If I lift the car do I need spacers

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Dr LC8

Dr LC8

Member
Posts
74
Location
Manchester...but from Rome
Hi,

I am planning to fit Terrafirma Front Coil Spring and Rear Air Spring Spacers. These lift the car of 5 cm (2"). I normally use the car to commute on on motorway cruising at around 80 mph.
I have two set of wheels: 255/55/18 and 255/70/16.
To keep the car steady and safe will I need to fit wheel spacers????

Thanks

Nic
 
No, but you may need to alter your driving accordingly.

Wheel spacers will put the wheel track wider and in theory it should aid stability, although any effects of either the lift and spacers may be negligible.
 
brian47 said:
Modifying your speed down to say the legal limit should be most beneficial in aiding stability.
Wheel spacers will widen the track but will also place greater uneven strain and wear on your wheel bearings (Google "levers and moments" for reasons).
Click to expand...

:)


Put this way, I travel a lot in Europe, where speed limits are around 83mph ;-)

Nic
 
Thanks all for comments.

Probably the best thing will be to try without first and then decide...
From what you are saying it sounds like spacers will add stability, whether you need it or not is a different issue.

Thanks

Nic
 
Dr LC8 said:
Hi,

I am planning to fit Terrafirma Front Coil Spring and Rear Air Spring Spacers. These lift the car of 5 cm (2"). I normally use the car to commute on on motorway cruising at around 80 mph.
I have two set of wheels: 255/55/18 and 255/70/16.
To keep the car steady and safe will I need to fit wheel spacers????

Thanks

Nic
Click to expand...

Hi Nic, the car on std. suspension will accommodate both of those sets of tyres easily and without problem - so why would you go to the expensive of raising the suspension and, more importantly, raise the centre of gravity of the vehicle, which is predominantly used for motorway cruising?

Standard tyre sizes for D2 = 255/65/16 & 255/55/18. These two sizes have identical rolling radius, therefore height. The difference between 255/65/16 and 255/70/16 is so small that treadwear and tyre type would make a bigger difference.

Wheel spacers really don't come into question at all here. You are using almost precisely standard tyres.

Is there some other reason for considering a suspension lift that you haven't yet mentioned?


Dave
 
Last edited:
thebiglad said:
Hi Nic, the car on std. suspension will accommodate both of those sets of tyres easily and without problem - so why would you go to the expensive of raising the suspension and, more importantly, raise the centre of gravity of the vehicle, which is predominantly used for motorway cruising?

Standard tyre sizes for D2 = 255/65/16 & 255/55/18. These two sizes have identical rolling radius, therefore height. The difference between 255/65/16 and 255/70/16 is so small that treadwear and tyre type would make a bigger difference.

Wheel spacers really don't come into question at all here. You are using almost precisely standard tyres.

Is there some other reason for considering a suspension lift that you haven't yet mentioned?


Dave
Click to expand...

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the good answer.

As for tyres, having two sets of wheels I will leave the 255/55/18 as highway use or similar.
On the 16 I want to put some tyres that I can use in off road. 255/70 and 265/70 offer wider choice then 255/65. That is it.

As for rising suspensions it comes down to increase ground clearance.

Obviously your question is what sort of off road do you do?? Not much other than green lanes in UK and mountain trails on the Alps. Even if nothing extreme at all, it has happen few times to be very close to touch on departure and back angle.

I just want to lift it of 5 cm and therefore I was wondering if wheel spacers would have been needed to preserve the car stability when cruising...

Nic
 
Dr LC8 said:
Hi Dave,

Thanks for the good answer.

As for tyres, having two sets of wheels I will leave the 255/55/18 as highway use or similar.
On the 16 I want to put some tyres that I can use in off road. 255/70 and 265/70 offer wider choice then 255/65. That is it.

As for rising suspensions it comes down to increase ground clearance.

Obviously your question is what sort of off road do you do?? Not much other than green lanes in UK and mountain trails on the Alps. Even if nothing extreme at all, it has happen few times to be very close to touch on departure and back angle.

I just want to lift it of 5 cm and therefore I was wondering if wheel spacers would have been needed to preserve the car stability when cruising...

Nic
Click to expand...


do you raise the back end off road?
 
Dr LC8 said:
Hi Dave,

Thanks for the good answer.

As for tyres, having two sets of wheels I will leave the 255/55/18 as highway use or similar.
On the 16 I want to put some tyres that I can use in off road. 255/70 and 265/70 offer wider choice then 255/65. That is it.

As for rising suspensions it comes down to increase ground clearance.

Obviously your question is what sort of off road do you do?? Not much other than green lanes in UK and mountain trails on the Alps. Even if nothing extreme at all, it has happen few times to be very close to touch on departure and back angle.

I just want to lift it of 5 cm and therefore I was wondering if wheel spacers would have been needed to preserve the car stability when cruising...

Nic
Click to expand...


Hi Nic, the problem is that as std. the D2 (like all big 4x4's) has a relatively high centre of gravity, so if you raise it more, it seems to have a disproportionate effect on stability which I do not believe is compensated by hub spacers.

You can run 265/75/16's on std. suspension - I done it myself, but anything bigger requires a 2" lift.

Dave
 
I brief feedback on what I did in the end.

In the end I did, all at once, Tyres 255/70/16 AT2 GG, Terrafirma 30mm wheel spacers, Terrafirma 2"suspension spacers/risers, Terrafirma + 2" rear all terrain shocks, used steering and rear diff guard and a retrofitted original CDL. Removed EGR valve.

Before (original)











After (lifted)




Comments to follow...

Ciao

Nic
 
So on street it handles better than aspected. It is quite steady and precise at low/mid speed. It hasn't got any increased rolling, however on the motorway when going above 70mph you need to be steady with the steering wheel as it is very sharp and potentially unstable.
Increased hight, with and using big tyres with high rolling resistance has reduced consistently top speed (10mph) and encased of at least 10/15% fuel consumes.
Tyres work otherwise well even if, as normal, have less grip on wet tarmac when compared to more street orientated tyres (I used Michelin Latitude Cross 255/55/18).
Off road was working fine even if I didn't really have a chance to try it in hard circumstances.
The CDL seems to reduce the time taken by the TC helping to maintain more momentum. Ultimately I fitted to avoid to be let down by the 3 amigos faults.
On the other hand I find, somehow, that the front suspensions are not absorbing ground holes, and long smooth speed bums ad example, as well as before with the suspension now bottoming down (despite new OEM shocks).
Also suddenly one of the antiroll bushes wore off. This is surprising considering that the car has 72.000 and when I bought it at 60.000 has never been off road, didm't have a tow bar and the underbody was virgin. I suspect it is one of the first signs of chassis sufferance from the new setting.

After all I decided to bring it back to regional suspensions. They probably will still do the job I red off road maintaining a much better road performance and safety. I will still keep my underbody protection. Probably I will potentially compensate by using a Terrafirma Detachable tow bar and some rock slide side protection to be more comfortable in risky low ground situation.
Ideally I should keep the 16inch wheels and fit them on when needed. However this is a pain and if they sell I might consider to fit some GG AT 255/60 on my 18 wheel. They should be more street friendly still maintaining off road capability and giving that little more of ground clearance.

Any comment?

So shortly for sale 5 LR 16 Wheels with 4 new (500 miles) GG AT2. Wheel spacers and suspension risers. Then probably 4 Michelin Latitude Cross 255/55/18 with 9.000 miles and 1 new Goodyear Wrangler HP 255/55/18



Ciao

Nic
 
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