Front knuckle spacer?

[JordanWho]

I run Todoroki front fenders and 3 piece wheels. I need 30mm more track with on the front of my car than the rear. I don't want to order new wheels to fit as there would be more dish in front than the rear and look stupid.

Instead of running a regular 30mm spacer, I have an idea. Could be a stupid, could be okay. This is where I need everyone's help and advice.

What if I had a spacer machined that sat in between the front knuckle and coilover bracket? It would bolt directly into the knuckle with two bolts and then I'd bolt the coilover into the spacer with two bolts. All using the standard crash bolts supplied by Toyota/Subaru. Would be like having an extended knuckle.

Is this a completely ridiculous idea? Seems somewhat safer to me than using a 30mm spacer. Why would I go to all this trouble? Well I'm experienced in CAD, have easy access to CNC milling machines and already design a lot of my own parts.

Is this going to clap out my front geometry? This is where I need help.

[JordanWho]

Forgot to mention. I also have front LCA's that allow for lower track width adjustment.

[venturaII]

Is there enough extra thread on your tie rod ends?


Edit: Also, you say you need 30mm more track, which is only 15mm per side...not 30. A 15mm spacer isn't that big a deal with good studs...

[JordanWho]

Yeah I have extended tie rods.

I need 30mm either side.

[WHITE]

Depending on how much adjustability you have on your lower control arms you may be able to adjust the camber plates on your coil over to full positive and use the lca to adjuster your camber back to whatever you desire.

Youd have a little bit of $$$ invested in knuckle spacers, and im no engineer so its possible im way off base but the added leverage from having such a gap between the coil mount and knuckle might have an ill effect on the coilover its self ie: risk bending the piston/shaft/damper.

If it were me id do my method and then just use a small wheel spacer if needed.

[JordanWho]

Brilliant idea using positive camber adjustment. Thank you 👍🏼

[venturaII]

Originally Posted by WHITE

Youd have a little bit of $$$ invested in knuckle spacers, and im no engineer so its possible im way off base but the added leverage from having such a gap between the coil mount and knuckle might have an ill effect on the coilover its self ie: risk bending the piston/shaft/damper.

.

I'm no F1 engineer either, but I think the only leverage issue wouldn't be a bending one with the damper physically, but with the spring/damper combination, in terms of rate. You'd be effectively moving the damper mounting point closer to the lca pivot, which would change the rate needed to control a given road movement.


Edit: Actually, thinking about it, there would be some increased torque on the bottom of the strut assembly, but it'd be transferred along the body of the strut, so I'm guessing it'd be negligible...whatever..lol.

[TylerLieberman]

@JordanWho

Yeah, your best bet is to run the camber plates as much positive as possible. If you look at any of the cars equipped with the wisefab angle kits, you'll realize that most of them have the camber plates set pretty much full positive. Camber is adjusted via the LCA, which also widens the track, aiding in inward clearance for increased angle.

Go full positive on camber plates, then adjust LCA outwards and you should be good.

The spacers you're suggesting won't work as intended, because the bottom of the knuckle would still be connected to the LCA. The knuckle would be pushed further away on the top, yet the bottom would remain in the same location, until you pushed the LCA out. At that point though, you're just doing what the camber plates would do for you.