Wheel Spacers!, Questions! Lol. Options

[ILoveMySilly97]

Ok. So I have a 97 Celica GT that's riding on the 7gc gts rims. As you all know the rims are "sunk" in without spacers. I've been thinking a lot about getting spacers for it but I don't know what size will be best? I was thinking 25mm in the front and 30mm in the back? I'm just worried if it'll be too far out to where it'll be rubbing. My Celica is on AG lowering springs (Never heard of AG but it was on the Celica when I bought it). Also are the eBay one's legit?

[Tigawoods]

25's wont make you rub. I personally wouldnt go over 25mm
You might have some natural camber from the lowering springs too

[ILoveMySilly97]

I want to know why you personally wouldn't go over 25mm? Does having spacers affect the handling?

[Red123]

What about 15mm in front and 20mm back?

[Tigawoods]

I want to know why you personally wouldn't go over 25mm? Does having spacers affect the handling?

wheel bearings may go bad

[mak5603]

Just saying, I'm way over 25mm with my rears. Hell, even my fronts have 30mm.

When i drove at the track I had 25mm up front, 30mm in the rear. Different now though..

[jordisonjr]

Wow those are huge spacers lol.

[199celica]

I have 30mm rear and 25 in the front I had to cut my rear quarter panel because I went back to stock camber and im running the volkswagen jetta rims so it sits super flush. And the front I had to cut again because im not a big fan of the fender rolling.

[mak5603]

Wow those are huge spacers lol.

Until I get boss wheels, I would rather have big spacers than be sunken..

[Ted95]

i have 25mm with GTS wheels and they have a little poke, i like the aggressive look it gives. with an alignment they have little to no camber with lowering springs, i believe they are off be like 1 degree.

[ILoveMySilly97]

I've read up about how it decreases your wheel bearing life span. Does it decrease it a lot or just a bit?

[jordisonjr]

I'd rather be sunken then have to replace my wheel bearings every couple of months.

[manphibian]

25mm spacers don't make much difference to wheel bearing life in my experience.


Just make sure you get good quality hubcentric spacers. Eibach or similar. Not cheap eBay crap.

[mak5603]

I'd rather be sunken then have to replace my wheel bearings every couple of months.

Have fun with that bro. I remember when I believed everything that I read on the internet.

I have replaced 4 bearing on my car and it was ALL BEFORE my spacers. One side went out at about 170k and I replaced both with low quality Oreiellys bearings and one side went out shortly after so I replaced them both again with Timkens. Been fine ever since.

With my spacers I have had 0.00 problems and have had them for over 2 years of daily driving. Bearings can go out for a number of reasons, people are quick to blame spacers.. It can be affected by the way things are torqued down, bad alignments, bad cv joints / axles, loooots of things. Bearings are easy to fix anyways.. Just dont let it grind your hub.

Like Manphibian said, make sure you get quality hubcentric spacers. I have never used smaller than 25mm on my Celica.

[jordisonjr]

I'd rather be sunken then have to replace my wheel bearings every couple of months.

Have fun with that bro. I remember when I believed everything that I read on the internet.

I have replaced 4 bearing on my car and it was ALL BEFORE my spacers. One side went out at about 170k and I replaced both with low quality Oreiellys bearings and one side went out shortly after so I replaced them both again with Timkens. Been fine ever since.

With my spacers I have had 0.00 problems and have had them for over 2 years of daily driving. Bearings can go out for a number of reasons, people are quick to blame spacers.. It can be affected by the way things are torqued down, bad alignments, bad cv joints / axles, loooots of things. Bearings are easy to fix anyways.. Just dont let it grind your hub.

Like Manphibian said, make sure you get quality hubcentric spacers. I have never used smaller than 25mm on my Celica.

Thanks, Bro.

[Tigawoods]

there are two different kinds of spacers too FYI

the kind with extended lugs and you just place the spacer on your hub

and the kind that have studs already pressed in the spacer and you bolt the spacer to the original studs (with the nuts provided)

I have heard things here and there about one being better than the other.

I chose the bolt on spacers due to laziness and it was a pain in the butt to press in new studs on the hub.

I recommend H&R spacers

[mak5603]

Mine are H&R traks with the studs already pressed that bolt onto your existing studs.

[mkernz22]

I put longer studs in mine and I didn't need to press them in lol made my own contraption. But I'm only running 10mm spacers in the rear, and 5mm in the front. With the offset I have on the rims, it rubs when I go over bumps. And that's with the stock suspension lol

[ILoveMySilly97]

I see. Will thanks for all the information. At least now I know what to expect and not to expect.

[malpaso]

I have some info for you as well...

1) studs on your car has 24mm length (not whole but just that part outside the hub)
2) when you install bigger spacer than 5mm you need to replace your OEM studs with some longer.

so...
5mm - just install them (no need to do anything)
10mm - you need longer studs to install
15mm - you need longer studs to install
20mm - you have two options. a) longer studs to install or b) use spacers with own studs
25mm - you have two options. a) longer studs to install or b) use spacers with own studs
30mm - you should use spacers with own studs
35mm - you should use spacers with own studs

how big spacer you need depends on ET of your rims and width of the rim...

I have ET35 rims with width 7inches and it is looking like this with 20mm spacers (front and rear):







Those spacers are with own studs because even if it is less than length of OEM studs (for 4mm) like this:



It fits with no problem because wheels has some space on the rear side (I hope you know what I mean). Anyway since front is too much I decided to install there smaller once (10 or 5)... probably just 5mm to avoid changing the studs. Hope this helps.