Wheel Spacers

SG- Hill Engineering spacers, available through our sponsor Ricambi, are perfectly safe to use and I have a set on the rear of my 575M. Hill makes two types of spacers, a Type 1, up to 25mm, with just holes that requires longer wheel bolts, and a Type 2, minimum of 25mm, in which the spacers bolt to the hub with five separate bolts, and the wheel bolts thread into hardened steel inserts in the spacer.

I bought a used set of H&R spacers, but they cross-threaded badly because the wheel bolts threaded into bare aluminum. I much prefer the HE spacers with the hardened inserts and feel they are much higher quality.

Here are images of the 15mm Type 1 spacers with their longer bolts and of 25mm Type 2 spacers.

Taz
Terry Phillips
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These Hill Engineerng spacers have a lip or ring that centers the wheel on the spacer. The spacers also have a corresponding recess on the inside to center the spacer on the hub.

These centering rings are important to ensure a strong central mounting.

I have the Hill engineering 20 mm spacers.

Getting the type one spacers to stay in place while you try to align the wheen and hang it off of the skinny lip to install the wheel bolts is even more awkward than my verbal descriptions, so, i had the machinist enlarge, (partially counterbore) two of the mounting holes so that i could use allen bolts with washers to secure the spacer to the hub.

This simple modification realy makes using spacers a lot easier.

It looks like the type two spacers will stay on ok

hth,
chris
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Chris- What you need is HE's wheel hanger. It temporarily replaces one of the wheel bolts and gives you something to guide everything into place. Once a couple of wheel bolts are on, it is removed and replaced with a wheel bolt. My techs swear by them. Had Novitec NF2s fitted yesterday, and it would have been a two or three man job mounting the rear 12.5" wheels without the wheel hangers. Cheap, too.

I also bought them a chrome saver socket for the wheel bolts. Good tools make jobs so much easier.

Taz
Terry Phillips
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Bought a wheel hanger from Ricambi that works well. It's aluminum so shouldn't wear or damage wheel holes.

 

Terry is absolutely correct. The wheel hanger and saver socket are well worth the investment, especially with aftermarket wheels like the NF2's. The wheel hanger is available with a knurled end or plain end. The photo shows the knurled one, I opted for the plain one as I felt it would be kinder to the inside of the wheel bolt hole.

 

I made different experience with spacers. I prever spacers with just holes in it and use longer bolts, never got problems with such a simple system. Some time ago i got spacers with metal threads insearted they break out of the aloy spacer and the wheel fell off. Got a new set of those and after a check they also startet to break so i throw them away.

 

I have them front and rear on my car. The rears are scary large - I want to say 50 mm. The look well engineered and have the centering lip. No issues so far:
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Everyone has an opinion I guess, my opinion is that I'd stay away from spacers, particularly where it changes the offset very much. Why? Well, changing the offset increases the loads on the wheel bearings and changes the suspension geometry. A smallish 10mm spacer isn't going to affect things that much, but a 50mm spacer sure will. Just my $0.02.

 

Cliff- I disagree. Porsche offers spacers as a factory accessory for the Boxster and Cayman on all but the one, widest wheel. Does not bother them. Suspension geometry is unaffected because everything stays parallel to where it was initially.

Taz
Terry Phillips

 

I and others have used spacers on racecars without any problems but it does change suspension geometry especially on the front, it changes the Ackerman and small changes on other things as well.

 

I think it depends on the reason for the spacer. If you are mounting aftermarket wheels and need to correct an offset issue then the spacers will make the loads seen by the bearing and suspension exactly the same. If you are using spacers to change the track of the car then I agree, you are potentially doing strange things to the suspension geometry and stressing the bearings.

 

I am running 11mm Hill spacers on the front of my 355 to clear the F50 brakes. They fit great, nice finish and craftsmanship. I have noticed no negative effects from the spacers. Contact Ricambi.

 

Ageed, if the spacers are needed because the new rims have a different offset and the spacer brings the centerline of the tire back to the original location than there is not affect on suspension geometry.

The issue is not so much loading of the bearings as much as changing wheel rates and steering angles. The bearings and axles should be plenty strong enough. I'm just talking about handling characteristics. Either way small spacers should not make a big difference and I wouldn't worry too much about it on a street car.

 

SG- The Novitec California has 21" F, 22" R wheels with offsets set up for the car. Those are the best looking wheels I have seen on the 430, 599, and California. Only the California has the really big wheels.

On my 575M, I put HE 25mm spacers on the rear to go with the Novitec NF2 wheels. They evened out the offsets. They worked fine with OEM wheels, too.

Some images of the NF3s on a California.

Taz
Terry Phillips
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Wheel spacers seem to me a crime against nature.

Additional unsprung weight and all the issues noted above, just to fit wheels other than what the designer and God intended, make me recoil against spacers.

I know Porsche fits them, but Porsche history - the triumph of engineering over (sometimes poor) design - seems peppered with retrofits to fix bodges in design. Remember the lead weights in the front bumpers of the early 911s to corrrect the problems of that wrongly-placed engine? Imagine that, lead weights in a sports car. So Porsche seems to me not a very credible model for neat and elegant engineering solutions.

I'm basically a Lotus guy, so lightness and precision appeal to me, and wheel spacers just don't fit in that philosophy.

No offence meant and with due respect to all other opinions, just expressing my (probably obsolete) view.

Andy

 

With all of the spacers pictured here that bolt on and then have their own studs or take their own bolts (not the bolt-through type) I'm surprised there aren't any mentioned that change the hub size and/or bolt pattern. Really with these you could have any bolt pattern you want, why would you keep the unusual Ferrari pattern? The beauty of these would be to have a Chevrolet/Ford/Lexus/etc. pattern and open up the whole world of relatively inexpensive aftermarket wheels.

 

Brian- I actually contacted Hill Engineering to see if they were planning on doing adapters for fitting the 5x114mm hub bolt pattern wheels from the 612/599/California/458 to the 5x108mm earlier Ferraris. The adapters need to be at least 25mm thick, or there is not enough thread in the adapter for the wheel bolts to bite and correctly torque. No response so far.

Looking at firms making adapters, most are for hubs with studs, so will not work. The rest are not for Ferrari applications and involve screwing the wheel bolts into threaded aluminum. Not a good idea in my opinion. I like HE's hardened helicoil thread inserts better. The used H&R 25mm spacers I bought were so badly cross-threaded, along with thread pull-out, that my techs and I decide not to not use them. Will look next time before buying, but the seller was a good friend and had no clue.

Taz
Terry Phillips

 

SG, also keep in mind that most of the tuners are increasing the spring rates in these tuned models, meaning, there's less wheel travel so that getting the tire a little closer to the wheel opening at rest is acceptable (because the wheel won't travel as high as stock on compression). I wouldn't try to get that close to the wheel opening (either with lowering or with increased offset) with stock spring rates.

 

Are there definitive opinions on spacers? Anyone here an expert on this?

Wider stance offset by lower springs?
Only good to recenter a larger wheel never to widen a stock wheel?
No problem in the rears to add over 20mm or best to keep it under 15?
Never a good idea in the front, or same rules as the back?

Etc.

 

I do not consider myself an expert on wheel spacers but I've used them on both the front and rear of my own track cars, as well as on customers' track cars, for over two decades with no problems. While there are obviously limits to what is practical and safe, there's nothing inherently wrong with increasing track width while maintaining the stock wheels or using spacers to adjust the offset of aftermarket wheels.

But it is important to realize that increasing track width typically results in increased grip on that end of the car, so in most cases you don't want to add spacers to the front only. Adding spacers often increases certain loads on the wheel bearings and other suspension components, so there are limits to what should be considered safe, but generally speaking practicality is the limiting factor anyway.

If you stay with a reputable and experienced supplier like Hill Engineering it's doubtful that you will have any problems at all. But I would echo the previously posted warnings about spacers which have the original lug bolts threading into the spacers themselves instead of using longer lug bolts. There are several reasons to avoid those types of spacers but the main ones are that it doubles the number of potential failure points and it has the wheels being secured to aluminum instead of steel. I consider these types of spacers to be totally unacceptable on track cars and IIRC sanctioning bodies even prohibit them, so I would suggest using *only* spacers where the wheel bolts themselves are longer and thread into the original holes.

Contact Hill and tell them what you're wanting to accomplish. They should be able to point you in the right direction. You can always confirm their recommendation with other owners before buying. Just stay away from any spacers where the wheel bolts directly to the spacer itself.

HTH.

 

Mike- The Hill Engineering Type 2 spacers that bolt to the hub have hardened steel inserts for the wheel bolts, so that should not be an issue. I agree about the spacers that just thread into the aluminum spacer, like H&R. On the Type 1 inserts with longer bolts, I would worry more about the longer bolts.

 

I agree with you guys and would add some thoughts to Brian's questions:

* Wider stance offset by lower springs?

It really depends but in general most Ferraris have tracks that make the tires sit a little inboard to their bodywork. I'm not sure of the exact reason but I've always thought of it as more of an Italian car thing vs. German car as those often have relatively wider tracks where the tire edges are closer to flush with the body work. On the stock height, there is enough distance between the tire tread and the bodywork so most people won't really notice the slightly inboard tires. However, if you lower the car, then it becomes more apparent. Thus, the spacers can help offset this look.

Among other things to be aware of, if you widen the track, you also make it easier for the tires to fling debris at the body of your car.

* Only good to recenter a larger wheel never to widen a stock wheel?

Not exactly sure what you mean here.

*No problem in the rears to add over 20mm or best to keep it under 15?

* Never a good idea in the front, or same rules as the back?

I think the answer depends on the specifics. In general, I have had experience with Novitec spacers. I would also trust the Hill Engineering ones that are mentioned above. My opinion is to stay with he same size spacer all around. My logic is that Id be making the change consistent.

What I've found is adding spacers helps the looks, as mentioned above, but also tends to make the cars feel more stable (wider track, seems to make sense) and I think in theory should make the car a drop less willing to turn, but I don't really feel that. Strangely, I found that adding spacers also makes the cars feel a little more solidly built. I can't explain it.

I think for most of us with Ferraris, the spacers are really due an aesthetics issue which we wish to address.

One other thing, its really important to go with a reputable company because the testing of those bolts and the spacer itself is critical. It comes down to how you distribute the stress as well as the metallurgic properties of the spacer- you don't want them expanding and contracting at different rates from the stock components.