I was just playing around with the Brembo brakes I just bought and my BBS wheels. It looks like I'll have clearance issues just like everyone else. I think from my mock-up (without the car) it looks like I only need about 3/4" to clear so I figured I'd opt for 1" spacers to be safe. That should take care of the fanblades I'll be running in the winter as well I'm hoping. Can anyone who's running 1" spacers on a lowered car shoot some pics for me? I know there will be differences from one wheel to the next but I'd like to see what folks have. Thanks guys!

 

This is an early pic of mine w/ 1" spacers

 

Here are some pics of mine w/1" spacers on the front wheels.

It looks ok, but it also makes the rears really look like they need them. I am considering putting 1/2" up front, and moving the 1" to the rear for a more even look, considering it turned out that I didn't need the full 1" space for the GT500 brakes, more like <10mm.

 

I did mine over the weekend in prep for the brakes. I used H&R spacers (they are the same as each other).

Car looks good with the 18" pol bullitts since they are about 1/3" back further than the blades to begin with at least.

I did have to knock a bit of the guide tips off of the studs on the car though to clear the wheel pockets.

 

classj, pictures would be good. I'd like to see the 18" bullitts with the spacers.

 

Thanks guys! I'm glad to see Krissy was able to clear the Brembos with fanblades! I'm also glad to see that I might be able to get away with less than 1". I'll start with 1" then if space allows I can start milling them down.

 

If you can slip 2 business cards between the wheel and the caliper, its plenty of clearance.

You can get the GT500 kit in red??

The fanblades look good like that, totally 'stuffed' full of brake

 

Yep, that's enough for me! If I ever have an issue then there are far worse things to worry about!

 

how much wheel space did you need in order to clear your brakes with stock 18's?? i have the ford 18 bullits, I bought the baer kit and I need spacers so the brakes fit. so you needed 1"?? or less?

 

With 25mm spacers (1") I measured at the shop with their digital measuring...thingy...and had 18mm left of gap between the caliper and rim, so truthfully you only need about 8mm or so of spacing for the fanblades to fit. I round that up to 12.5mm, or 1/2" and you'd be set - since it's easier to find a 1/2" spacer for Mustangs then, say, 9mm.

No, GT500 brakes come in black, I painted them: http://forums.bradbarnett.net/showthread.php?t=64176

 

I drove the car about 70 miles today for the first time with the spacers. The car is perfect, wheel ballance is the same, like glass. I had it up to 90 for a bit.

The car feels flatter through the corners too. Overall with the recent mods so far it is better on all fronts with no downsides.

 

Hijacking my own thread...I just noticed that you have Bilsteins in your sig. How do you like them? I also noticed the H&Rs. Which H&Rs are you running? I picked up some super sports since I like it as tight as I can get it. I really wanted Bilsteins (love them on my BMWs) but they didn't have a sport application for the S197 yet.

 

I have the H&R sports and Bilstien HD's. It is about as stiff as a E46 M3. Maybe a tad softer at times.

The shocks are certainly up to the task and feel awesome. Overall the suspension is great with unbelievable body control.

In the past, for me, the bilstien sports have been a little stiff for daily use compared to the koni yellows set to about 1/3 stiff. Sometimes they leave the bil sports alone valving wise and just shorten the shafts, other times they firm it up alot.

If you are looking for STIFF, then I would say the super sport springs and Koni yellows that are coming out soon should be teeth jarring enough for anyone when set to full stiff.

But for me, I was looking for no stiffer than an M3, that is what Bilstein told me the spring/shock combo would net approximatly, I think that is what I got.

 

Great feedback! Thanks for the info!

 

OK, not to throw cold water on the spacer "love-in," but I was looking seriously at doing this with my fanblades and the KDW NTs in order to recreate the look of the early production cars Ford was showing off in '05, and all the research I did online suggested that spacers are a good thing to avoid. This was confirmed by two performance shops I talked to.

Simple reason: They destabilize the wheels, no matter how slightly, jeopardizing safety.

Anyone else want to chime in with thoughts on this...?

 

There are two varieties of spacers: hubcentric and non-hubecentric. The non-hubcentric spacers are often cast and can definitely lead to problems as it's virtually impossible to get them centered when installing the wheel. High quality hubcentric spacers - i.e. H&R are machined and effectively are no more than an extension of the hub itself. The only major downside to spacers is higher than normal loading of the bearings due to the increased moment. The moment is increased as a result of the fact that the load from the wheel is now further away from the bearing. On track this could lead to premature bearing failure (to some degree), but I'm not convinced it would be a major issue on the street. I personally was of the school that spacers are bad, but I've given it a lot of thought and am convinced there's no major issue so long as they're absolutely hubcentric.

 

H&R told me as long as any brand name spacer is torqued to the right specs and checked periodically, you will have no problems with spacers

 

Porsche and BMW guys have been running H&R spacers for years without trouble.

Where you can run into problems is when you start putting really long studs and thick spacers and start loading the studs with higher forces. But bolt on spacers like the H&R eliminate this problem and have no issues like that.

As far as the spacers loosening up where bolted to the car. I have my wheels off every 6K miles or so when switching to snows for the winter or back to summer tires so I will just torque them at every tire change.

As far as the wheel bearing issue, I agree that it will wear more certainly. But keep in mind that the shelby wheels stick out 3/4" further than the stock polished bullitts. The fanblades and 17" wheels stick out 1/2" further than the stock 18" bullitts.

And the spacers really only are bringing the tire out to where it would be with a 9" 34mm offset wheel. Which is super common for our cars and hundreds of guys are running them. The 18" deep dish are this offset for example.

From the cars standpoint. Geometry wise the spacers are no different than a wheel with a different offset.

 

I have had spacers on my 01' stang since I got it and never had a problem.

DP

 

Hmmm... Most of the digging I have done regarding spacers repeatedly reveals issues of excessive wear on tires and suspension parts, reduced ride quality and potential mechanical failure (aka: not safe).

From a posting on another site >>

Think I'll play it safe and avoid them.