warning ...wheel spacers

[candy turbo]

took my wheels off today for a bit of routine cleaning to find this ......

   took the other side off to find that one the same ......
   
these are not cheap versions they are FK made in germany , they have only done about 300 miles on the car as i dont use it that much and i drive it with care , a few on here expressed concern about fitting spacers maybe you were right !!!
 ill be contacting the supplier monday but i wont be wanting a replacement set !!!!!!!!!!!!
 those of you who have these fitted (especially if to drive hard ) worth checking them!!!!!
   

[Greeners]

I took the ones the Wheelman (Ben) supplied me a few weeks ago after about 1k and they were perfect. Don't be put off mate, the hub ring does look very thin! 

[candy turbo]

not really a safty issue here the wheel was still securely fitted but dont think ill want any more ! the ring has to be thin to enable it to do what it has to do i suppose 

[Greeners]

not really a safty issue here the wheel was still securely fitted but dont think ill want any more ! the ring has to be thin to enable it to do what it has to do i suppose 

I'll have a look at mine tomorrow as Im sure there a bit more substantial than that! Hopefully Ben will be along to give his opinion.

[candy turbo]

getting married in 2 weeks so soon as back from honeymoon will be getting eibach springs fitted to make up for lost spacers!!!!

[candy turbo]

wanted rr to read this thread !!!!!!!!!!

[gazbutS3]

thats shocking, and it is a safety issue, the wheel bolts hold the wheel in place but the hub ring does take some of the load. Like Greenhouse says the rings do look thin, but just a thought, are they deffo the correct fitment, if not maybe there has been some excessive movement, just a thought.
I ran H&R spacers for 2000miles with no issues on the S3, and I don't hang about,  I would deffo be getting on to the supplier and its just lucky you cleaned your wheels, hope you get a result

[MAT ED30]

  that's bad mate defo never fitting them to mine

[Hurdy]

That is shocking.

I've been debating rear spacers, but I think I'll give it a miss

[candy turbo]

thats shocking, and it is a safety issue, the wheel bolts hold the wheel in place but the hub ring does take some of the load. Like Greenhouse says the rings do look thin, but just a thought, are they deffo the correct fitment, if not maybe there has been some excessive movement, just a thought.
I ran H&R spacers for 2000miles with no issues on the S3, and I don't hang about,  I would deffo be getting on to the supplier and its just lucky you cleaned your wheels, hope you get a result

the spacers were a really snug fit , when you think about it cause the spacer is only 10mm the part when the ring meets the spacer can only be so thick cause the original hubsticks out 8 mm so you only have 2 mm max which of alloy is not very strong !!! any one any idea what as caused them to to do this ? all bolts were tight to correct torque (i always use my torque wrench ) so i dont really understand whats gone wrong 

[tony_danza]

WOW!

That's shocking and quite worrying. I put 30k on a set of 10mm FK spacers, he only issues I had was with them sticking in the alloys. Luckily I don't feel the need to have them again.

[ub7rm]

I've heard a lot of horror stories invoving spacers.  Avoid....

[RedRobin]

wanted rr to read this thread !!!!!!!!!!

....Sorry to miss this thread, Ian.

I don't have any direct experience myself of using spacers but one or two or three extremely experienced car builders I know have advised me against it. Using spacers doesn't guarantee you'll have a problem, but there's clearly a degree of risk.

Only 2,000 miles is insufficient to prove them being trouble-free. Ben's 30k miles is much more realistic as a test.

For what it's worth, my advice is never to do such a mod just for looks but to only do it for very good functional reasons and take advice from a professional rather than a guy on an internet car forum (me included!).

[jamiekip]

I've had the H&R hubcentric spacers on my car for about 16 months now. Car has done about 18k miles with them on, 2 track days and several spirited runs over the North Yorkshire Moors with no issues.
Fortunately I do get the wheels off my car frequently for cleaning etc and well deffo be inspecting the hub element more closely for any sign of failng.

[The wheel man]

Its never good to see anything fail on a car, particulary an item that has been fitted as an aftermarket upgrade.  Spacers are definatly not my field of expertise (if i even have a field of expertise  )  I will however be sending these pioctures to the compant that has produced my spacers to see if they can throw any specialist information my way about the possible cause / likelyness of this happening.

Although it is unlikely to make a wheel fall off, im glad that you have spotted this and avoided and possible failure to such an important aspect of the car.