Well I decided that it is time to do the fated LS400 caliper upgrade.

The problem is I neither want or can afford new wheels at the moment, so spacers it will be.
I have about 2.5in of clearance from the rotor to the wheel spoke.

I have decided to go with H&R spacers (by the way are d@mn near impossible to find for our car.) The question I have is the 15mm spacer will give me the needed 2.75in of clearance. But will be EXTREMLY close.

So should I go with 15mm or 20mm to be safe?

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.

Thanks,

Rob

 

Like they say...better safe than sorry...I would wait till you find a set of wheels...then you wouldn't have to put money into spacers...

What did those H&R's run you? Probably $200+ for front & rear right? Might as well put that into your wheel funds...

Tony

 

spacers suck, at least your using the good name brand ones.. dont use the cheapos like i used to.

 

Yeah spacers suck, but being unable to stop the car sucks more.

The front rotors are horribly warped, so if I'm going to be buying new rotors I may as well do the whole thing. The new wheels will be coming in the future so the spacers are a temporary solution.

So 15 or 20mm?

 

It seems to me that your numbers are off; 1/4" is only 6mm, and you're debating between 15/20mm spacers.(?)
Seems more that a 10mm spacer would do the job, perhaps.
I would make a wooden spacer first and get your number right, then go and try to find spacers.
And do not drive with wooden spacers

 

You are right, my math was off. But it will still have to be the 15mm because H&R doesn't make a 10mm spacer for this car. And I refuse to go with some cheap no name ebay spacer.

So I guess 15mm it is.

 

correct, i am in the same position and just bought them used for 85

 

why do spacers suck (including the good quality ones)?

 

I had an issue before in the past where my studs weren't long enough... 3 cars ago...

This time I got longer dorman studs for this LS project.

 

so because you had studs that weren't long enough, spacers suck? There seems to be this consensus that spacers are bad and should be avoided if possible. Can someone please explain why?

 

what is so hard to understand.. you are un-naturally changing your wheel offset, putting more stress on the studs..

When you add spacers you go from X turns of the bolt to Y.. sometimes causing dangerous conditions..

There isn't a whole lot wrong with spacers, but the use of them should be avoided...

I'm only adding spacers so I don't need to change wheels, cuz I don't have another $1000 to buy wheels and tires and add new LS brakes.

Basically you add a crapload more stress to the stud... and you loose a few turns to lock the wheels down..

I've destroyed a few studs and had a wheel fall off from using 5mm spacers..

 

spacers seem to work fine on drift cars. i've seen many with them..as long as you get longer studs the wheel will stay on...as for turning, you can either cut another notch in the steering rack on each side or buy a part that gives you more steering angle.

 

There're 3 types of spacers. First type: with many holes on it and it doesn' sit on the center hub. This is cheap, costs around $10/each, bad and dangerous for driving. Second type: machined specificially for the car, fits right through 5 lug holes, and has a center bore that sits right on the stock center hub. This is expensive, costs around $50-$60/each, very good and safe for driving. However, the draw back is that the stock wheel studs aren't long enough. The safe way is to have longer studs installed with at least 7 turns to tighten the wheel. Third type: similar to second type but with the thickness of more than 1". However, this type has the studs installed on it so there's no need for stud replacement. This type is expensive & safe to drive.

I'm using the second type on 4 corners with no problems. However, it costs around $400. The reason I did this is to save weight on the rims.

 

It is easy to get H&R 15mm spacers for 2 just over 140,
It comes with new studs and should be all i need to add enough backspacing to clear my 4 pot calipers.
The easiest way to know for sure is to test fit the rims with washers, put about 3 on 3 studs and see if it clears and add until it does then measure the size.Once it just clears add 3mm to safety of the rims bending.
I need 7mm to clear mine then another 3 would make it 10mm but h&r does not make a spacer with 10mm .
So i have to get the 15mm ones with a center bore of 60.1mm(used by many toyotas) and 12x 1.5 (toyotas thread pitch on the studs) hope this helps you.

 

spacers are prefectly safe if bought proper adapters. The majority of the D1/Formula D cars use them. Just don't run wrong spacers or washers!!!!!! Use adapters....