- What's goin' on guys?
Fuller here with Custom Offsets,
Custom Offsets TV on YouTube.
I think we're gonna start a new series,
we're gonna call this one From the Inbox.
So I have a list of all the questions
that you guys have asked us
and this episode is gonna be on spacers.
Because no matter how many videos we make,
how many five things videos,
how many quick informational videos we pump out there,
it seems like you guys always have questions on spacers
so we're gonna dive into this a little further.
(serious music)
(air guns buzzing)
(electricity popping)
So, before we start, there are two common things
that people refer to as spacers.
Now, this is spacer, it's very thin,
as you can see, I thing this is a five millimeter spacer.
And this is also what people call a spacer,
but this is technically an adapter
because this has new studs as well.
So your truck bolts up here
and your new wheel bolts on here
and instead of mounting them to your factory studs,
you're putting it on the studs inside the spacers.
So, we sell Bora spacers on our website,
it's T6061 aluminum, aircraft grade aluminum
and then 10.1 steel studs.
So these things are strong, they're made to order
and they're also hubcentric,
so you don't run into any issues
with the wheels falling off.
If you haven't heard of that, check out our other videos,
we kind of explain that a little more.
Now, spacers come in a variety of sizes,
obviously like I said, there's this one that's really thin
and there's this on that's four inches.
And then there's everything in between.
So, depending on what size you're ordering,
this is about an inch and this on has the new studs put in.
This is the same size but it doesn't have the new studs.
So something that people run into a lot of times
is they'll message us and ask,
what size spacer do I need
where I don't have to cut my factory studs.
Because if you put his onto your vehicle
and your studs sticks through
and it just barely comes past,
you don't have enough threads on there
to put on your lug nut
and to hold your wheel safely in place.
So, that's where some people will go ahead and order these
that have the new studs.
Now, you kind of run into the same problem
because your factory stud might stick through here
but if it goes through, now your wheels not gonna bolt up
flush to the spacer,
so again, you're gonna run into those problems.
So what you would want to do is measure out,
this is one inch, so you measure one inch
on the factory stud and then cut your factor studs
so that when you put the nut on to hold the spacer in place
the nut is buried inside this hole.
Then that allows you to bolt your wheel up
to sit flush onto the spacer
which allows you to drive safely
and your wheels won't fall off.
So, for a general rule of thumb,
if you're looking to add spacers to your truck,
you're gonna wanna go at least 1.75 or two inches
to avoid cutting your studs.
This one here is a two inch spacer.
A lot of times people are adding two inch spacers
on the rear of their vehicle.
Typically kits like Rough Country
will tend to push out to the front of your vehicle
and increase the track width
but in the rear, since they're just using blocks
and not new lift knuckles,
that track width isn't effected.
So, in order to level up the wheels front to back,
people are often adding a two inch spacer.
That's probably the most common size that we sell.
So to dive into a couple of these questions then,
the first one, do I need Loctite?
No, you do not need Loctite on spacers,
you simply torque the spacer to your vehicle
just like its a wheel and then torque the wheel
to the space just like if you would
if you were mounting it on the original hub of your vehicle.
After about 100 miles or so, you're gonna wanna come back
and re-torque both the spacer and the wheel
to make sure that they're both on there tight.
Again, the whole theme throughout this is that
if you're gonna run spacers, you wanna make sure
that you're doing it safely
so your wheels don't fall off.
Hi Charlie.
Charlie doesn't run spacers,
Charlie gets his fit right the first time.
(warning tone)
So no, you don't need Loctite
and you actually should not use Loctite
'cause it's just gonna be a pain in the butt
when you go to take those things off.
Second question on the list,
will spacer prevent rubbing?
In most cases, spacers are gonna actually make it worse.
So a spacer is gonna push your wheel further out
which means if it was rubbing on your control arms
or suspension components on the inside of your wheel,
then yes, it would help
because it won't rub on the inside anymore.
However, by pushing that wheel further out,
you're now increasing the turning radius
which means it's going to probably hit
on your front bumper or the back corner of your fender,
so that's gonna lead to further clearance problems.
So you can combat that by doing a NorCal
or trimming the front bumper on your truck
to make them fit.
However, we get messages all the time that say,
I want to run 20 by 12, -44s
on my Chevy 1500 with 33s, will it fit?
The short answer is no, not on stock suspension.
So then people will ask, well, what if I add
a two inch spacer, will that help?
It's a common misconception,
that's actually gonna make it much worse
because, again, you're sticking that wheel
even further out of the wheel well
which is gonna not allow you to turn completely.
Another question we get asked all the time is,
I want to add spacers to get more offset, can I do that?
In short, the answer is no
because a spacer won't actually add any offset
to your wheels or add negative offset
if you're trying to stick out further.
So, if you have a wheel with a -44 offset,
and you add two inch spacers, the wheel itself
still has that -44 offset,
however, it's sticking out two inches further,
it's just simple math if you want to try to figure out
how much further your wheels are gonna stick out.
Wherever they are now, whatever size spacer you buy,
that's how much further they're going out.
Now, people are asking this question, I think,
because they want that deep dish, that big lift look.
And they'll find wheel, like a 20 by nine,
that somebody says fits
on whatever application they're looking for
and then they want to know, well, can I add spacers
to change the offset.
It's not a multi-piece wheel,
so you're not able to change the offset
once your purchase the wheels.
Adding the two inch spacer will stick the wheel further out
however, you're still gonna have the same size lip
as any other nine wide.
So, you'd be talking maybe an inch and a half
or two inches as compared to a 12 wide, -44,
which is gonna get you closer to
five or five and half inches of lip.
Another common question we get asked all the time
is do I need an alignment after adding spacers?
And if you're talking about wheel spacers,
the answer is no, because you really only need an alignment
anytime you're effecting suspension geometry.
So if you were adding a leveling kit
or a lift kit, which has a strut spacer,
that's gonna effect the suspension geometry.
If you're adding a wheel spacer,
it doesn't change your suspension at all
it just pushes that wheel further out,
so an alignment is not necessary.
This is a good one, so, people ask
if I put a three or four inch spacer
on my truck, will that be hard on my balljoints?
And the answer is yes, however,
it's not anything that's crazy,
you're not gonna be replacing them every weekend.
But just like adding a -76 or a -101 offset wheel
is gonna effect your balljoints negatively.
Adding that big of a spacer is going to also
because it's pushing that wheel, that rotating mass
so much further out, it does put more stress
on your front end components.
So keep that in mind when ordering spacers.
Sometimes we'll get a message asking
how do I know if I'm getting five or six?
The reason why is says five or six
is just for the pricing because it cost the same
to make a six lug as it does to make a five lug
as long as it's the same size and everything like that
as far as you're getting a two inch spacer.
So, the five and six is just for pricing
and then the eight lug is a different price
because it takes more material
to obviously make a larger spacer.
So, each spacer is made to order,
so whatever you put in as far as your vehicle
and your wheel, that's the specific spacer
you're going to get.
Another common question is what is hubcentric
and is it important?
So I'm gonna use this spacer to demonstrate
'cause it's the easiest to see.
A hubcentric spacer is designed
perfectly to match your wheel and your vehicle.
So the inside diameter on this side,
the part that bolts up to your truck
is gonna fit the hub of your truck perfectly
if you have a 72.6 millimeter hub,
this is 72.6 millimeters exactly,
they're machined for your vehicle.
If your wheel has a larger diameter hub bore,
like I said, this was 72.6, so say that's 75,
this piece, the outer diameter of the outside of the spacer
which would bolt to your wheel
is gonna be that 75 millimeters
so that everything sits perfectly flush
and perfectly tight in there
so that you don't have any gaps
and there's not possibility of mounting this,
you know, so it's shifted one way or another,
it's gonna be perfectly centered.
That is what a hubcentric ring does.
So, last on our list is, when do I need spacers?
Now, there's not really any situation
where you absolutely have to have spacers,
they're not required to install lift kits,
they're not really required to install wheels.
But there are certain situations in which
adding a spacer will help.
So, often times, if people are trying to run
their factory wheels, like a factory 20 inch wheel
and they have a lift kit
because that factory wheel has such a high positive offset
and it's so far inside the fender,
if you put a bigger tire on there,
there's a chance that that could rub
on your suspension components
and your upper and lower control arms.
So that's where adding a spacer
to push that wheel out a little bit would help.
Now, not saying you have to go crazy
and add a four inch spacer, sometimes just a 3/8ths spacer
is just enough to push that away.
So it's really easy to measure.
If you take your truck to full crank,
you'll be able to turn it back
and see how far out you need to go,
just take that distance, you can even estimate it
and then you'll want at least that big of a spacer
to push that wheel further out so you're not rubbing
on the inside components.
The other time where spacers become a necessity
is for brake clearance.
So depending on the offset or the style of the wheel,
like the thickness of the spoke sometimes will effect this,
and if you're ordering a 17 or a 16,
and something smaller that's not gonna clear your brakes,
by adding a spacer, you're able to push that further out
and then those spokes are allowed to rotate around
the brake caliper rather than hitting it.
So that about wraps it up for this video.
If you guys have any other questions on spacers
or any other products at all,
we're probably gonna keep these rolling,
so just drop them in the comments below
or shoot us a message
and we'll be happy to answer your questions.
Peace.
(mellow rock music)