Are wheels spacers such as these (25mm) in the rear too hard on the bearings?

[Healeyalt]

I bought a pair of these to get the wider stance look in the back and they fit well but I'm wondering if they are going to wear out my rear bearing sooner than usual.

TCS Wheel Spacer-25mm BS / 4X114.3 / 12X1.25 / 71.6mm Bore

I can see where wheel spacers would be harder on the front bearings with all the turning forces, etc, but I'm not sure about the backs. Has anyone else had experience these, good or bad? I see some really wide tires on some Zs, so some people must use wheels spacers. Thanks. Gary

[Healeyalt]

I forgot to mention this is on my 76 280z 2+2 with otherwise stock wheels (195r70/14) and that 25mm = about 1 inch.

[cbuczesk]

It will cause them to wear faster but I'm not sure that it's going to wear them much faster. We use 10-15mm spacers on our race cars and we don't have any bearing issues.

Chuck

[Healeyalt]

Hi Chuck, that's good to know. Even though these would be around 1/2" wider (thicker), compared to the stressors you guys put on your race cars with no bearing problems, I'm thinking mine is pampered and should hold up fine.

Gary

[Dave Patten]

Gary,

Adverse wear on bearings is not a direct result of using spacers, but more a result of the effective wheel offset the spacers create.

As an example, a +0 offset is considered by most to be the correct fit for a 7" wide wheel on a Z car. If you have 15x7 +0 wheels and add a 25mm spacers you end up with an effective wheel offset of -25. This will add more load to the wheel bearings.

Now if you have a 15x7 +25 offset wheel and add a 25mm you end up with what is effectively a +0 wheel offset, which is considered "perfect" by most for a Zcar.

So to say spacers alone create excess bearing wear is kind of a misleading. What does create bearing wear is when spacers change wheel offset and add to the car's track width (and the jury is still out on exactly how much added track width will cause excess wear).

Edited July 31, 2014 by Dave Patten

[Healeyalt]

Hi Dave, thanks for explaiing that. I know I've added some "track width", but I think the car does look nice that way, especially from behind. Since it looks like replacing the rear bearings is somewhat involved, I guess I'll have to think some more about this. I'm not at home right now so I can't check on the wheel offset, but if it is a 0 offset, obviously I've added +25mm (1 inch). The sidewall of the tires almost comes out flush to the edge of the fender lip. Gary