Wheel spacers

Even if you can find them, I'd strongly recommend against using them. You can never get them properly torqued and risk the wheel coming off. Spacers are for teenagers with T/As.

I love the FUD that always comes up when someone mentions spacers. As long as the studs are long enough and torqued properly, they're perfectly fine. I agree a small 1/4 or 3/8 spacer would look nice and give a little more clearance on the inside of the wheel well (since it seems awfully tight stock).

v3lzie said:

I love the FUD that always comes up when someone mentions spacers.

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This isn't FUD. Seen it happen too many times even with properly torqued and long enough studs. The problem is the multiple mating surfaces that work lose. Yes, you could check the torque before every drive, but I doubt anyone would do that.

Not maliciously so, and I'll certainly agree with you that they're one more thing that could possibly go wrong. (And if or when a spacer does fail, it's no doubt more disasterous than the lesser aesthetics of not running a spacer.) That being said, I've run spacers on my very high horsepower Cobra for years without issue, and I'd happily put them on the Tesla, too, if I could find a high quality piece. But they're not for everyone.

Porsche fits spacers as an option from the factory on a variety of cars. I think that's a fair indication that, when used and sized properly, there's nothing wrong with them.

Spacers would need to be 1 inch at least to have any aesthetic or cornering performance impact, it would seem. So you now have 2 wms instead of one. Plus the lug nuts are now 1 inch further out on the bolts, bending, bending with every launch, every back off (to full regen). Plus owner so hung on aesthetics would naturally have some sort of aftermarket rims which likely come with non OEM nuts adding further unknowns to the equation. Re-Torque often!!
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JST said:

Porsche fits spacers as an option from the factory on a variety of cars. I think that's a fair indication that, when used and sized properly, there's nothing wrong with them.

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Perhaps, but you can be assured that the spacers were properly designed and engineered for the car if they were offered by the company. You don't get that guarantee otherwise. Neither an endorsement/promotion or warning... just something to think about.

FlasherZ said:

Perhaps, but you can be assured that the spacers were properly designed and engineered for the car if they were offered by the company. You don't get that guarantee otherwise. Neither an endorsement/promotion or warning... just something to think about.

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Sure. You have to buy from a reputable company. But people seem generally comfortable fitting aftermarket wheels; I don't really see why spacers are any different. I used a set of 5 mm spacers on my old BMW winter wheels so that I could mount E46 wheels to an E90, and they worked perfectly fine. No issues at all.

To answer the OPs original question, I am not sure--but you may want to contact a BMW tuner like UUC or Turner and see if they'd be willing to start offering a set.

> The real issue is getting a hub centric quality spacer and making sure you have enough turns of the thread and proper torque. [FlyYellow]

5mm = 0.197 inch. You can get t6061 Al in 0.19 and 0.25 inch plate from one online supplier and make your own spacers. Other suppliers might have 0.20 plate. Assume these are for fitting rims that would hit the calipers otherwise. T6061 and the like should be sufficient quality for this service.
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I ordered 5mm hub centric spacers from this place: https://www.motorsport-tech.com

I just put them on, and it removed the vibration I was getting at 60mph+.

Cost was $35/ea (needed 2). They made them the same day!

Tesla Bore Size: 64mm (went with 64.1, just in case)
Wheel bore size: 72.56mm

I have a P85D with a staggered setup and air suspension that I recently installed HRE RS102M's - 245/40/20 (20x9) in front and 285/35/30 (20x10.5) in rear. However, on alignment we noticed some slight rubbing on the rears. Below is a picture of the side with the worst wear.



It doesn't look too bad but I think I need some small spacers to prevent this. I don't know much on this topic but I'm thinking I could get something similar to @tdiggity above and go with 5mm hub centric spacers from www.motorsports-tech.com. Regarding centricity, there are 2 options listed on the website and I want to make sure which option is correct. These particular wheels are hub centric so I'm pretty sure I need the hub centric spacers; I don't know where the machined lip will fit on my wheels. Below are the centricity options from the motorsports-tech.com website:

Hub Centric to Vehicle Hub
This is a flat spacer that fits perfectly tight on the hub.

Hub Centric to Vehicle and Wheel Centric to Wheel
Fits hub perfectly tight and, where wheel bolts to adapter, a custom machined adapter lip fits perfectly tight into wheel's center hole. This extra measure positively influences the ride and kills vibration. Highly recommended for newer vehicles and those which will be used for towing.

Thanks for your help in advance.

Regards, Ben

jerry33 said:

Even if you can find them, I'd strongly recommend against using them. You can never get them properly torqued and risk the wheel coming off. Spacers are for teenagers with T/As.

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I have spacers on my P85D, and also on a few of my Italian & German mid engine toys. Please do your homework before making such blanket statement.

A 5mm hub centric spacer should correct the rubbing on the rear and retain the OEM studs and lug nuts.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-Hub-Centr...ash=item35f911ddc0:g:xAwAAOSwHaBWlVPU&vxp=mtr



QUOTE=benjiejr;1345668]I have a P85D with a staggered setup and air suspension that I recently installed HRE RS102M's - 245/40/20 (20x9) in front and 285/35/30 (20x10.5) in rear. However, on alignment we noticed some slight rubbing on the rears. Below is a picture of the side with the worst wear.

It doesn't look too bad but I think I need some small spacers to prevent this. I don't know much on this topic but I'm thinking I could get something similar to @tdiggity above and go with 5mm hub centric spacers from www.motorsports-tech.com. Regarding centricity, there are 2 options listed on the website and I want to make sure which option is correct. These particular wheels are hub centric so I'm pretty sure I need the hub centric spacers; I don't know where the machined lip will fit on my wheels. Below are the centricity options from the motorsports-tech.com website:

Hub Centric to Vehicle Hub
This is a flat spacer that fits perfectly tight on the hub.

Hub Centric to Vehicle and Wheel Centric to Wheel
Fits hub perfectly tight and, where wheel bolts to adapter, a custom machined adapter lip fits perfectly tight into wheel's center hole. This extra measure positively influences the ride and kills vibration. Highly recommended for newer vehicles and those which will be used for towing.

Thanks for your help in advance.

Regards, Ben[/QUOTE]

Updated link for correct Hub & Wheel Centric spacers for the Tesla Model S.

Tesla Model S Wheel Spacers 4 Spacers 15mm (F) & 18mm (R) by Adaptec Made In USA

benjiejr said:

I have a P85D with a staggered setup and air suspension that I recently installed HRE RS102M's - 245/40/20 (20x9) in front and 285/35/30 (20x10.5) in rear. However, on alignment we noticed some slight rubbing on the rears. Below is a picture of the side with the worst wear.

It doesn't look too bad but I think I need some small spacers to prevent this. I don't know much on this topic but I'm thinking I could get something similar to @tdiggity above and go with 5mm hub centric spacers from www.motorsports-tech.com. Regarding centricity, there are 2 options listed on the website and I want to make sure which option is correct. These particular wheels are hub centric so I'm pretty sure I need the hub centric spacers; I don't know where the machined lip will fit on my wheels. Below are the centricity options from the motorsports-tech.com website:

Hub Centric to Vehicle Hub
This is a flat spacer that fits perfectly tight on the hub.

Hub Centric to Vehicle and Wheel Centric to Wheel
Fits hub perfectly tight and, where wheel bolts to adapter, a custom machined adapter lip fits perfectly tight into wheel's center hole. This extra measure positively influences the ride and kills vibration. Highly recommended for newer vehicles and those which will be used for towing. Thanks for your help in advance.

Regards, Ben

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Anyone tried to order a set for a new non "P" model with Slipstream wheels. There rear tire is especially tucked in the wheel well, but that is probably done for better aerodynamics designed by engineering department.

Here are a bunch of photos of the 18mm wheel spacers I installed about a month ago. I've now driven about 3,000 miles on them with no issues. Here's a thread I posted on the topic.

artsci said:

Here are a bunch of photos of the 18mm wheel spacers I installed about a month ago. I've now driven about 3,000 miles on them with no issues. Here's a thread I posted on the topic.

Click to expand...

I am thinking about purchasing wheel spacers for my MX, and I have a question about the photos above.....obviously the new spacers include the threaded studs, which extend off the spacer itself. The existing threaded studs that are already on the car then come through the pre-drilled holes in the spacer, and get fastened with a nut? How does the wheel mount when there are a total of 10 studs protruding from the spacer? I know the studs that are already integrated into the spacer are longer than the existing ones, but won't the existing studs get in the way and prevent the wheel from mounting?

Sorry for my ignorance, but I've never owned a car that has the studs already mounted to the hub. All of my cars have used threaded lug bolts that screw into female holes in the hub, so when a spacer was added, all I had to do was buy longer bolts.

Can someone please explain?

Thanks!

Most rims, including Tesla’s, have cutouts/holes that in the exact place where the OEM hub studs and nuts protrude. So there is no problem mounting the rims on the spacers.

I now have 21” arachnid wheels on my car with 30mm spacers on the front and 20mm on the rear. There were no mounting problems of any kind. I’ve run spacers on my Model S for about two years and there have been no problems. Nonetheless there are still many folks who are adamantly ant-spacer. Perhaps that’s because they’ve seen examples of the consequences of poor spacer installations, which can be very bad.

You have to have the highest quality spacers and they must be both wheel and hub centric. The torque for both the spacer and wheel lug nuts must be carefully set to 129 ft/lbs. And you must use hard steel lug nuts, not the aluminum ones that many spacer shops supply. If you do it right, there will be no issues.