Why wheel spacers cause vibration and how to fix it?

Wheel Spacers play an important role for style and safety when you are building a custom ride.But have you ever experienced quite a bit of vibration after you install new wheel spacers on your Chevy Silverado or BMW 3 series ? 

We noticed they are many discussion about it but why so many people reflect that wheel spacers are causing vibration ? Is really wheel spacers' problem ?

Today let us discuss why and how to fix it.

The main reason for vibration from wheel spacers

As we all know, change one thing, it affects others.In fact ,wheel spacers in themselves don’t cause vibration,they are just increasing the cars sensitivity to a pre-existing problem.Wheel spacers could be magnifying an existing imbalance or out-of-round condition in tires. Also, this may be incompatible with the natural frequency of the front control arm bushings. Most likely, though, is an amplified pre-existing problem.Anyway,a few causes lead to vibration.

1.Sometimes wheel weights get knocked off or lost when pulling wheels on/off the car.

2.If the wheels were out of balance, the spacers would magnify the effect.

3.Its possible that the wheels didn't seat correctly on the hubs. Lowering the car more than was necessary to keep the wheel from turning.

How to fix the problem ?

1. Firstly, getting rid of the problem of wheel spacers themselves and making sure everything was mating up correctly.

For example,wheel bore should match the hub.When the wheel is in the air, give it a spin and check for any misalignment/wobble/etc.Both the face of the wheel hub and the back of the wheel spacers are clean,no rust or corrosion. Maybe it is just a small burr on one surface.Make sure wheel bolts are long enough and are torqued and retorqued after a few miles.After check it,pls try to remove them and re-install.

2. Rebalance or correct an out of round condition of your tires

Following the above step,removed everything, cleaned/inspected for any small dents/gashes in the wheels/hubs/spacers, put everything back together and torqued the bolts in a star pattern with only a bit of weight on the wheels but it’s still vibrating.Then it’s certainly the vibration wasn’t caused by wheel spacers but there is an existing imbalance or out of round in a tire of your car.Then you need to go for a rebalance.Finding a technician that actually understands how the tire balance works. Most better shops can handle this. Just go in and ask if the technician knows how to overide the automatic zero or whatever its called. Expect to pay extra for the additional time it will take.If the tire may be out of round, in which case a small amount of shaving will be necessary. If you find a shop that can correct an out of round condition, we’ll assume they also understand balancing to less than 1/8 oz.And the problem is now almost gone.

3. Very smooth roads don't cause any vibration.

After rebalance or correct an out of round condition of your tires,any vibration left its entirely road induced.Very smooth roads don't cause any vibration.

Conclusion

Generally speaking,good wheel spacers don't cause any vibration,if you are running wheel spacers and experiencing vibration issues,three steps to check :1.make sure everything was mating up correctly.2.Check whether there is an existing imbalance or out of round in your tires.If so,go for a rebalance or correct an out of round condition.3.Check whether the roads conditions cause vibration.

Hope this article can help you know why wheel spacers cause vibration and how to fix it.For more information about the other kinds of car or motorcycle repair information,you could keep an eye on our blog ,which is dedicated to share professional tutorials for most automotive aftermarket.