I know my 'title' sounds like an excerpt from The Onion but I am currently having issues after installing my 15mm Ichiba II spacers. Mind you, the pics provided are NOT my car, nor rims. I have Falken 452's on G-Games Barracudas, 19 X 8.5 in the front and 19 x 9.5 in the rear.

After installing the spacers, everything is great except for the rubbing over speed bumps, which I think may be solved with rolling the fenders in the rear. But the main issue is that the OEM bolts rub against the inside face of my rims. When driving I notice a slight wobble too.

These OEM Bolts.......


Rub here on my Barracudas




Is it possible, just to shave/trim these bolts? And if so, what tool would you recommend for the job? Any helpful advice would be greatly appreciated

 

Bolts rub against inside of wheel? Bolts are supposed to set against the wheel. That is the space provided by the spacer correct?

 

Well, yes and no.

The OEM Bolts do come in contact with the highlighted areas on the inside of the rim. Now for example, when I put the wheel back on, torque down everything and then immediately take the wheel off, you can see indentions or grooves in the spaces (highlighted red) from the OEM bolts being too long. the only feasible option would be to shave/cut the OEM bolts by, lets say, 1/4 inch?

 

You need a bigger spacer, or different wheel.
The backspace on your wheel isn't deep enough.

 

A bigger spacer or newer rim would not be a good alternative IMO. With the current setup, the tires with the 15mm spacer, definitely make the stance wide enough.

Why wouldn't cutting/trimming the stock studs be a viable alternative?

I'm contemplating after work that I just buy a dremel and get it over with. It is rather odd though that after the hours of searching, I haven't found someone with the same issue, considering how easy of a process installing these spacers are

 

my friend had the same problem with his kics spacers and just cut off his. No problems but he intends to keep those spacers on for good. If you want to take it off later, make sure just to buy new studs and put it in. THey are only a couple of dollars each.

 

A dremel would take you three weeks to cut through all 20 stock studs... maybe a 4" angle grinder or sawzall...

Another issue I see is that you do not have any hubcentric rings, it is not good to run wiht just the studs keeping the rim centered, because it wont...

 

Trimming the studs will technically work, it will just be a pain whenever the spacers are removed, and threading the spacer nuts on the chopped studs may be difficult.

Edit - And if you do not have hubcentric spacers or rings, that is likely the cause of the wobble.

 

SuperBlack350z: Glad to hear that! Thank you for your input!

06blueZ: Good eye BUT like I said in the original post, the pics are NOT of my own vehicle. The hubcentric rings are installed on my car.

I'll try to post my results with the dremel. It is REALLY going to suck if I need something more powereful than a dremel to cut off those little ****ers.

 

Ah, I did read that but forgot... seriously, a dremel will be maddening, it will take forever!

 

are the wheels yours or someone elses pic? do your wheels have the openings between the lug holes on the back? If not, these spacers simply will not work without mcguyvering it, and hacking the stock lugs wont be worth it...

 

Yeah, they have a space for the OEM wheels but it's just not deep enough.

Like I said, either a dremel or a bolt cutter is in store for this job! I'll take pics. when I get home of either a solution....or a tragedy

 

why don't you just get spacers with extended studs. They are not that hard to install, and are the best option in your case, or go with a 20mm bolt on spacer for a flusher look

 

Another problem you might have is that those spacers are not hubcentric. They are lugcentric.

 

You might try drilling holes part way through the wheels. The would seem to be a lot easier then cutting the studs. Aluminum is pretty easy to drill. Just be careful and don't go all the way through.

Les

 

Success!

I purchased a small friend (see below )


Now, the issue at hand is depicted below. The OEM studs were just TOO long and the spaces in my rims were TOO shallow. Solution? Grind dat ****!


These are the OEM studs that I shaved down.



How much? About this much


So now that I have found the solution, which has cured the 'wobble,' I now get to spend my entire Sat. morning grinding down the 3 other stud sets. Oh, and I shaved them down just enough so that If I ever do remove the spacers, there is still enough residual threading for the lugs.

Ch33rs!

 

The wobble was likely because your wheels were not able to seat properly against the spacer due to not enough backspacing. As log as you are OK with shortening the stock studs, I think your solution was the easiest. Good work!

 

I agree- let us know if you still continue to get that wobble, I bet you won't since your wheel is now properly seated against the extended hub.

 

Well, just finished it up.

Here are the pics!





All 'wobbling' has been eliminated!

As you can see, I'm not drastically lowered with the Hotchkis TVS Stage 1 but it keeps me within specs. Plus, there is slight rubbing in the rear and I plan on having my fenders rolled in the near future. I'll probably just bite the bullet and go see Sharif so he can also install my new Jet Hot coated STRUP headers.

 

nice. my rims sat pretty flush. with the spacers it was +7 up front, and +2 in the rear