I have a set of rims and tires I need installed, so I called a local, big name tire shop and they won't install them because I have spacers. I found a mom and pop guy that'll install, but what do you do when you need them rotated? Just do it yourself? Anyone else run into this before?

 

If they are the type of spacer that bolts to the drum, and then the wheel bolts to the spacer, I would not think you should have a problem. If they are spacers that slide on over the original bolts and then the wheel is bolted on, I hear those are very dangerous and can see why someone would not want to install tires/wheels onto them.

I ran 1.5" spacers on my wheels for a couple of years and Discount Tire had no problem rotating them or even installing new wheels/tires when I upgraded. They were the type that bolts onto the drum and then the wheel bolts on to them.

 

if they are aluminum spacers like spidertrax, you will never want anyone to use a impact wrench on the wheels. this is what most any shop would use. that will cause problems and weaken the spacers. I know this is true cause spidertax has told me personally. that's one of the many reasons I would never run spacers. IMO just save up and get a good set of wheels and get rid of the spacers. spacers are dangerous I don't care how many miles anyone have gotten away with it. that's why no reputable shop will touch em. can you say liability?

 

Sorry but any reputable shop would be using a torque wrench and not an impact wrench to tighten lug nuts to spec.

Plenty of off-road oriented shops do not have an issue with quality spacers that bolt to the hub like Spidertrax. Many thousands of miles have been run with Spidertrax spacers without issue when properly installed. Certainly having properly offset wheels is the best way to go, but the spacers work great in the interim.

 

Agree! Impact wrenches can damage stock wheels and rotors. I know that some shops say they have special limiters to control torque, but do/ can you trust them?

 

A local shop installed mine when they mounted my tires. The dealership rotates mine every 3,500 miles.

 

I have spidertrax, which have a great reputation obviously, so I'm not too worried about anything dangerous happening. I don't like the look of any other wheels except stock 17's. Plus, I'm saving a lot of money by using them. Maybe I'll check discount tire - Firestone is who I called first.

 

Actually now that someone else mentioned it, my dealer didn't have an issue with the Spidertrax spacers either.

 

The shop who mounted my 33s would not align my wheels because of the spacers. They said they did not have the correct data because the spacers differ from the stock calibration settings in their alignment machine. I don't see any difference between a spacer and running a wheel with a different offset.

They did mount and balance the wheels though. No issues their. It was a major chain shop too.

 

I use Spidertrax and Discount Tires worked fine on my wheels. They also have been holding for at least 30k miles on mine.

As for rotating, I rotate myself. I use an electric impact wrench with a 60lbft torkstik and do the final tightening with the torque wrench. I usually inspect the wheels, spacers etc. when rotating and never saw anything wrong.