1st Gen JCW Most liked posts in thread: Wheel spacers.

You stated you ordered wheels so my guess is some type of aftermarket wheel. What is the size of the wheel (dia, width, offset) and the size of the tire you plan to use? Is your car lowered? How much spacer you use depends on your wheel-tire setup so that you do not add to much spacer to cause rubbing.
I use 15mm spacers all around with studs. My wheels are 18x7 with 52mm offset and 215/40-18 tires.

 

Wish TMS would offer something thicker for the R56... I have a set of 12mm's coming from outmotoring. There's folks saying that spacers are unsafe, but I'll take a chance with some 12's. I assume they're talking about super thick spacers and those with studs attached.

 

Doing a quick measure 25MM look right, ..............
https://www.ecstuning.com/News/MINI_R50_R52_R53_25mm_30mm_Wheel_Spacers_2002_2003_2004_2005_2006_2007/
various brands on ebay are well under 100 US

 

so much for the turnermotorsports link

Turner's web site not happy today... I do need new studs to do the spacer thing - the ones I have are 75mm I think and work with really skinny spacers at best.

My wheels are generally looking ok due to different back spacing, so I am worried that 12 or 15mm would go too far.

Initially before reading this thread, I thought 4mm front and 8mm in back would bring things out to where I want the wheels to be, but now I read many are using the fat 12mm front and back. Maybe that is on different wheels or with less lowering? I don't want to resort to crazy ass stance camber to clear my fenders or cut away half of the plastic (but not opposed to the dremel doing some clearance enhancement)

Here is what my wheels look like without spacers:





The car will be lower than on those photos, but not my much. 12mm will work with that?

 

12mm all around with longer bolts was the way to go for me. Outmotoring.com

If lowered you'll be fine, but can't run 215's. 205 is the widest you can go on stock wheels with these spacers.

 

well, I have 205 tires on the car, and the rims are stock width, but they certainly don't have the stock backspacing. My red Mini on stock 17" rims has them tucked in much deeper than with the aftermarket rims on this car.

I think when I get the car back off the jackstands, I'll do some mock mounts with some home made shims to simulate actual spacers. That way I can tell at least if things work visually. Rubbing I guess cannot be tested until the car is on proper spacers.

 

I have factory R112's on factory springs 12mm spacers and I never rub with 215's, even though I'm on stock springs I've still managed to get the wheels to tuck in pretty far on the Dragon so I know they'll never rub. The only time my car did rub was when I had some junk black Sparco's on but even then it wasn't that bad. The lowered aspect I'm not sure, that's why I said stay with 205's. You should be fine if you're running stock wheels.

 

Not sure if our cars can be compared. Mine is an R53, lowered about 1.5" and my rims aren't stock. Basically, different car and nothing is stock.

I found this video from ECS - going to have a look what I come up with when using this measuring method

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LeFZsyGRrs"]ECS Tuning: How To Measure For ECS Tuning Wheel Spacers - YouTube[/ame]

 

I bought 12mm spacers front and back - still haven't put the subframe back on the car, so can't tell what I have there, but I figure if they are too much for that car, I have two others with stock suspension and stock 17" wheels that will easily work with that setup. will post some images when I get it all back together.

 

so these 12mm spacers were a bit optimistic

raising the car from what you see here about 1/2" and going to 5mm spacers. The rear could almost handle the 12mm, but the front is just far too close for comfort. the Swift springs on the BC coilovers just aren't THAT stiff...

 

Swift springs are only as stiff as what you ordered. Mine are stiff and they do not sag.

Did you get your BC / Swift combo from Colin a.k.a. Greene Performance?

 

We all know you only buy the best stuff. All our cars should be carbon copies of yours.

Colin's recommended springs apparently do loose some of their original bounce, just not the fine hand-selected set he provided for your car.

It's quite apparent when an originally tight fitting spring suddenly has room to move between the perches when you unload the wheel.

Air pressure is fine, camber seems close to original. I didn't measure fender above ground before I ripped out the subframe, by I can't imagine how the car could ride higher with worn control arm bushings and ball joints. Maybe not higher either, but it doesn't explain seeing the car sit at my original BC install ride height after adding 1/4" lift to each fronts. None of that is a big deal, just one extra factor I didn't take into account when I began re-adjusting ride heights based on notes taken quite a while ago. It all had to wait for the subframe work so I can get one alignment done for all the changes.

 

I'd love to leave the settings the way they are - sure looks the business now, but I know that ride height just isn't going to cut it. Especially the rear, with just a little more camber, would probably work fine with the 12mm spacers. But I have no illusions that the front tires will go up in smoke on the bumpy roads we have here.

Note the reflection of the current garage companion. I don't think I will have problems recycling the 12mm spacers on that one.

 

So in round 2 of the spacer game, I think I got it right. Maybe not perfect, but conservative enough that on my first test run nothing rubbed.

12mm spacers went out, 5mm spacers in. New shorter studs, proper steel nuts (those alloy nuts they sent me are a scam and threads are already coming apart after 3 wheel mounts- amazon description clearly stated high strength steel...)

Here's where we are now - coilovers up about 5mm in front as well. the rears probably could go 8mm, but I don't feel so confident with those spacers, as they'd leave very little of a lip for the centering rings. Plus, I have that blue car asking for my undivided attention





Bascially, 40ET wheels and 5mm spacer with 205 tires is what you see here, car lowered about 1.75" from stock. Fenders arch tops off the ground 24" in front, 24.5" in rear

 

So you are at ET35 after the 5mm spacer? Wheels are 17x7, 205/45/17?

Testing somethings out myself.

Thanks


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