wheel spacing

[Frankie5bellies]

I am thinking of applying some wheel spacers to my Jimny

I have read lots of differing views about types and fitting --

Anyone got info or experience of this mod??

Thanks

[ScottieJ]

Personally I don't see the point in fitting wheel spacers, In my opinion they do not improve a Suzuki in any way.

[timwilks13]

Yea should really be a last ditch addition imo. Any thing you particularly need them for? I used them when i fitted bigger wheels on none offset rims to have to clear the springs in my SJ, but you're only going to make yourself wider to sit in the tracks and landrovers etc. Not to mention the extra bearing strain you will be adding.

[donkeychomp]

Well I use them for the simple reason...the higher you go the wider you should go in order to retain some stability. I know some just do the VL which I think looks great too. Grayston are the cheap spacers but work fine, but are also a bastard to fit. Billet ones are maybe twice as expensive but stronger and fit in moments. (see the no dosh vitara revamp)

[ROBBIE]

I ran greystones for years with no problems

[donkeychomp]

And so did I with Piglet2 and Piglet6 has them on the rear..nowt wrong with them, but they are a pain in the arse to fit...

[Anton]

I've seen Graystons split on a Hilux, although they'd be under twice the load on a Hilux.

[ScottieJ]

32mm of extra width on each side is going to make such a minimal difference to the stability on a side slope that you probably wouldn't even notice. You might gain maybe 1* over the theoretical tip over point. Most of the time roll overs are due to momentum and sudden weight shifts so it won't help there anyway.

You would have better results keeping the centre of gravity as low as possible, not storing heavy items high up etc. Increasing track width doesn't lower the centre of gravity, it just increases the angle that you can get to before you hit the theoretical tip over point.

Bad points
*Wider track means you are more likely to fit in the ruts of larger vehicles loosing ground clearance
*Increased positive scrub radius, too much can increase kick back off road, increases steering effort, cause instability under heavy braking if the brake balance is out, reduces arch clearance at full lock.
*Increased leverage and strain on kingpin and wheel bearings
*More to unbolt during servicing.


Good points
*A minimal increase in stability in off camber situations
*Increases leaf spring/radius arm clearance at full lock but see above with regards to loosing body clearance.

[twiss]

Depends how you use them really.
Ive got 1" spacers on mine with the 31s 8j non-offset rims.
With that combo the distance between the inner edges of the tyres is about an inch larger than with stock wheels and tyres, so it still floats over the top of the ruts instead of dropping into them
It did reduced the arch clearance a bit at full lock but where i've chopped the arches out its ended up ok

Without the spacers the tyres rub on the springs... could have fixed it with actual offset wheels but spacers were a lot cheaper option

I have the cheap grayston type

[Rhinoman]

I've had good results from spacers, 32mm spacers on the Vitara gave a very noticeable improvement in stability, the difference on the Jimny is less but its still noticeable. I only ever use the billet spacers.