Going to install 1.5" wheel spacers. While driving my wife's car as she drove my Xterra back from the garage.. I wanted to see the look of it on road from different angles as it was being driven..the truck looks good..the lift is perfect, the tires look sweet and all look proportioned and decent..
Until I pulled up in front of her to see the truck in the rear view mirror.. head on..the front view looked like someone kicked it in the nuts!
The side of the tires are literally invisible yet it stands tall.. looks really awkward cause the fenders are flared a bit as we know.. yet the tires don't follow even a bit.. and now with the lift and the 285's.. It just looks horrible..
My question..do I torque the spacers at the same torque spec as the wheels??
I have been watching a few you tube videos and almost everyone is doing a mistake of some sort, from using red locktite, to not cleaning the rotors, to lathering anti-seize both on hub and wheel contact points, one guy was recommending blue locktite, one guy even put anti seize of the studs before attaching the spacer.. a big no no....
I mean a whole array of errors from the comments that followed the videos..
But a few people were not sure about the torque numbers for the spacers..
Recently, I've been using a torque wrench to put my wheels at 104 ft/lbs. It seemed appropriate to put the spacers at the same torque.
During the install of my 1.5" spacers, I put anti-seize on the inside face of the spacer to prevent it from sticking to the face of the rotor. Being that they are hubcentric, I see no problem with this.
I also used blue Loctite. Not really sure if it's necessary, but peace of mind makes it worthwhile.
I think you're saying you don't like the look when lifted with no spacers?? (I call it the skinny-jeans look.) So you want to add spacers for better stance/appearance but you want to know how to do it right, torq specs and such??
Just clarifying the question as I have to add spacers in the back after T-swap, and interested in the responses you get.
I have BORA wheel spacers (hub and wheel centric). First had 1.5" all around and now that I'm T-swapped I have 2" only in the rear. I torqued them to 98 ft/lbs (factory wheel spec).
I didn't do anything special - no anti-sieze, no loctite (ESPECIALLY not red), not even any special cleaning - nothin. Just through them directly on there. The only thing I did was re-torque them after the first 20 miles or so.
Been wheeling hard with them for over 8 months. I scrape my wheels and tire sidewall against stuff all the time. Haven't touched them since that re-torque. No issues.
Thats is perfect... This looks normal..
Im telling you.. when I was driving in front of my truck with my wife about a car or two car lengths behind me.. Dam.., it looked funny..This will remedy the issue .. no doubt..
I would have done this mod a long time ago had I noticed the look earlier..
Torque em to what you torque your wheels at. so around 100 ft-lbs.
I just made sure the mating surfaces were nice and smooth. No need to go crazy on them.
I haven't used antiseize or anything, and I've never had a problem, but I'm in the south.
I went with 2" spacers and needed to do the melt mod on my 2015 Pro4x. I do like the result and the truck feels more steady on turns at higher speeds. Below is a before & after shot from the top.
any rubbing with flex? meaning do the tires rub against the fenders (inner or outer) when its stuffed into it? seeing as they're sitting 1.5-2.0" further out from the hub
Are you running any top plate spacer (on the coilover)? With my extended travel setup set at 2" and 1" top-plate spacer on it I could never get it to stuff or grind like that. I wonder if the spacer is the reason why.
also thinking...i did remove the front sway bar. I think I started hitting the inner fender lip after that point. I'm sure that's a factor in it too as the wheels can now stuff better w/out that bar connecting the two wheels.
good info from all .. appreciated
i think i'm gonna install my lift, forego the wheel spacers for now until i see how it works with the bigger tires
looking at the Falken AT3Ws in a 285/75/16
if there's still room and/or rubbing on the frame at full turn, i'll get the 1.5" spacers
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