Made a $120+ mistake today. Ruined my Bora front wheel spacers. (1 Viewer)

[DIFF LOCK]

I’ve owned these 1.25” spacers (full set of four) for about nine months. This was only the second time installing them back on the vehicle and I got a false positive that I had clocked the fronts correctly against the hub. There’s only one position out of five in which everything lines up perfectly and in both cases (R & L), it seemed like it lined up on the second try after rotating it one lug nut. Bolted them up and everything seemed normal short of a “gap” that took a while to close as I torqued things down. It wasn’t until I went to mount the wheel that I noticed I had wrecked the inner flanges of the spacer. Went and checked the drivers side and same story. Ugh!!! This sucks. I’ll certainly be WAY more mindful next time.

Learn from my mistake…

 

[ClassyJalopy]

Do those little flange pieces even matter? Doesn't the rest of the actual spacer fits pretty tight to the hub?

 

[DIFF LOCK]

Do those little flange pieces even matter? Doesn't the rest of the actual spacer fits pretty tight to the hub?

No idea, but with most of them bent outwards, the wheel can’t clear them and mate to the face of the spacer anymore.

 

[e9999]

are these little flanges supposed to take care of hub-centricity? yes, it seems like this should still be usable.

 

[OEMGUY0720]

I believe those cut-out flange aka hub centric design do serve a purpose. I remember a year or two ago someone posted using an eBay generic (non-hub centric) wheel spacer on his 100 and immediately got vibration on the steering wheel. He got it removed and vibration went away hence have isolated the culprit to the wheel spacer. Then ordered the Bora based from the consensus of most comments and steering wheel had no vibration.

 

[DIFF LOCK]

Yeah, no way I’m going to run these in this condition. I’m calling Motorsport Tech tomorrow morning to order a new front pair. Maybe they have a “User error” discount for a replacement set.

 

[e9999]

those tabs do look pretty flimsy actually. I don't think they really should normally be stressed too much though so might be OK.

But I would try the spacers on, looks like they should still center OK. And I don't see this as being a safety issue (aside from the general spacer issues).

 

[DIFF LOCK]

Received my new Bora front spacers from Motorsport Tech today. In the end, this was a $151.50 mistake. However, valuable lesson learned and I’m now marking these so they’re idiot-proof!

 

[crowdaddy911]

Sweet

 

[awesomeissquid]

those tabs do look pretty flimsy actually. I don't think they really should normally be stressed too much though so might be OK.

But I would try the spacers on, looks like they should still center OK. And I don't see this as being a safety issue (aside from the general spacer issues).

I agree the tabs do look pretty flimsy.

I would assume since the wheels are hub-centric they are using those to correctly center the wheel on the studs before they are tightened down. Once everything is torqued down the studs must take the load while driving making the tabs not stressed like you said.

 

[ZG MN]

Broke a few tabs off of my drivers side Bora yesterday- it installed correctly after, so I should be ok until a new set come in?