How many here are running wheel spacers?

[TheFrog]

I invariably fit H&R spacers on the rear axle of my cars to discreetly fill out the wheel arches a little better. Nothing stupid - usually 10-12mm on each wheel - and I was wondering if you had any advice on what size is best for the Polo, particularly the Blue GT.

This is for aesthetic reasons only, I just prefer the look. I will be keeping the OE suspension and 17" wheels and don't want it to appear as if the car is running on spacers. Subtlety is what I'm after.

Advice?

[Your evil twin]

The more - the better looks - the worse for the car.

/thread

[TheFrog]

The more - the better looks - the worse for the car.

/thread

I am aware of the impact of spacers on the bearings, but would still like to hear from anyone who has fitted them.

[Your evil twin]

OK I'm trying to be a bit more constructive.
I've used many spacers in the past on my old cars, all the way from 5mm to 40.
For street use, the safe limit is around 20mm. It adds a bit of unsprung weight of course, but it usually won't affect bearing lifetime more than a wider-bigger wheel.
Going from 15 to like 17 inch will make more difference in that.

There are some other possible problems as well..
The arm of force (Fvector) will change, therefore the whole running gear will work and wear differently.

A spacer will add a bit of tension to the wheel itself, and a cheap, badly made wheel might crack with time.
It's very rare, but can actually occur.

Pictures please tho

[TheFrog]

I agree with you and will probably go for 10mm max. I haven't got the car yet, but looking at this photo found online, it looks as if VW has pushed the back wheels into the body an inch or two. Desperately needs filling out just a little, IMO.

[Your evil twin]

Even 20 is perfectly ok.

[Tooks]

On my GTI, I run 15mm spacers on the rear with the OEM wheels.

I'd like to run 10mm, but the hub centre section sticks out about 12mm too, so hub centric spacers less than 12mm don't fit.

You can of course use non hub centric spacers at lower widths, which I tried, but got too much wheel wobble as they couldn't be centred properly.

My winter alloys fill the arches a lot better than the stock ones actually, being ET38 rather than ET46 of the stock wheels, it's like having built in 8mm spacers.

That's the way to do it really if you can, get wider wheels and/or a different offset.

[TheFrog]

I'd like to run 10mm, but the hub centre section sticks out about 12mm too, so hub centric spacers less than 12mm don't fit.

Thanks for the input, though I'm not sure I fully understand this bit. Any chance you could post a photo of what 15mm looks like?

[Tooks]

I'd like to run 10mm, but the hub centre section sticks out about 12mm too, so hub centric spacers less than 12mm don't fit.

Thanks for the input, though I'm not sure I fully understand this bit. Any chance you could post a photo of what 15mm looks like?

It's harder to explain than to show, that's for sure! Basically, hubcentric spacers less than 12-13mm won't fit.

Here's mine with 15mm rear, and the front standard.

url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/tookeyi/14671486315/][/url]
Polo GTI by iaintookey, on Flickr

[TheFrog]

Here's mine with 15mm rear, and the front standard.

That's perfect, exactly the look I'm after. I have ordered some 12mm spacers from Germany, so I hope they fit. Many thanks for posting the photo.

[Your evil twin]

The best solution is to get spacers with 57.1mm center bore and a same diameter flange for the wheel, so it won't cause wobble.
15mm and wider spacers can be made like this.

OR get a pair of 1" wider rims and put them in the back

[HappyGoLucky]

with the 15mm spacers, are you using stock bolts or extended ones?

[iichel]

pretty sure they are extended