When you first see a truck with its wheels pushed outward, it's likely equipped with wheel spacers. As the name suggests, these components create extra space between your vehicle’s wheels and its body. But why would you want that added space? Could it affect your tires or compromise safety? Wheel spacers are not only widely available and affordable, but they also offer a range of benefits that many truck owners appreciate. From enhancing the truck’s stance to improving handling, these spacers can make a noticeable difference.
Let’s dive deeper into the benefits of wheel spacers for a truck and uncover why they might be the perfect upgrade for your vehicle.
Understanding Wheel Spacers and the Purpose of it
So, what are wheel spacers? A wheel spacer is an aluminum disk that fits over a vehicle's wheel hubs. This pulls the wheel away from the vehicle's body. Wheel spacers are thick, measuring approximately two inches, or can also go up to eight inches.
You may get wheel spacers with the same bolt pattern as your car or a spacer that serves as an adapter. This allows you to not only push your wheels outward but also fit a wheel with a different bolt pattern than it had originally.
What do wheel spacers do? Most individuals use spacers to accommodate bigger tyres. Without them, a tyre that is bigger than the original can rub against fenders. This usually occurs while the vehicle is turning or on suspension components. Thus, pushing the tyres outward with the help of wheel spacers gets rid of the rubbing.
Another use of these spacers is to accommodate a bigger braking package. Pushing the wheels outward improves track width, resulting in a more stable ride. Some drivers install spacers only to enhance the look of their vehicle. Allowing you to fill up the wheel wells with new wheels and rubber.
However, spacers might put stress on your vehicle's components. Keep an eye on the bearings, ball joints, axles, tie rod ends, and original wheel studs. Spacers can change the geometry between the steering axis and the center alignment of the tyre, making it more difficult to steer at lower speeds.
Benefits and Drawbacks of Installing Wheel Spacers
Benefits of Wheel Spacers for a Truck:
Improve Handling of Your Vehicle
One of the primary benefits of wheel spacers for a truck is that they provide performance drivers and increased handling. The car becomes more grounded as the distance between both wheels increases. This enhances overall handling, traction, and cornering.
Give you Room to Install Bigger Tires
Wheel spacers allow owners to install bigger tyres on off-roading vehicles, improving grip and handling. Bigger tyres are necessary if you want to turn your vehicle into an off-roader. Without spacers, bigger tyres may rub against the wheel wells or fender flares.
Drivers prefer to install larger rear wheels, which is why some wheel spacer sets include a larger pair for the rear or are only available in pairs for the rear wheels.
Allow Yo To Install Large Brake Calipers
Performance brakes are frequently broader than basic ones. A wheel spacer allows for a bigger brake caliper that would not fit into the OEM wheel gap.
Your Car Gets a Unique Look
If you like modifying your cars, then wheel spacers are made for you. Mild spacers can make your wheels flush with the OEM fender flares, which many people like. More aggressive spacers will push the wheels beyond the fender flares, resulting in a distinct appearance from standard automobiles.
Not Expensive
A nice pair of wheel spacers may cost around $125. Considering its effects on both efficiency and style, this is an excellent value. There aren't many aftermarket modifications that add as much value for the money.
Drawbacks of Wheel Spacers for a Truck:
Increased Steering Effort
Now that you know the benefits of wheel spacers for a truck, let’s talk about their drawbacks. With better handling, you also get some drawbacks, such as more steering effort. With the wheels further apart, more steering wheel input is needed to turn the tyres. This is due to the increased tyre scrub radius or the angle between the steering axis and the tyres. The impacts will be more noticeable at lower speeds. However, with power steering technology, this drawback is easily overlooked.
Ride Quality May Decrease
The engineers who created your vehicle did an excellent job of optimising it from the start. However, adding spacers disrupts the equilibrium. The greater the distance between the wheels and the suspension components, the lower the ride quality. The greater the spacers, the less comfortable it will be.
Increased Wear on Suspension Components
The suspension is under higher pressure since the wheels are further away from the car. With a broader geometry, components such as the wheel bearings wear out faster.
Do Wheel Spacers Damage Your Tires?
The answer is it depends. Cars are made through engineering. Engineers measure and test every little aspect of the car, including which things are negatively affecting it and make changes accordingly. After years of engineering practice, they came up with a car. However, when you install after-market wheel spacers, you change the dynamics, and the overall functions of the car are affected. The strain on components and tyres is a common issue when your tyres are spaced apart.
However, whether or not they are a disadvantage depends on what you intend to use your car for, and your personal tastes. Off-roading is possible when you install wheel spacers. Off-roading itself is an activity that puts a lot of strain on the car and damages the tyres. You have to weigh the pros against the cons, and make a decision. If you decide to get wheel spacers, then there is only one place to go: Orionmotors.
Orion Motor Techs Premium Wheel Spacers: OMT 6x5.5 Wheel Spacers 1.5in.
Orion Motor Tech’s high-quality wheel spacer adapters help increase your car's wheelbase, enhancing grip, handling, and accuracy. If your wheels' offset does not provide the clearance and stance you require, our wheel spacer adapters will help.
This set of four Orion Motor Tech wheel spacers is compatible with various vehicles, including Chevrolet Colorado, GMC Canyon, and all cars from 1992 to 2018. These strong wheel adapters, which are 1.5 inches (38mm) thick, mount to their 6x5.5 (6x139.7) bolt pattern, allowing you to install larger wheels or increase the performance and handling of your existing wheels with great wheel balance and a more aggressive stance.
Conclusion
Installing wheel spacers is your personal preference. You need to know the pros and cons that come with it to make a decision. Wheel spacers are usually recommended for larger vehicles like trucks, which reap more benefits than smaller vehicles.
