- Sometimes, you just need to get yourself some space.
Space in a relationship.
Like, I want you nearby,
just like, not next to me.
I get lonely if you're gone,
but I don't need you here.
You know.
six feet of space,
what if you got tiny arms? - (Alex giggles)
- That's straight to jail.
- But you also need space in your fitment, all right?
Every once in a while people come around
and they start talking about spacers all right?
Spacers,
they space out your wheels.
And it can cause a little bit of a controversy.
And today we're gonna chat about it a little bit.
I'm Alex.
Alex.fi on Instagram and today we're gonna be talking about
some of the good do and do nots,
so that you can rest easy when you're talking about,
spacers.
(upbeat music)
And if you're just jumping into this video,
(claps)
I got poked by a needle.
It makes it feel like I got my arm cut off.
I'm walking like this for some reason.
Anyway, welcome to Fitments Industries.
And if you're looking for aftermarket wheels, tires
and suspension,
be sure to check us out over
at https://www.fitmentindustries.com.
And of course, if you'd like to,
don't forget to subscribe.
We have everything you could possibly want.
Like everything.
Even probably something that your momma Suzy could want.
We probably have it. All right?
And we've got deals running all month long
for the month of November.
If you're interested in picking something up
and don't wanna wait until Black Friday,
Cyber Monday,
any period from that Wednesday to Monday.
Spacers are something we've talked about before.
I had brown hair
and Mario used to edit the videos.
It was a simpler day back then.
Nowadays, I gotta to deal with Dakota
and honestly I'm not really sure which one
I'd rather deal with.
Because Dakota just continuously talks in
taco ding dong references.
Spacers have always been a hot tamale.
Mostly because of what they stand for,
and likely one of the main reasons people have,
let's just say,
a strong distaste towards spacers.
Is just not something that everyone likes.
And most people that don't like something are usually
a lot more vocal than the people that do.
It artificially widens your stance without being
the size,
properly associated with your car.
Spacers help make the wheel proper.
But without the spacers,
you probably don't have the right fitment.
Not only that, but the variation of types of spacers
you can buy out there
can leave you picking up some pretty poopy ones.
Like super poopy.
One might even say,
(beep).
Okay, they're like the Wish app of spacers.
And seriously,
they actually have spacers
on Wish.
Then you have spacers,
that are 50 millimeters long
and then don't have the studs attached to them,
and overall it's just not a good experience
because people just end up taking their OEM lug nuts,
and trying to make the whole thing work.
Or lug bolts they just
weld length to them
and try to stick them in there,
and pray just ends up just fine.
You have spacers that will seize to wheels.
You have studs that will rip off.
And you have a plethora of issues,
that make every single person
that think the spacers are dumb,
do the following.
They do it every time.
Every single person,
does this
and you know who you are. All right?
This is internet
101,
welcome to the class of Alex. All right?
This is what you do.
yeah, I told you man.
Spacers are just dumb.
I've said this since the dawn of time.
Ever since I've had cars
and you guys won't listen to me.
Spacers are the worst thing in the world.
And nobody listens to me,
because nobody thinks I know anything.
Spacers are the worst.
It happens every time.
If you're on an internet forum
or online forum,
you know who you are 'cause you're that person.
So, we're gonna try and take this back a little bit.
We're gonna try and break it down,
starting off with the argument that people just say,
"well why didn't you just buy the right size wheels?"
And often the problem with that
is just that.
Some wheel manufacturers don't make the wheel sizes needed
for a specific platform
because it has what we would call
an off Meta
wheel size.
Don't get me wrong.
Multi-piece wheels are cool,
but not everyone is looking to ball up
on 4,000 dollar wheels on a 3,000 dollar four log car,
That can only fit a 15 by seven and a quarter plus 45.
That is an actual fitment.
And there is a ghost in the window.
(beep) scary dude.
Yes.
- (ghost laughs)
- He's packing. (laughing)
He's packing.
(laughing)
Sometimes the smaller spaces work well with finishing up
that fitment because wheels just don't come
in the right size.
And it does happen.
Now for three to five millimeter spacer,
it's really not that much.
And you won't actually notice it when you're looking
at wheels
because the actual piece is very small.
But when it comes to quality,
that's when things can get very weird. Okay?
Quality and spacers usually has an issue
when you start talking to people like you,
and people like me.
Because, they end up hearing the horror stories
of spacers, cracking, breaking, bending
melting to wheels,
and pretty much every other facet
that something could happen to metal,
that's not supposed to happen to metal.
And with spacers,
when they're connected to your Hub,
and they're the wheels that keep you moving down the road,
if those start to fail,
it's a little bit of a scary experience.
And quite honestly,
a lot of the things that we just talked about,
have happened before
and they continue to happen,
but a lot of times
it's because there's poorly made spacers out there
in the road.
Now, I don't even wanna know,
what the Wish app versions are made of.
Because they're probably made of paper.
But, just using press or stamp steel
or using alloy aluminum
isn't going to really work.
The metal that the spacers are made of,
have a melting point. All right?
Welcome to science class,
you're back to Alex college. All right?
And depending on the metal use
and impurities within it,
can and will cause the melting or welding issue,
that is littered the spacers memes.
Now, impurities lower the melting point.
I mean(indistinct),okay?
The presence of even a small amount of impurity, all right?
In a metal,
will lower the compound melting point
by a few degrees. All right?
Go into science class, tell your teacher this,
you can get some extra credit points.
And they brought in
the melting point temperature range because
I just wanna,
we're gonna illustrate this.
And to better understand this concept
here's a drawing,
that I didn't make.
Just imagine the structure of a spacer being
a little bit like a brick wall. All right?
Each brick in the wall represents the organic molecule
of the metal
and the mortar that holds the brick together.
As the molecules connecting to each other
because they're identical
to each other,
and they like each other.
People like other things that are familiar to them.
The more familiar they are,
the closer they're gonna connect.
And it's a pretty good representation of some social issues
but we're just not gonna get into that.
And very pure organic crystal.
All the molecules are the same.
So the pack together in a perfect very orderly array.
In this array,
the attractive forces between the molecules that glue
is maximized.
So, the more pure something is,
the hotter it can get without necessarily melting.
Now, introduce a cinder block that's sideways
instead of the brick wall,
and that is what would be in an impurity. All right?
And the molecule can no longer fit perfectly.
Lowers the melting point
and then you have some issues.
Rinse and repeat,
a few millions of molecules
and it has an impure 25 millimeter spacer,
and you get a lower melting point,
and that's what ends up giving you
that typical Facebook horror story.
Welcome to Alex wheel college 101.
You learned about melting points and spacers,
which is why they melt the wheels.
That's why it's important
to get Forged T6061 aluminum made spacers,
if you do end up buying spacers.
Forged aluminum will typically
and almost always be better.
Now, they've forcefully aligned the grain structure
in the metal, making stronger for impact purposes,
but it also allows it to raise the melting points.
You don't have to Jack hammer your spacer off
when you're trying to retrofit the VMR's off your E36
onto your E46.
It just happens.
You're welcome.
And finally, the big boys end up installing 25
to 40 millimeter spacers on the car
for the wide body setups. All right?
This is aggressive.
Now, I would recommend
when you're going wide body
to just plan for new wheels. All right?
But, if you throwing on big boy spacers,
you wanna make sure that there's bolts and adapters,
that connect to the Hub
and the wheel.
All right?
If you're getting a big piece of metal
to do the BRZ thing,
to stick out with your new Pandem kit,
but you don't have any bolts,
most people end up with like hyper long lug nuts
and your ride will suffer greatly,
And aga daggers
that you're gonna put on the car's wheels,
aren't going to help you,
and you're not gonna have a good time.
And if anybody looks in your wheel well,
they're not gonna have a good time even more. All right?
2020 is weird.
Social media is
the hell of a place to be.
At least get the studded spacers,
so you can bolt to the Hub and then both to the wheel.
This will reduce the risk of damage to the car,
the wheel and ride quality as a whole.
Now with the bigger spacers
you will get somewhere on the Hub itself,
but that's something that you kind of just have to take
in as one of the negatives to getting a big wheel spacer.
Its more prominent on trucks,
but it does happen on cars.
If you need to know how to measure for wide body,
we got a video for it too.
Spaces are a lot like salt.
You need them to be in moderation
and for a specific purpose.
But just like salt,
if you grab the salt you use the de thaw
like you're frozen walkway to your apartment
and then put that same salt on a steak,
you're probably gonna have a bad time.
That's the only analogies I can pretty much stuff
into this conversation with spacers.
You need the sea salt.
The one that,
(grinding sound)
that one, the one that's super good. All right?
Spacers are the same way.
If you end up needing them
you wanna make sure you get the properly made ones
that do it right for the very specific purpose,
that you're looking to do.
If you're adapting your wheel Hub to be a five lug,
you wanna make sure that you're getting something with
the bolts and nuts and all the good stuff,
and it's forged so that you can be safe
when you're driving around.
Spacers aren't something you wanna go cheap on.
And installing them
the right way within moderation
will give you every single perk,
without losing pretty much everything.
Except maybe a wheel bearing if you're a truck guy.
Or a Pandem-Wide body kit
with 50 millimeter spacers.
But, if you're looking for aftermarket wheels, tires
or suspension for your newly acquired car,
otherwise hit us up over
at https://www.fitmentindustries.com.
And if you're looking to get up some new wheels,
be sure to check out our new brand that we're launching
on November 20th
and in our keynote.
And then we're launching the wheels on November 23rd,
Artisa ArtFormed wheels.
I'm Alex from Fitment Industries,
and we will see you later.
Peace.