Wheel Spacers

About Wheel Spacers

A spacer moves the wheel outward by its thickness, which is the same as taking that much off the offset. That's the whole product, and there isn't more to it. Want a high offset wheel sitting flush with the fender? That's a spacer. Need to get around a big brake caliper? Same answer. It's also how you run one wheel size at both ends when the track widths differ.

Thin spacers slide over the factory studs and the wheel goes on with the same nuts, so the question is thread engagement. Every millimeter of spacer is a millimeter less stud inside the nut, and past a point you want longer studs, or longer bolts on a car that uses them. Thicker spacers bolt to the hub on their own studs. Project Kics makes both, and the thick ones won't go on without their own studs.

Hub centric is the rule, not a preference. A spacer with a lip matching your hub bore keeps the wheel centered the way the factory did. A lug centric one centers on the studs and shakes at speed. Torque the spacer to the hub, then the wheel to the spacer, then retorque after the first drive. Pushing the wheel out loads the bearing a little harder, so don't get carried away.

Common questions

Do spacers need longer studs

Thin ones don't. Anything past a few millimeters does. The rule is that the nut keeps the thread engagement it had from the factory, and a spacer eats into that a millimeter at a time. On a car with lug bolts, which covers most German cars, you want a longer bolt instead. Each listing shows the stud or bolt length it needs.

Are wheel spacers safe

A hub centric spacer from a real maker, torqued properly and retorqued after the first drive, is as safe as the wheel bolted to it. What bites people is a lug centric spacer that shakes, a slip on thick enough to leave the nut short of thread, or one that never got checked again. Get those three right and it's just a lower offset.

Hub centric or lug centric

Hub centric, every single time. The hub lip carries the wheel and the studs only clamp it, which is exactly how the factory built your car. A lug centric spacer asks the studs to do the centering, and you'll get a shake at highway speed that no balance will cure. The Project Kics parts we carry list their bores.

Spacer or a lower offset wheel

The spacer is the right answer when you already own the wheel. Put one under a high offset wheel and the face lands where a lower offset would have put it. You're trading for a second set of studs or longer bolts, a retorque habit and a bit more load on the bearing. Buying new? Buy the offset you want and skip it.