Wheel spacers advice please

[Pondrew]

I am looking into putting 10-15mm spacers on my other car, along with a 15mm lowering kit. This is purely for cosmetics and "stance". I have found good quality parts (Eibach for both).
The vehicle doesn't have adaptive shocks but does have torque vectoring (don't understand what that entails TBH). It also has an electronic LSD.

I have heard from an engineer friend that increasing the track could put excess strain on the drivetrain and suspension. Has anyone got any information on the mechanical pitfalls of spacers please?

 

[Anonymous]

What car are you driving?

 

[Pondrew]

What car are you driving?

It's a mk4 Focus ST estate Ecoboost

 

[Anonymous]

What car are you driving?

It's a mk4 Focus ST estate Ecoboost

Spacer issues to an extent are as you suspected drive train / suspension related...would suggest you speak to Focus SMEs

 

[Pondrew]

What car are you driving?

It's a mk4 Focus ST estate Ecoboost

Spacer issues to an extent are as you suspected drive train / suspension related...would suggest you speak to Focus SMEs

The fast Ford fraternity tend to have the common opinion of "don't worry; if it looks good do it". I don't roll like that.

 

[Anonymous]

It's a mk4 Focus ST estate Ecoboost

Spacer issues to an extent are as you suspected drive train / suspension related...would suggest you speak to Focus SMEs

The fast Ford fraternity tend to have the common opinion of "don't worry; if it looks good do it". I don't roll like that.

People cut fast n loose on many cars with spacers...personally apart from re-dressing offset issues caused by non OE wheels I wouldn’t go more than about 10mm or so but others are obviously better design engineers :tumbleweed:

 

[Pondrew]

They are OE wheels; 19s. I will try to get some more technical info from the net and talking to people. Thanks anyway

 

[BMWZ4MC]

Anecdotally, I’ve used spacers on my ///M for more than a decade, during which time I’ve covered 60k miles including many thousands of miles on track using semi slick tyres. I found a little play in both front and rear wheel bearings on the driver’s side at over 70k miles and replaced them, but I’ve experienced no other mechanical problems that might be attributed to increasing the track.

 

[Pondrew]

Anecdotally, I’ve used spacers on my ///M for more than a decade, during which time I’ve covered 60k miles including many thousands of miles on track using semi slick tyres. I found a little play in both front and rear wheel bearings on the driver’s side at over 70k miles and replaced them, but I’ve experienced no other mechanical problems that might be attributed to increasing the track.

Interesting. What size spacers have you been using, and what are the width of wheels/ tyres on the M?

 

[BMWZ4MC]

Over that time I’ve used 5mm, 12mm and 15mm spacers with four different sets of wheels (all of which are OEM width or wider, but with variable offsets). The track has been increased by at least 5-10mm since 2014 in order to clear my aftermarket suspension uprights.
Added to that are the additional loads generated through using sticky tyres and much higher cornering speeds than are usually seen on the road.