done about steering wheel because it's a daily driver not racecar. Could either get legs right distance or arms right distance, but never both. And I always have gone arms at the expense of legs... Dang it... really want one but probably will take too long to get another batch in.

Would you consider making one for a Nissan Frontier? LOL

[949 Racing]

Originally Posted by Vracer111

..really want one but probably will take too long to get another batch in..

Next batch is 5x the size of the first batch, and should be here around July 15th.