why do some feel that tire spacers are a bad thing, so many run them?

 

theres nothing wrong with them,

 

I think it is because there were some horror stories about them breaking and wheels coming off and stuff. People use them on race cars sometimes. The way that current manufacturing is with high tollerece and good materials I would trust a spacer from a manufacturer like spidertrax. I wouldn't trust my life on some ebay cheepos.

 

I think past designs of years ago had problems and in some cases were dangerous. The new designs from Spidertrax are very high quality and have no safety problems or negative effects on your Jeep.

 

There is a type of spacer also called a shim that goes over the stock lug bolts, then the weel goes over the stock lug bolts. This puts the torque on the lug bolts further out than it should be which multiplies it and causes them to break easier. Most places do not even sell this type anymore.

 

The "shims" also limit the available threads on the lug bolts. In more "extreme" (stupid) cases, I have seen cases where there were under 1/2" of threads remaining for the lugs... Not good

There is another area of concern with spacers, but for the most part it is very limited. The concern is if the spacers are quite large, and the vehicle is still on stock suspension. The stock setup was designed to work with a set moment being applied by the wheel. Spacers lengthen the moment arm, increasing load on suspension. But again, this is less of a concern then the "shims"

 

The biggest problem is the wear and tear on ball joints. Moving the wheel out via a skinny piece of metal causes added stress at the upper and lower ball joint. Combine that with a large tire diameter and you have the equation for pre-mature wear and tear. But......that didn't stop me from buying a set off of here for only a hundred fifty!!!!

 

what is the difference between a spacer and a wheel with less bsp? it doesn't make any difference when it comes to ball joints. Dagummit hit th enail on the head actual spacers are bad. Adapters which every calls spacers are just fine

 

Thank you....this is the point I was trying to make in reference to leverage and bigger tires. Most lift kits recommend an aftermarket wheel with a MAXIMUM of 4.5" of wheel backspacing. The teraflex and spidertrax spacers are a min of 1.25" which means you will always come out less than 3.5-4".

 

I don't know in California, but here in Quebec, wheel spacer is illegal, but off-set rim is legal. Just another point...