I've come to the conclusion that 25mm spacers on the front are a little... extreme... so I'm looking to get a pair of either 15mm or 20mm bolt-on hubcentrics to replace them.

 

The problem is that my Team Dynamics alloys don't have any notches machined into the rear face of the mounting where the protruding wheel studs would sit.

 

I don't really want to have to cut my studs down so the wheel sits flush on the spacer so I wanted to get peoples' thoughts on the idea of having an engineering firm machining the relevant holes into the rear of the mounting face on the front wheels! I can't stress enough that this wouldn't be me sat at home with a drill - these would be properly machined.

 

Is this a bad idea? Is it likely to completely affect the balancing of the wheel afterwards? Would it possibly structurally compromise the wheel...?

 

Thoughts please, team! :)

You'd have the wheels balanced anyway. It shouldn't be a bad thing if done correctly at even spacing and not close to a critical part of how the wheel was moulded, ie on an apex of a stress point etc.

Have you measured your stud length?

You might find that the studs don't protrude beyond a 20 mm spacer. I have 25mm on mine and the hub studs sit well within the spacer.

IMO machining the wheels is a bad idea because there is no way of knowing what effect it will have on the strength of the wheel, you can be sure it WILL weaken them, but by what degree is the question? And a wheel failure at speed could well be devastating!

IIRC, 15mm bolt spacers are not deep enough to hide the retaining nuts if you know what I mean. The tops of the nuts stick out further than the surface of the spacer so even cutting the studs down with these is not an option unless you also trim the nuts - don't!

20mm spacers will probably have the tops of the nuts flush or slightly sunk and would allow stud trimming.

Personally, I'd get 20mm spacers and cut the studs if needed, they are easy to replace if needed later, cheaper and safer I'd say than messing with the wheels.

Thank you for the opinions, folks :) I guess the next obvious question is: best place (and manufacturer) of 20mm bolt-on hubcentrics for the Z32 please!

Shame you don't need 25mm hubcentric as I have two pairs of them!

 

super forma are a good make which are the ones I have but they retail at £104 per pair!

I had 25mm on until this morning and the wheel was possibly protruding beyond the lip of the arch :( So I reckon 20mm would keep everything in line.

 

Another question: would spacers accentuate any wobble caused by, for example, a slightly unbalanced wheel? Or am I correct in attributing the wobble to the spacers as there's now no wobble at all without them...?

Si - Speak to Tarmac over on 350z-uk.

I tested his new suppliers spacers on mine. He's doing some good prices on them too.

Mention that I sent you from this site.

I'd shoot for Eibach bolt-on hubcentrics. Top quality products. MWTech on the 350z forum makes some high quality hubcentric bolt-on spacers too.

Perfectly balanced wheels and quality spacers fitted to nice clean hubs should result in no wheel wobble, but yes, if there are any slight issues they will be accentuated with the fitment of spacers. They also add more stress to the bearings too.

I have fitted them in the past, with no problems though.:)

^^ as above, I have had high quality spacers fitted for years and zero problems!

MWTech on the 350z forum makes some high quality hubcentric bolt-on spacers too.

 

I'm afraid this is no longer the case.

The owner died of a sudden illness late last year.

Si - Speak to Tarmac over on 350z-uk.

I tested his new suppliers spacers on mine. He's doing some good prices on them too.

Mention that I sent you from this site.

 

Spoken to him already but he won't have any 20mm ones for about 3 weeks :(

I'm afraid this is no longer the case.

The owner died of a sudden illness late last year.

 

WTF!? Damn! Had no idea (obviously).

Yeah. Martin got back from Holiday, took ill, and passed away a few days later.

 

He wasn't all that old either.

It was a rough period on 350z-uk.com. We lost 4 members in 12 months to illness.

all this talk of 25mm spacers, anybody have a spare set they no longer need :) ?