Wheel spacers + track

I'm looking at picking up a set of wheels for my car, which serves DD duty as well as track time.

The only problem is the offset is pretty high (17x7.5 ET42 compared to 16x6.5 ET27 stock) so I'm gonna need some pretty big spacers to get them on... somewhere in the realm of 20-25mm. Obviously this would require extended lug bolts and whatnot.

What are your thoughts about using a spacer that big on a track? Or in general? FWIW the car is a Saab 9000 Aero.

At 25mm, you can get bolt-on spacers. I'd be happier with that than the slip-on type and I have used bolt-ons on the track. But by the time you've paid for spacers that thick, you may not save any cash with those wheels.

Many Porsche's have come from the factory with spacers, from the 60's until even the current stuff. All of them have been tracked and raced without incident. This includes slip on and bolt-on types.

That said, there is a HUGE difference between a high quality, properly engineered spacer, and some cast in a 3rd-World country eBay junk. (Been there, done that, never again).

Nowadays, I'd rather spend the extra money to get wheels that fit properly without spacers.

I would find a proper set of wheels if you are concerned.

Like Keith said, the savings on wheels will probably be eaten up by good spacers that will only be real useful for putting those exact wheels on that exact car, so you will never be able to recoup a lot of money when you change your mind.

Yeah bolt on spacers like that will likely be $200+ for 4.

Going H&R Trak+. I try not to cheap out on these things. They'll be around $200 for the set, plus the cost of extended lug bolts. Going 20mm as the 25mm ones will add another $100 to the purchase.

I'd love to just find some wheels that fit, but that's easier said than done. 4x108, 65.1mm hub, medium offset, 7.5"+ wide. Good luck...

Search for 4 lug mustang cobra R replicas. They don't list the offsets which is annoying, but they will be much less than 42mm http://www.americanmuscle.com/4lugwheels.html

With the H&R bolt-on spacers, you don't need extended lugs/bolts. They'll come with everything you need.

Don't other SAABs have wheels that would be appropriate?

Why would you need a 25 mm spacer to compensate for 15 mm of offset? No inboard clearance? Careful of the increase in scrub radius.

He has 15mm of offset difference ,plus an extra half inch of wheel on the inboard side that probably needs to be moved away from the suspension..

Keith - No other Saab wheels will satisfy my needs/wants

ProDarwin - Not enough inner clearance for that much difference, and I also want to move the wheels out somewhat near the wheel arches.

mw - You just had to remind me of those, didn't you?

So here's the problem. As I recall, fox body Mustangs have a smaller hub bore than my 65.1mm. The offset of 19mm on the ones there that I really like is low enough to not leave much room to run a hub/wheel centric spacer, but high enough that I would need another couple mm to get away from the struts. http://www.americanmuscle.com/silver-sc-4lug-17x8.html

$480 set of wheels + spacers + possibly having the center bore machined out

or

$300 set of wheels + $200 spacers + $64 extended lug bolts. http://store.allsprings.com/saab-900-hr-wheel-spacers-dr-20mm-4x108-p508.aspx

You can bore the center of the wheels out using a router, carbide bit, and some WD-40. This is GRM!

93gsxturbo wrote: You can bore the center of the wheels out using a router, carbide bit, and some WD-40. This is GRM!

This sounds like a good way to end up with a lot of vibrations at highway speed... not good for my 45 mile each way commute

Figure out how deep the hub is on your Saab. On most cars it's 5-10pm. Get spacers that thick (probably $5 each) and centre off the lugs.

$480 + $20 + extended bolts if necessary for a relatively thin spacer.

Most cars have no issues with the lugs doing the centering. My job at a Tom and tires shop I worked at in highschool was to machine hi centric rings for aftermarket wheels, but rarely did they make a difference. I haven't bothered with hubcentric rings or wheels in the last 8 years and haven't had a problem.

I've run the 1" bolt on ebay ones on the truckster for 5 years and a bunch of auto-x's That's 4500lbs on some old R-comps. Surprisingly no problems. I did swap out the crap studs that came with it.

Depending on the bore difference, just bolt em on with some lube. Aluminum is softer than steel. :)

If the wheels aren't hub-centric, boring out the hubs by hand will do nothing for balance, etc. Just grab a dremel and go to town.

What kind of lugnuts fit the mags, are they tapered or straight sided? If straight, then use a plain spacer, and longer lugnuts that will fully engage the threaded portion of the studs. Or, use longer studs with the current lugnuts.

Nothing wrong with spacers but I'd personally be more concerned about your fastener solution. You'd be better off buying some cheaper no-name spacers and splurging on some wheel studs from ARP. Or...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyMDNzhfwn0

(according to the description, they managed to thread imperial nuts onto metric studs... first time I heard that explanation but either way, my point is it's much more important how you secure the wheels than who made your spacer)

The other option, if you are willing to run big bolt-on spacers, would be to find a car with a high enough offset wheels in the sizes you like.

Have a set of more expensive adapters made, and then have a greatly increased wheel selection. As opposed to an expensive set of spacers for one wheel.

Just an idea.

I feel your pain and am considering the same thing. 5x108 bolt pattern and a high offset makes finding wheels for my X-Type very difficult.
Have you tried looking at the Contour boards for used wheels? I had two sets of 17x7.5" wheels on my SVT Contour, Velox and MSW. Actually now that I think about I believe the offset was similar to what you are now having issue with.

If the bolt pattern, stud size and hub diameter are the same - yes. So they will fit some other cars, but not every other car.

do the audi spacers fit a canoe or just an audi?

Only Audi canoes.

I'm kind of in the same boat here (not a canoe, though). Not trying to threadjack but I feel it belongs here.
My dd/track car is a mostly stock X-Type, the only mods being larger sway bars and largers wheels/tires. I've been contemplating going the wheel adapter route in order to actually be able to find wheels in the size I need which is 17x8.5". It is difficult to say the least trying to find wheels in this size with a high offset and a 5x108mm bolt pattern. I did order one set of wheels and they were $600 a wheel. I really don't want to keep up this precedent sooooo...can I get adapters that will allow me to buy off the shelf wheels that will also allow me to retain the ability to bolt up my Works?
In case this is not possible what are the odds I can have wheels modified, such as the D Force offered through Turner Motorsports? I think these would be able to be modified by drilling out a 5x108 bolt pattern and possibly shaving off half an inch on the width (I don't think I have room to go another half and inch wide...).
I know some of you are probably cringing at the idea but I'm pretty desperate for some more wheel selections - plans for this car include Targa Newfoundland, Silver State Classic Challenge and hopefully One Lap of America and eventually some sort of time trial series. One set of wheels is not going to be enough.

For Targa Newfoundland, you're only allowed to have six tires. So you only need two more $600 wheels for that

You can get adapters to change bolt pattern, they tend to be 25mm thick. So if there's a good source of wheels with a low offset and a more common pattern (such as 5x114.3), then that's a decent way to go.

Shaving 1/2" off the width of the wheel isn't really an option. You can't shave off the outer lip, so you'd have to cut the wheel in half and reweld.

Keith wrote: For Targa Newfoundland, you're only allowed to have six tires. So you only need two more $600 wheels for that You can get adapters to change bolt pattern, they tend to be 25mm thick. So if there's a good source of wheels with a low offset and a more common pattern (such as 5x114.3), then that's a decent way to go.

My understanding with the spacer/adapters is that I will have to either run shorter studs or cut my studs down, thereby rendering my existing wheels (track and winter wheels) useless. I'd rather not consider the Works a sunk cost because they are awesome, awesome wheels. Is there some way I can run adapters AND still retain the use of my other wheels?

Keith wrote: Shaving 1/2" off the width of the wheel isn't really an option. You can't shave off the outer lip, so you'd have to cut the wheel in half and reweld.

I know a company that does this and has been doing it for years with no problems. It's something I've kept on the back burner for a while now...