Rear wheel spacers for 308?

Just out of curiosity.......What are you doing? Are you adapting certain wheels to your car?

 

Why wouldn't you put them on the front too?

 

Good question because there is no other reason for fitting spacers. Moving the centerline of the wheels off-axis from the bearings will cause bearing wear or failure and also upset the handling of the car.

 

Even in raceconditions never had any failure on bearings (alfa but same extra load) effect of wheels with other offset is the same on the bearings. Consider that with only at the rear the car will get some more understeer, but maybe that is what you want?

 

I've had 5/8" spacers on the rear of my 308QV for over a decade, both before and after doing brake and suspension upgrades. I was tracking the car regularly when it was otherwise stock, and putting the spacers on the rear definitely made an improvement in high-g turns before the rear end would come loose as well as an improved appearance in filling the wheel well. Here are photos of that taken before I did other suspension changes that have lowered the car since then (but I still have those same spacers on).

The side-by-side picture is a before-and-after.
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Oh, and make sure that any spacers that you get are hub-centric. You can see that mine from H&R are indeed cast hub-centric. I got the longer wheel bolts from H&R also, but did have to grind them slightly shorter than the length they had for purchase to make them "just right".

 

Beautiful Car....Year and Model....Beautiful

 

One more note... I went and looked back and checked... I said 5/8" but that's nominal... they were actually 15mm each wheel spacer.

 

Actually despite my earlier comment I think 15mm would mean the center of the wheel is still located between the inner and outer bearing race on the rear so thats fine.

 

What about the front. I'm looking for the same upgrade and really like the rear pictures. Did you do the front?

 

I didn't put spacers on the front. I run "upsized" tires on stock wheels (225/50 on the front, and 245/45 on the rear), and the fronts are perfect with the slightly wider tires and would extend too far if I put spacers on them. I run spacers on the rear only.

 

fantastic idea. I don't like the smaller 205/55/16s on the front anyway. Thats the next step. thanks for the update.

 

I used Hill Engineering hubcentric 13mm in the back and 11mm in the front for years. They work really well. You have the get the longer bolts but it really makes the stock wheels look great.

 

Hi Mike and Guys.

Mike mentioned it just in passing, but I think it is worth repeating, "hub centric", means that the spacer has been counter bored to fit over the factory lip on the hub, AND that they have a corresponding lip on the spacer to center the wheel. This lip is very important to center the wheel and to take the shear load at the plane of atachment of the wheel. There are some fearsome loads, in shear, when you hit bumps.

Secondly, spacers necessitate longer wheel bolts to properly attach the wheel. And don't forget that the 308 uses longer bolts at the front because of the thicker front rotor flange.

It is imprtant to consider the wheel vertical movement as well as the turning, (at the front) and that this combination of travel/movement may cause the tire to hit the fender. This is particularly important to factor in if you have either lowered the car or fit larger tires/wheels.

You can counter some of this interference by fitting stiffer springs and/or bigger antiroll bars, (which help limit wheel movement, e.g. driveway entry ona diagonal).

Hope this is of help,
chris

 

Looking forward to pics.

 

When i ws doing the 360 wheel upgrade, I spoke with Daniel at Riicambi. He has Hill engineering's line of spacers and stronger, tripple chromed bolts in different lengths. He is quite knowledgeable and the parts are first rate.

I recommend that you fit a wheel spacer, wheel and FINGER TIGHTEN the wheel bolts, then check forfree rotation. If, by some chance, yu were shipped the wrong bolts, or used the front bolts on the back, it is possible to break or seriously damage either the rear upright or the front spindle by cranking on a "too long" bolt.

Similarly, check the lentgh of thread engagement. You must have at least a bolt diameter length of threads gripping the flange.

I rapidly got tired of having the spacer fall orr or rotate out of alignment while trying to balance the wheel and install the first couple of wheel bolts. Sometimes the spacer would stay on the wheel or hub other times it would falll off.

First photo is of the spacer on the stock front disc .

Second shot is of the spcer secured to the front hub with a couple of allen bolts and washers. I had the machinist counter bore two of the holes, so that the washer was able to seat on the counterbore and secure the spacer and disc to the front hub.

Third shot shows the bolts and the spacer prettied up with some matt black paint.

Now, the spacer stays on while i am tinkering with the brakes or tires.

hth,
chris
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login
Image Unavailable, Please Login

 

Looks great. I've used spacers for years now on my BMW and want to on the 308. To my eye the front could use 10 mm ones as well.