IS250 with Spacers Installed
05-01-07, 11:05 PM
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IS250 with Spacers Installed
First time posting pics of my ride here, since the car is mostly stock and wasn't worth posting until now.
I installed the Project Kics 10mm front and 15mm rear wide thread spacers on my IS250 with x-package wheels/tires which now gives the wheels an effective 35mm offset front and rear on the OEM sports suspension.
The wheels are very flush to the fenders but I can still use wider 235/40 and 265/35 tires in the future if desired. I've installed the hub rings to make the spacer hub-centric and i have had not vibrations at any speed thus far (500km) and the car handled great.
Because widening the track will increase wear on bearings (just like having wider wheels with lower offset), the steering is now a little bit more responsive due to a slight increase weight in the feel caused by the increase scrub radius. I'm very happy with the result both in terms of looks and handling wise (wider track). In fact the car appeared to sit lower with the wheels pushed flush to the fenders! Photos always make the car seem taller, but in person the car is a lot lower (since you're looked down at it as the last photo shows)
I installed the Project Kics 10mm front and 15mm rear wide thread spacers on my IS250 with x-package wheels/tires which now gives the wheels an effective 35mm offset front and rear on the OEM sports suspension.
The wheels are very flush to the fenders but I can still use wider 235/40 and 265/35 tires in the future if desired. I've installed the hub rings to make the spacer hub-centric and i have had not vibrations at any speed thus far (500km) and the car handled great.
Because widening the track will increase wear on bearings (just like having wider wheels with lower offset), the steering is now a little bit more responsive due to a slight increase weight in the feel caused by the increase scrub radius. I'm very happy with the result both in terms of looks and handling wise (wider track). In fact the car appeared to sit lower with the wheels pushed flush to the fenders! Photos always make the car seem taller, but in person the car is a lot lower (since you're looked down at it as the last photo shows)
Last edited by neova; 09-17-07 at 09:14 PM.
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05-02-07, 09:45 AM
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no no no...
These are really "Wheel adaptors", which is a spacer with built-in studs. You just need to bolt it onto your OEM hubs like a wheel, and then your wheel bolts onto the studs on the spacer.
The Project Kics wheel adapter comes with built-in studs into the spacer. H&R also has some thing similar but only if you go with 25mm spacer or thicker, anything less than 25mm the H&R will only come with spacer and longer studs which you have to swap out with the OEM's.
So you may think "how will the 10mm spacer be thick enough to cover the OEM studs". Well, it isn't, so part of the OEM stud will protrude above the spacer, meaning that the back of your wheels must have some cavity space in between each lug hole. The OEM lexus wheels all have that cavity, as is most JDM's. Euro wheels usually don't have this cavity design and won't work.
There is no additional stress on the OEM studs, since the spacer is hubcentric so the bulk of the weight sits on the hub core. The weight of the wheel sits on the studs of the spacer.
However, this will cause extra wear on the bearings because the track is extended. Anytime you widen the track of your car, you're moving the supporting components on your suspension away from the center of gravity, thus more stress on the suspension components. But this is the same thing for those of you with after market wheels that is wider and have a lower offset than OEM
Spacers is an alternative if you like your OEM wheels (like me) and don't want to buy aftermarket wheels but would like to have the wheels sit flusher with the fenders without rubbing.
These are really "Wheel adaptors", which is a spacer with built-in studs. You just need to bolt it onto your OEM hubs like a wheel, and then your wheel bolts onto the studs on the spacer.
The Project Kics wheel adapter comes with built-in studs into the spacer. H&R also has some thing similar but only if you go with 25mm spacer or thicker, anything less than 25mm the H&R will only come with spacer and longer studs which you have to swap out with the OEM's.
So you may think "how will the 10mm spacer be thick enough to cover the OEM studs". Well, it isn't, so part of the OEM stud will protrude above the spacer, meaning that the back of your wheels must have some cavity space in between each lug hole. The OEM lexus wheels all have that cavity, as is most JDM's. Euro wheels usually don't have this cavity design and won't work.
There is no additional stress on the OEM studs, since the spacer is hubcentric so the bulk of the weight sits on the hub core. The weight of the wheel sits on the studs of the spacer.
However, this will cause extra wear on the bearings because the track is extended. Anytime you widen the track of your car, you're moving the supporting components on your suspension away from the center of gravity, thus more stress on the suspension components. But this is the same thing for those of you with after market wheels that is wider and have a lower offset than OEM
Spacers is an alternative if you like your OEM wheels (like me) and don't want to buy aftermarket wheels but would like to have the wheels sit flusher with the fenders without rubbing.
Last edited by neova; 05-02-07 at 09:55 AM.
05-02-07, 09:53 AM
#10
Lobuxracer and Javier had a write up on this isuue - pros and cons so to speak.
Last edited by is4fsr; 05-02-07 at 10:06 AM. Reason: typo
05-02-07, 11:53 AM
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If you 're going this route DO NOT GO TO THE TRACK and OBEY THE SPEED LIMIT. You don't want your wheels flying off the road or track coz doing this will put too much pressure on your bearings and LUG STUDS. Your studs might break (literally break/snap in half) and bye bye wheels.
Lobuxracer and Javier had a write up on this isuue - pros and cons so to speak.
Lobuxracer and Javier had a write up on this isuue - pros and cons so to speak.
The wheels/tires are the only parts of the car supporting the vehicle's weight, and it was designed to connect the car at the hub. Pushing that mounting point away from the hub by using spacers will increase the load on the suspension bearings. This is no different than buying an aftermarket wheel with deep dish and a low offset. However, when you use spacers on its own with out getting longer, stronger studs then that's when you increase the load on the stud and create metal fatique which could, like you mentioned, snap off without warning. Also non-hubcentric spacers means the load is on the stud, where as for hub centric spacers part of the load is on the hub core itself, which helps to take some load off the studs as well as cetering the wheel perfectly for better rotation (i.e. no vibration).
Other members on this forum who have spacers are using either the H&R spacer kits or some custom one-off kits.. They're both hub centric but they both don't come with built-in studs and require taking out the OEM studs with longer ones. The Project Kics spacers i'm using comes with built-in studs. Theses studs are the same length and industrial grade (or better) than the OEM version. I mount the spacer onto the OEM studs w/ special lug nuts, while my wheels mount onto the spacer's studs. So I have two sets of standard length spacers mounted and torqued to 75lb-ft to specifications, as compared to having one super long stud that is bearing the bulk of the weight only on its end.
The bottom line is that whenever you mechanically modify your car, you take some safety risk. The important thing to know is that I"m aware of all the potential problems that may arise as a result of this mod. In no way should anyone believe that any of their mods is 100% safe on their car, regardless of what that mechanical mod is.
Cheers,
Last edited by neova; 05-02-07 at 12:10 PM.
05-02-07, 01:31 PM
#15
The bottom line is that whenever you mechanically modify your car, you take some safety risk. The important thing to know is that I"m aware of all the potential problems that may arise as a result of this mod. In no way should anyone believe that any of their mods is 100% safe on their car, regardless of what that mechanical mod is.
Cheers,
Cheers,
I gave it a thought at first but safety always outweighed the looks. So yours came with built in studs. That's different then. Less stress on original studs. PM sent.