Wheel spacers

Hi guys

When we bought our 90 early last year it already had 30mm steel wheel spacers fitted then later we fitted 265 x 16 special tracks with modular's and as the tyres stuck out a bit from the wheel arch i was advised to remove the spacer's ( M.O.T. failure ) but later found out after selling the spacer's its only an advisory so been thinking about buying some new 30mm spacer's but not sure if to go for alloy ones rather than steel as they are quite heavy, what do you think.

not sure if it will make a difference but the 90 is used for off roading

I always use steel ones.. given how much Mods with Insas weigh I wouldn't worry..

My Defender came with Disco alloys and alloy spacers. I was advised by a mechanic with years of Landy experience that using spacers would overstress and damage wheel bearings.

Psst... anyone wanna buy 5 slightly tatty Disco alloys?

Fitting spacers or wheels with different offset will affect wheel bearing wear as the distance from the bearing to the load (wheel and tyre) is increased (hold a sledge hammer close to you for hours hold it arms length needless to say you cant hold it no where near a long) same principal.

in terms of the weight it wont make much difference as the mass of the spacer is close to the centre of the hub and wheel so the force required to move it wont be much extra the tyres will have the biggest affect on breaking and acceleration.

finally fit spacers with the little spigot to make sure the wheels sit true and balanced.

in terms of wear personally i have only replaced one bearing with my large tyres on(cant remember offset) in 8 years (40k miles) so maybe people are over exaggerating or have worse luck.

Go for solid steel mate.. I ran them for 2 years on 35" simex's no problems at all just the normal annual bearing check over nip up or replace.
And this was the result of the alley hub centric spacer tearing past the wheel nuts on just a 40mph corner. Lucky it slid and stopped short of quite a large drop on a very hilly Welsh road,

does the writing on the road say "Slow"?

The Mad Hat Man said:

does the writing on the road say "Slow"?

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Yes is does
The drop over the edge wouldn't have been ideal way to start the trip really lol,

I'm running 30mm spacers with 35x12.5 tyres. Offroading plenty with work and have already covered a LOT of work miles. I know for a fact the spacers have been on for 5 years and the bearings have been on quite a while. Not a single issue. Rtc steering damper has really transformed the steering at speed though.

Both my local Land Rover specialists seem to disagree with spacers are bad on Defenders line of thought. I had been querying the subject. One mentioned he has been running 30mm spacers for several years on his V8 with no issue at all.

Everyone has their own line of thought. I am having no issues (everything else is a mess though!) and they allow me to keep good turning circle when towing which is why I will be keeping them on forever.

Yeh I've had spacers on Defenders and Discoverys for years and never had an issue with bearing failure or premature wear.. had some on a Mini Clubman once and they knocked both rear bearings out within 3 months though..

Ok cheer's guys steel's it is then, i get my bonus next week so depending on how much i get i mite get some

My mates Ali ones did the same as maxyman's my steel ones have been on, mine eats bearing but it's used 95% off road that 5% driving it there, it always has done even with smaller tyres and no spacers

Mine are steel spacers and have to say...wouldn't be without them. Behave perfectly. Only had vehicle a short while but it sure as heck got no maintenance before I bought it!! And the bearings have done 5800 miles this last few months no issues.

i have aluminium ones, but decent stuff... not cheap off ebay

vilguy said:

i have aluminium ones, but decent stuff... not cheap off ebay

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No monkey metal? Think the problem is with them coming loose, thread lock will sort it

warrior said:

No monkey metal? Think the problem is with them coming loose, thread lock will sort it

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Yup, I have some ali ones, have thread locked and marked the positions of the nuts with a chalk pen so I can see if they come loose.

warrior said:

No monkey metal? Think the problem is with them coming loose, thread lock will sort it

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i did thread lock em when i fitted em.

checked after a week and no movement so happy days they are on 33 x 12.50's and it does a fair few miles!

Having trouble finding steel wheel spacer's only ally ones, is there any well made ally ones out there i can use without having trouble

cornish rattler said:

Having trouble finding steel wheel spacer's only ally ones, is there any well made ally ones out there i can use without having trouble

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Mine are bulldog and really nicely made. Got them 2nd hand tho so no idea where they came from. I have seen them being sold on ebay before though.

devon 4x4 sell some TUV approved alloy ones cost a pretty penny but if you want peace of mind ! its probably what i will order

Cheers will have a look at Bulldog and devon 4x4