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[Ilikemike]

Yipes! Reading an earlier post about spacer related vibration problems has me wonderIng if this is a worthwhile modification. Anyone else have post spacer problems?

[kscarrol]

Seems like a mixed bag with some having vibration and others having no issues. I was having my Brembo's installed and was told I'd need spacers to fit my OEM ZCP 359 wheels but I saw the same threads and was also concerned. Fortunately the ZCP wheels cleared the BBK so no spacer needed for me. I have them and may put them on at some point but the vibration reported by some did spoke me a bit...

[rAdzM]

I used to run 10 and 12mm spacer on my OEM 220's, and 10mm on front on my Klassen wheels and never had a vibration or any problems. Just try it, they can be easily taken off if you encounter any problems.

[gatorfast]

12.5mm turner spacers here and absolutely zero vibration at any speed.

[tinman831]

From what I've read it seems to happen with certain brands more than others. There are plenty of people here who run spacers without a problem.

[rAdzM]

to add, I've only used H&R and Macht Schnell spacers so far

[Raypan]

Is this similar to performance anxiety?

[FormulaMMM]

Lots of information here if you haven't seen -- http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=336209

I wouldn't get too worked up on this mod. About as easily reversible as you can get.

[Ilikemike]

Thanks for the feedback! BTW 'spacer anxiety' is closer to Separation Anxiety than Performance Anxiety, Freud was right!

[smmmurf]

Had MS, Rogue, and Turner spacers installed and all added vibration which increased with speed to my RAC wheels which were road force balanced twice.

Took them off --> vibration gone.

Not only does having the wheels balanced matter, hub bore on the wheels has to be tight for spacers to work. The two sets of RAC RG63's I have a bit of a wider hub bore than OEM wheels or Volk wheels. BMW OEM is supposed to be 72.56mm and if I had to guess, I would say the RAC's are an extra 0.1mm larger in diameter since the spacers (both MS and Turner) can wiggle a little bit side to side when fitting them onto the mounting face of the RAC's but do not perceptibly move around when mounted in the center of the OEM's or Volk TE37's.

I think the tiny amount of extra center bore may be an issue with spacers which must sit perfectly hubcentric on the rotor. But, that's just my theory after having two different sets of RAC Monolites with the same issue, both road forced and balanced to zero ounces with high quality tires. RAC's are bespoke, forged M3 BMW wheels so I imagine this is not a unique issue to this brand.

YMMV

[Route 16]

I bought these 15mm verstrabe spacers from a local yesterday and I noticed cleaning them today, bottom one has a small bend. But they still sit flush and smooth with the spacer on top of it to mimic the wheel hub. Opinions? Is it a big deal? I have a stud conversion and I'll remove the spacer if there's vibration common sense.

[Route 16]

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[M3ANMACHINE]

I've ran spacers on every single one of my cars. From 3mm up to 18mm and never had any issues.

[Denk]

No issues here from MS and TMS 5mm-15mm on 220's. The only vibration problems I've had were after some tire changes. Nothing a second or third (worst case) road force balance didn't fix. This car isn't forgiving in this dept.

[4corners]

Be sure to clean all surfaces well. The wheel, and the hub, and both sides of the spacer.

[TTSam]

Originally Posted by Route 16

I bought these 15mm verstrabe spacers from a local yesterday and I noticed cleaning them today, bottom one has a small bend. But they still sit flush and smooth with the spacer on top of it to mimic the wheel hub. Opinions? Is it a big deal? I have a stud conversion and I'll remove the spacer if there's vibration common sense.

I have some Macht Schnell spacers (15 front 12 rear) I have used for two seasons on OEM 19" and winter OEM 18" wheels.

I changed them myself until last fall when I let the dealer do it. The dealer indicated he could not get them to work with the 18" even though I had with no problem.

Getting my summers put on tomorrow and thought I would clean the spacers.

I opened the box and they all seem to have been gouged. I am assuming the damage was done removing them.

I am also assuming they are no longer safe. Looks like someone hacked away with a screw driver.

Guess I will go back to doing them myself.

[Route 16]

Originally Posted by TTSam

I have some Macht Schnell spacers (15 front 12 rear) I have used for two seasons on OEM 19" and winter OEM 18" wheels.

I changed them myself until last fall when I let the dealer do it. The dealer indicated he could not get them to work with the 18" even though I had with no problem.

Getting my summers put on tomorrow and thought I would clean the spacers.

I opened the box and they all seem to have been gouged. I am assuming the damage was done removing them.

I am also assuming they are no longer safe. Looks like someone hacked away with a screw driver.

Guess I will go back to doing them myself.

I've actually driven with all 4 spacers in those similar conditions. It wasn't a question of how well it held up on the outside. My worries were always toward the hub area.

[slicer]

I have had no problems with spacers as long as they were installed correctly and were compatible with my wheels. The compatibility issues that I would caution are: I have found that some 10mm spacers don't work with some wheels due to the spacer's chamfer and the wheel hub interference (spacer won't fit flush against the wheel). I have also found that some wheels (BBS Motorsports E88 and E05) have a large hub chamfer which makes 10mm spacers fit nicely but 5mm spacers unusable because the wheel no longer interfaces with the hub protrusion.

I'm a big fan of Turner Motorsports spacers. They are higher quality than most of the other options. 12.5 mm and 15 mm don't have the compatibility issues I described above.

[TTSam]

Originally Posted by Route 16

I've actually driven with all 4 spacers in those similar conditions. It wasn't a question of how well it held up on the outside. My worries were always toward the hub area.

So - do you figure they are OK to use?

On closer inspection there seems to also be a rub line past the gouging. Maybe it wasn't caused by the removal process?

[Route 16]

Originally Posted by TTSam

So - do you figure they are OK to use?

On closer inspection there seems to also be a rub line past the gouging. Maybe it wasn't caused by the removal process?

I'd go with slicer's advice but I was confident riding on those spacers for another 10k miles til I found a light Weight design I liked.

[Z K]

Originally Posted by TTSam

So - do you figure they are OK to use?

On closer inspection there seems to also be a rub line past the gouging. Maybe it wasn't caused by the removal process?

Unfortunately some gouging is going to happen when removing spacers. The spacers are made out of soft aluminum and applying force to it will damage it. They get really stuck to the hub when you leave it on the car which makes removal hard and force is necessary.

As long as the hub centric portion is fine and the spacer is not warped, it is fine to use.

[kawasaki00]

Originally Posted by slicer

I'm a big fan of Turner Motorsports spacers. They are higher quality than most of the other options. 12.5 mm and 15 mm don't have the compatibility issues I described above.

I agree, the Turner are the highest quality and most precision fit I have used. I have a few other brands and they do not compare with the Turner.