Wheels spacers

cantdecide

I have a ’02 Mazda 323F Sport. It has pretty ordinary looking Mazda 16s.

I’m not interested in changing the alloys on this car, tbh. I was thinking about fitting spacers just to take the sunken look off the wheels. I was thinking about some slim spacers like 5mm or so would help.

What are the negative aspects of living with spacers? Will I have to get new studs too? Will I have mud flying everywhere? Are they a pain to deal with if changing tyres? Are there any mechanical consequences- wheel bearings/ steering problems etc? Will they affect handling?

Any idea what they cost and where to get them? Are they universal fit? What thicknesses are they available in?

tossy

get hubcentric spacers from a reputable company like H&R and you will be fine,i have 15mm a side on the rear of my car and 10 mm a side on the front had the same on the last car also and never had a problem you will need longer bolts too,and some sort of locking cap if you value your alloys.

Can be a pain when changing wheels but a little patience will see you through,when fitting a aptly some copper grease to each side to stop it binding to the hub and the wheel.

kona

If they protrude past the arches its a NCT fail, you will be pulled by the garda for it too as its dangerous.
Id Imagine you will wear out Balljoints, bearings etc faster too. May have clearance issues too.

Graham_B18C

kona wrote: »

If they protrude past the arches its a NCT fail, you will be pulled by the garda for it too as its dangerous.
Id Imagine you will wear out Balljoints, bearings etc faster too. May have clearance issues too.

10-15mm aint going to wear it out all that much faster, and lets be honest, there's a lot of mods that have to be taken off for the NCT

And about it being dangerous, how?

Midnight_EG

kona wrote: »

If they protrude past the arches its a NCT fail, you will be pulled by the garda for it too as its dangerous.
Id Imagine you will wear out Balljoints, bearings etc faster too. May have clearance issues too.

Only if the top of the wheel is sticking out from the arch actually...I'd imagine 10mm spacers aren't going to push them out too far.

kona

Graham_B18C wrote: »

10-15mm aint going to wear it out all that much faster, and lets be honest, there's a lot of mods that have to be taken off for the NCT

And about it being dangerous, how?

Why do you think cars come from the factory with the wheels sitting into the arch as opposed to outside?
Its dangerous to have any rotating or moving part of a car outside of the body. It a NCT fail.

10mm aint going to do much your right, but 10mm is 1cm , not really worth your while is it? You would be better off finding some wheels with a different offset.

Maybe I should clarify, your fine as long as the wheel doesnt come out past the body. If It does you can add arches or fit a smaller spacer.

While I think the NCT is a waste of time and a pain in the arse too, what mods do you remove? Ive only ever had to remove a sub from the boot and De-Tune the engine. Flew through with harnesses , buckets and a straight through exhaust.

Testament1

kona wrote: »

While I think the NCT is a waste of time and a pain in the arse too, what mods do you remove? Ive only ever had to remove a sub from the boot and De-Tune the engine. Flew through with harnesses , buckets and a straight through exhaust.

Fair play man, not a hope in hell would my car pass the NCT with a straight through exhaust, I'd be crucified on both emissions and noise I'd say!

OP have you any pic of how the wheels sit on the car at the moment? Might make it easier to recommend a spacer size. Bringing it flush with the top of the arch would be the very max you would want to go. Anything more than that is usually reserved for the "hellaflush" RWD machines. (not a look I'm all that fond of myself)

cantdecide

I'm definitely not interested in failing the NCT. I just want to do something about the swallowed-up look of the standard wheels in the arches. I don't want it to scream MODIFICATION. I just want to make a subtle improvement.



I'm going to refurbish the alloys and I think I have a set of 30mm springs for it too.

kona

Testament1 wrote: »

Fair play man, not a hope in hell would my car pass the NCT with a straight through exhaust, I'd be crucified on both emissions and noise I'd say!

)

The emissions limits for my car are silly, like HC limit is 1200PPM and the co is 3.5%. Wouldnt try it with the more stricter limits.
Just de tuned and it flew threw, I was suprised about the noise too the car is very noisey.

DjKlubster

Testament1 wrote: »

Fair play man, not a hope in hell would my car pass the NCT with a straight through exhaust, I'd be crucified on both emissions and noise I'd say!

OP have you any pic of how the wheels sit on the car at the moment? Might make it easier to recommend a spacer size. Bringing it flush with the top of the arch would be the very max you would want to go. Anything more than that is usually reserved for the "hellaflush" RWD machines. (not a look I'm all that fond of myself)

For NCT Noise doesnt matter its just emissions,, Springs de same... as long de not cut or arch rubbing they'll pass


I also think the NCT is a balls of a job because yu could pass yur NCT taday with a straight through and then be driving home,Gaurds pull ya over and tell yu ta get rida the straight through and yu say it passed nct wid it on,,,de wont listen!!!

Whats the point in paying to test yur car wen it counts for nothing??

Testament1

DjKlubster wrote: »

For NCT Noise doesnt matter its just emissions,,

Noise does matter now actually. They test noise levels from the exhaust at the NCT now and anything over 99dB is a fail. Its been discussed on here before.