3mm spacer purchase advice needed

[Tristor]

Counterfeiting has gone rampant generally. I’ve received counterfeit parts on one occasion when I purchased directly from the manufacturer. They had an employee in their supply chain that was substituting counterfeits for the real deal and pocketing the difference, since the manufacture didn’t re-QC from their suppliers, they got commingled in the pool of legit parts. Amazon has massive issues with SKU commingling causing counterfeits to be shipped to buyers from legit vendors.

Boeing is not the only company that checks QC of their suppliers. I know. I’ve had to institute that system at two different companies I’ve worked for, one a manufacture of building supplies for residential construction and the other a computer storage manufacturer. Both had issues with tainted supply chains prior to incurring the large expense of re-QCing every batch of parts and materials they get from suppliers.

I have my beliefs as to why this has become an issue, but I will keep it to myself. I will just say that there’s no perfect solution as a customer, but I sure as fuck am never putting parts off eBay, Wish, or AliExpress on my car.

[qqzj]

One more question. What about spacers like 7mm to 12mm? These are not thick enough to be made bolt-on type. They are also too thick as a slip-on. Extended studs can help. But there won't be enough hub left to make it hub centric for the wheel. For spacers thicker than 10mm, it seems possible that a lip can be matched. But then the slip can only be used to center the wheel literally. They cannot help to bear any weight. So the slip-on spacers more than 3mm (or 5mm, need to leave 6-8 turns on lug studs for the lug nuts) seems to be in a very awkward position.

[Impureclient]

OP, exactly what are you trying to do here with spacers or is this all to understand everything about spacers for educational purposes?

[qqzj]

Initially I wanted to get 3mm spacer. But I give up that plan. Now it is just for education. BTW, I saw some 10mm spacers online. Looks the lip added to it has decent dimensions. So I guess the 'awkward' spacers are just 5mm or 7mm type.

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[Leonardo]

Originally Posted by qqzj

Initially I wanted to get 3mm spacer. But I give up that plan. Now it is just for education. BTW, I saw some 10mm spacers online. Looks the lip added to it has decent dimensions. So I guess the 'awkward' spacers are just 5mm or 7mm type.

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Some thoughts about spacers (in no particular order)

IDK for sure, but the thinnest spacer to have an extended hub I could find was a 10mm 5x100 56.1mm spacer. (similar to pictured below)

The 5mm spacer I had took up all but the very tip of he hub and didn't provide the wheel quite enough to feel like it was positively centered as with the thicker style spacers that I replaced them with. Not to say I had any issues with them, they worked fine for the few days I ran them.

Spacers are made in several different outside diameters. The first set I purchased looked like the ones you linked. When I installed them, the spacer was a bit bigger than the brake rotor hub. They looked terrible.

Then I searched "12mm hubcentric 5x100 56.1mm spacer". I found these.



After installing extended studs all around...

These slip-on spacers worked great and are the same diameter as the center of the brake rotor. And being as they have a 56.1mm center hub; they firmly seat on the hub of the car and provide a solid center hub for the wheel.

I also have used a set of bolt on style spacers. I liked them and they worked good. But, with 10 lug nuts per wheel (more stuff to worry about) And the (minor) difficulty of having my wife sit in the car and press the brake while I tightened the first set of lug nuts on the spacer. I feel that if you can use slip style spacers and extended studs; they are better.

The only reason, IMO, to have 10 holes in a spacer is: bolt on style spacers that allow the studs to go through and "sit" in the recessed pockets of a wheel.

For widebody applications: bolt on super thick spacers are the only way to go for some guys. I mean; custom offset wheels are EXPENSIVE!

I think these are a cool adjustable spacers; haven't seen any other like them.

https://store.partsshopmax.com/shop/...-5-125-56.html

[qqzj]

Thanks for the experience. Very detailed and real life. One other thought I have about hub centric is that maybe it is not just 'centric'? I think it is quite dangerous for the lug nuts/studs to be responsible for bearing the weight all the time. The majority of the job of bearing the weight must be done by the hub, right? So a thin hub centric lip might be good enough to center the wheel, but it won't be able to carry the load all the time.

[churchx]

What is bearing weight is very high friction between wheel hub & wheel disk. Properly tightened wheel nuts just press strong enough wheel to hub to ensure that friction, they don't carry themselves any sideload/weights (unless they get undone ).
As for "centric" part, it's more about how you get wheel centered when bolting on, to not get wheel bolted off-center/eccentric. Be it via same sized wheel center bore & axle size (or +some spacers with flanges), to make "hub-centric", where it doesn't matter much what shape bolt/nut flanges are and even flat, as stock on some brand cars, may work, or it's "lug-centric", where lug-nut holes in wheel disk and lugnuts are of specific shape, that wheel centers as you tighten them (in proper, star, fashion). In this category are for example our wheels/lugnuts of conical 60deg taper flanges. Ball shaped seats should act in similar fashion.

[qqzj]

Oh, thanks. So you mean our wheels are both hub centric and lug centric?


Some people would recommend using a bit anti seize between hub and spacers. Is this damaging the load bearing ability?

[Leonardo]

Originally Posted by qqzj

Oh, thanks. So you mean our wheels are both hub centric and lug centric?


Some people would recommend using a bit anti seize between hub and spacers. Is this damaging the load bearing ability?

"Some people would recommend" (enter BAD IDEA here).

[strat61caster]

Hub centric is convenience factor for mounting the wheel, the studs/lugs take ALL the load on every modern car.

https://949racing.com/Hub_Centering_Ring_FAQ.aspx

I've had a 5mm slip on spacer on my car for like three years, over 30k miles, arp studs and gorilla lugs, torque properly, don't slide the wheel on the threads of the studs and life should be golden. This reminds me that I should spend some time cleaning my studs next time I swap wheels.

[qqzj]

Good information. Guess I am wrong. The centric lip on the hub is really just for convenience of centering the hub. This is totally against my intuition, but cannot argue against a wheel maker. Oh well.

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[churchx]

Well, that convenience also is not to completely write off. Eg. it might be big PITA to center/mount non hub-centric wheel on bmw with wheel bolts. And even if wheel maker tells it's not needed, if wheel centering flange helps you, your subjective piece of heart, why not spend few dollars for oneself to feel subjectively a bit more secure?

[Impureclient]

I have to add a little more about what Leonardo brought up about outside dimensions on the spacers. So overlooked and it doesn't help that the places you buy them from very rarely put that outside diameter.
That's why I ended up with the H&Rs as they are super close to that brake rotor hub diameter as mentioned which if you like attention to detail, it really matters.

As far as the anti-seize between on the on the hub and spacer, I didn't think that was an issue. I applied a super thin coat there and even some on the other side of the spacer sitting against the wheel.
I did that as after about a year I had the spacer on it was already starting to stick from corrosion to the hub. Now after unbolting everything, it all comes off very clean. I'm not talking about using the brush it comes
with but like dabbing one finger pad in there and barely wiping it on like women would apply foundation makeup, or man if you are into that.

I think this video is a good example of why maybe somebody would think it's a bad idea. He looks like he is making ribs and is applying the bbq sauce on them at the last 15 min. of cooking. [ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLbzI5Y0ZLg[/ame]
My favorite comment on that video is "Did you die?" It's hilarious how much he slathered it on.