jhuzzee

Nice car and rims. BUT I think mine is a little bit more fancy than yours. Their size 18 dish type Milano premium wheels. I think they retail for $750 a piece x 4 = 3K, plus the tires that I Have are fairly new 250 each x 4 = 1k.

I bought these rims at a steep discount from a private party. They came off of LS400. But it requires spacers on the front and not on the rear. Since 5 mil is not enough, I have to get 15 mil, cuz there's nothing in between.

I'm just not sure how it's going to look like if I put 15 millimeter hub-centric spacers on all 4 wheels. They'll probably come out about 3/4 of an inch from the fender well. I dont know. But like I said somebody suggested 15 on front and 25 on rear. any opinion about this? or are they all supposed to be uniformed at 15?

Wheel Kinetics

I'm still trying to figure out why you need spacers... I obviously came into this thread late.

jhuzzee

I have to put spacers on the front otherwise the spoke or rims will hit the brake calipers. Front calipers are bigger than rears.

Wheel Kinetics

Ok... What you'll want to do is measure from the hub mounting surface to the outside edge of the caliper. (Known as caliper protrusion). From there, measure the distance between the wheel's mounting service and the spoke. (You may need some kind of straight edge to do this) The difference +.25 inches is how much of a spacer you need. You do not need to run spacers in the rear.

This may sound counter intuitive, but believe it or not, if the wheel is hitting the caliper's top corner ever so slightly, a better alternative may be to file the caliper down and use Fola-Tec caliper paint. You'll have great looking calipers, no spacers, and a wheel that fits correctly.

mayandoom

Fact is ,is that Porsche has run spacers on their racing and production cars for many many years without any issues.

LARGER WHEELS WILL STRESS THE COMPONENTS AS MUCH AS BOLT ON SPACERS WILL!!!!!!!

2 kinds of spacers
SLIP ON
Those cheap little 5-10mm spacers that slip over the existing studs will fit nicely and still give you enough thread on the original thread to safely put on the wheels, but I do not recommend those spacers due the reduced threads available. 5mm would be very safe none the less.
BOLT ON
Bolt on spacers BOLT ON using existing studs and come with another set of studs to safely mount your wheel. It is extremely safe and is used by racers and autocrossers all over the world. It is just as safe as running larger wheels. Porsche has used spacers for many years without issue. We are talking about 90 to 200 THOUSAND dollar racing cars such as GT1,GT2,and GT3 class cars using spacers. Heck many of the Porsches used spacers were only push on types utilizing studs over 6 INCHES LONG!!! which is crazy in my book. Not even bolt on types. Plus the fact that the SC/GS wheel bearings are over 20% larger than a 911 turbos wheel bearings. If any of you have seen a Lexus wheel bearing in person, you would be impressed. They utilize one piece sealed bearings that measure around 5" in diameter unlike other cars that use the inner/outer size 2,6 bearings that meaure around 1.5-3 inches.

I run spacers on my GS, 25mm in the rear and 15mm up front. I run 265/40/17 in the rear and 235/45/17 up front with Supra brakes. No rubbing. Works and looks perfect. Many compliments from other Lexus and BMW owners and the stock Lexus chrome 17's look/are better than many of the wheels out there.

I have used spacer on the track for many years along side many of the other club members with never an incident.

I can post pics if any one is interested.

Rockero28

iTrader: (8)

Yeah dude... we want to see pics.. I am trying to get my hands on a couple of them for my Lexus

Rock

mayandoom

I will post some pics as soon as my new Sony digi camera gets here next week.
Some links for those interested,

http://www.hrsprings.com/site/applic...cersindex.html

Best price I found for H&R spacers,
http://www.optauto.com/webstore/prod...ber=1&last=421
make sure you get
5x114.3/ center bore 60.1mm

LexDriver18

Now that's some good info... It's really nice to hear that spacers are safe and that they aren't going to make anything less stable or strong...

In the near future (still saving up) I'll be getting 18's. However the only size they offer in the style I want is 18 x 8.5. So it will be nice to throw on some spacers in the back to help with that gap!!

From the information I've gathered I think 25mm spacers in back will work perfect. I won't need any for the front with an 8.5" wheel.

I'm really excited to see what this looks like... Pics would be great.

Thanks SO MUCH for the info... A sigh of relief...

jhuzzee

As the starter of this thread. I feel so much better now,
hearing different opinions about spacer.

I was concerned that 25mm will not fit on my rear wheels-
size 18 Milano, but they did. I put them on yesterday, and
voila they fit perfectly and look great.

I'm still waiting on my 15mm spacer from HR to put on the
front. Unfortunately, the front requires spacers otherwise,
it will hit the caliper. I've talked to somebody at HR regarding
the extra burden on wheel bearings, the guy said it's a concern
for smaller cars, but for a LEXUS is no problem. Plus they are
safe, as mentioned by previous poster that these spacers
are also used on Porsche's, Mercedes, and BMWs.

Anyway, thanks for all your replies.

Peace,
Jhuzz

GlobeCLK

iTrader: (5)

so in the end.......... are spacers ok to use or no? Some says it's going to cause extra wear to bearings, etc. (that's what I thought), and others said that it's okay to use them because racecars and high-end cars like Porsche uses them so they're okay.

And some says H&R ones are okay because they replace studs rather than just have a pad to thicken it. My 245 tires in the rear still look too far inside the fenders, due to the offset problem. So I'm thinking about 25mm spacers for the rear.

TMitchell

I just installed a set of 25mm H&R on the rear with the stock chrome 17" wheels and the stock 235/45s. Looks great and an easy installation. I have 9,000 miles on the tires so I did a 5 tire rotation. I am currently getting perfect wear on my tires. I do not see the uneven inside wear on the front tires that some of the people are complaining about. The tires had started making noise about a 1,000 miles ago, that I can hear at slower speeds. I was hoping that rotating them would quiet them down for awhile. I got the spacers at auto options for $120 plus shipping. It is hard to believe that RMM is charging $178 for the same product.

Rockero28

iTrader: (8)

Excellent bro. I appreciate you taking the time to give me your feedback. I ordered mine from from OFW here and they were only 116.00 for the 25mm. You don't happen to have any pics do you???? I should be getting mine by Saturday so I will have pics posted by next week. Although I have the is300 17's, the tires are the same. Do you think there will be much diference in mine over yours?? You are using the gs17's right??? Mine are 17x7.5 and yours are 17x8 if you have the gs wheels. Anyway, thanks again and if you have the pics... i would really appreciate it.

Thanks,
Rock

Rockero28

iTrader: (8)

I would just keep in mind that everyone has a taste. Hence some like the huge chrome dubbs, and like the tuner look. Still others like me, believe this car al;ready looks good coming off the assembly line and a few minor mods and changes will enhance it while still maintaining the Lexus look. Hence I am using the is 300 17's on my gs. Since I don't like the chrome, they have polished edges which makes them shine..... Anyway, I think spacers are a good choice if they fit your scheme. I used to use them a while ago on a truck. They were not the H&R quality, but I never had a problem with them. I used them for a couple of years and never had any uneven wear on my tires. Just remember to do the rotation and you should be fine. I will post pics as soon as I install them on my car......

Rock

2SAVVY

This first link below shows how the 25mm H&R Spacer looks like mounted on the GS.. Options Auto is where I got these as well.. Only took 1 week from the time I ordered..

https://www.clublexus.com/cgi-bin/ph...=4282&size=big

Second link shows the side view on the GS how the spacer gives the right look to the stock 17" wheels.. No issues with drivability at all.. Very solid piece but for $120 USD you should expect that.. Now if I can only convince a certain someone to let me go ahead and lower the GS I might be happy..

https://www.clublexus.com/cgi-bin/ph...=4283&size=big

Rockero28

iTrader: (8)

Now that is what I call detail....... Nice pic. Got any that show how it loos from the front or side??

Thanx,
Rock