Spacer vs. performance

Is there any down side to adding spacers to wheels? I am considering them both for looks and handling.

 

It increases wheel bearing loads because the moment arm becomes longer. How much this affects life is unknown to me.

 

In addition, the car may need to have a new alignment once spacers are added because of the longer reaction arm. I saw this with mine.

 

I not a mechanic, but I think adding 25 mm spacers on the rear greatly enhances handling. The '93 SS 348's had 25 mm offset on the wheels without suspension mods.

I don't think 25 mm (1 in) will increase loads dramatically to point of damaging suspension components.

Do a search on this. I know others have put spacers on. I have not heard anything negative.

 

I haven't come across comments on how the cars perform afterwards which is why I was asking.

 

I run a pretty agressive car setup which is getting more agressive this year and I can tell a difference big time with the spacers. Without the spacers in the back I have to pay a lot more attention to when I can get on the gas coming out of a turn. With the spacers I can just mash.

 

Never used spacers, but i have heard some race leagues do not allow them. You may want to ask some of the race guys. Of course if you are just casually driving the car i doubt you put much stress on the bolts, but i would be cautious.

 

I've seen a lot of comments, but no actual facts. It's been my experience that when a person spends money, they will perceive an improvement. It was also my experience from my motorcycle roadrace days that a bone stock supersport class bike would usually beat all the bike in the class that were modified to the limit of the class rules and beat most of the bike in the supersbike and GP classes. If you want to know if they help, you’ll want to see lap times or skid pad numbers….I’ve never seen any such thing posted so I’d have to assume they do nothing more than make the tires look wider, which is a good look.

 

There are two types of spacers:

ones that use longer wheel bolts and ones that bolt to hub and then the wheel bolts to spacer....I would not recomend ones that use longer wheel bolts especially on the front. Just my opinion.

Paul

 

I'm with John. On the track, my car seems far more stable. At speed, it seems to "sit down" far more than without the spacers. For reference, I'm referring to a 1990 348ts.

 

Apart from looking good, I would consider Ferrari's own engineering improvements with the late 348's to be some type of evidence that they also felt rear track on the early cars was too narrow.

 

Maybe....or it could mean the guys at ferrari were also a fans of the wider look. Low and wide or the appearance there of has pretty much been the standard to sell a special model for 50 years now.

No, measured results are the only way to know for sure, stopwatches are pretty impartial. If it’s supposed to hook up better with the spacers, get 1/4 times or even just 60 foot times. If it’s supposed to corner better, get a skid pad number with and without the spacers. Or even just use a G-tech.

It’s so easy to be fooled by perception. The best example I know of are the 19” wheels that are all the rage with kids these days. I’ve seen 2 articles that say they hurt the average car. In the first case they dyno’d a car before and after the mods (wheels, brakes, exhaust) and the car lost hp. It turned out that the engine was making more hp with the muffler and whatever else, but the dyno was an acceleration dyno and the accelerating the bigger heavier wheels was eating all the new hp and then some. The second case was a ¼ that was faster with the OEM 14” wheel and junk tires than with sticky 19” wheel/tire set-up. With any mod, you just never know until you put a stopwatch to it.

 

Actually on '94 tb and ts Ferrari went back to narrower track. The thought that the solid suspension bushings more that made up for wider track.

Spyders I think also had the narrower track.

 

I can speak to back to back sessions and the differences in my car is a little over a second a lap at Mid American Motorsports Park (http://www.trackpedia.com/wiki/Mid_America_Motorplex). This is 15mm spacers in the back versus not...granted slight increase in temp as the first run was at 9am and the second was at 11am.

I also have heard some people complain about spacers not being allowed on the track or "dangerous" which I think is complete BS. Its no different than running with a larger wheel offset.

I have heard a bunch of rumors but never found any occurance of spacers doing anything.

 

I added rear spacers about a year ago. Got them from koenig in Germany. They have been making better ferrari parts for decades. They were about $500 and came with bolts to mount the spacers onto the hub (I did rear only-25 mm). I had to machine some clearance for the original bolts because the larger shoulder diameter stuck through the wheel and into the spacer. The treaded spacer had to be counter bored to allow for the sholder of the stock bolt. I got an email from a guy that raced/tracked/experimented extensively and he found the handling improved with the spacers. I found the car looked ALOT better with the rear spacers.
YMMV. Good luck!

Jeff Pintler
89 348tb, 86tr

 

John Stecher

What were the spacer measurements you used? Can't tell if you did front and rears.

 

I have ran multiple combos.

First I ran nothing in front and 15mm's in the back which gave me much better handling in the rear.

Then when I changed calipers and brakes in the front I was forced to run 11mm in front and 15mms in the back which was ok but got the car back to the skiddish backend.

Now I am currently running 11mm front and 25mm rear spacers.

 

I have 15mm front (type 1 longer bolts), and 25 mm rear (type 2 hub bolted to spacer, standard wheel bolts). The longer bolts up front make me a little nervous, but the rear spacers bolt tension can only be checked by removing the wheel. I read on a thread started by Henkie that he did all sorts of combinations and found the car 'felt best' with 25 mm rear and no spacers up front. I am considering removing my front spacers.
BT

 

The thread by Henkie is here:
http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=81305
BT