Wheel Spacers + Wheel Bearing Question.

**J-jizzle** · 11-05-2008 10:33 PM

Does adding wheel spacers cause premature bearing failure? If so how much faster will they wear out?

I'm asking because I would like to buy some spacers for my stock 17's but have heard rummers. I don't want to add spacers then have my stock bearings with 80k on them going out shortly after.

**RAVI** · 11-05-2008 11:50 PM

for me it did..

**MikTip** · 11-05-2008 11:56 PM

Much depends on how and where you drive?

What really wears out wheel bearings is driving like you stole it, and poor road conditions, pot-holes, etc...

The spacers will place additional stress on the wheel bearings, but not by themselves, wear out bearings.

Larger wheels and tires, aftermarket lowering springs, and stiffer shocks all place additional stress on wheel bearings.

**B6Lovin** · 11-06-2008 12:57 AM

Originally Posted by MikTip

What really wears out wheel bearings is driving like you stole it

this is SO true lol. ask me how i know

**J-jizzle** · 11-06-2008 06:40 AM

Ok thanks for the replies. Hopefully since I'm keeping all the other stock components my stockers will still last me a good amount of time.

**AudiA4Turbo22** · 11-06-2008 06:48 AM

Originally Posted by B6Lovin

this is SO true lol. ask me how i know

how do u know?

**lookaught** · 11-06-2008 08:12 AM

Originally Posted by MikTip

The spacers will place additional stress on the wheel bearings, but not by themselves, wear out bearings.

This statement is contradictory. The added stress caused by the additional distance (and torque) b/c of the spacer causes the bearing life to decrease. If you drove two cars, one with spacers, one without, endlessly around a perfectly smooth oval track, the one with spacers would almost certainly wear out faster unless there is a defect in the heat treatment on the car without the spacers. Therefore, spacers alone CAN wear out the bearings more quickly, regardless of external conditions.

Once you get through the hardened metal on the race and it pits, its game over for bearings.

**absolutegtr** · 11-06-2008 09:31 AM

Just drive the car the way you want to....if it breaks, fix it....no need to fret about it

**J-jizzle** · 11-06-2008 11:50 AM

Originally Posted by absolutegtr

Just drive the car the way you want to....if it breaks, fix it....no need to fret about it

So true... Although that is easier said than done. I'm still in school so I don't have a lot of money all the time. So I do what I can when I can, which is hard with shit liking to break and wear out.

**Splattj** · 11-06-2008 12:34 PM

If you're using spacers to put wheels out to the factory spacing, it shouldn't cause excess wear. It should only be an issue if you're using spacers to put the wheels farther out. Right?

**MikTip** · 11-06-2008 02:22 PM

Originally Posted by lookaught

This statement is contradictory. The added stress caused by the additional distance (and torque) b/c of the spacer causes the bearing life to decrease. If you drove two cars, one with spacers, one without, endlessly around a perfectly smooth oval track, the one with spacers would almost certainly wear out faster unless there is a defect in the heat treatment on the car without the spacers. Therefore, spacers alone CAN wear out the bearings more quickly, regardless of external conditions.

Once you get through the hardened metal on the race and it pits, its game over for bearings.

There is a certain amout of inherent design strength/robustness to Audi wheels bearings. Exactly what this number is, Audi's engineers know. The larger the bearing, often the more stronger it is...

Simply adding spacers "may-or-may not" wear out wheel bearings. Many variables here:

Thickness of spacer- 1mm, 5mm, 10,mm, etc.
Wheel rim size and offset- Some rims "need" spacers...
Tire size, and traction.
road condition
Driving style
Suspension setup.

All these factors effect the life of a wheel bearing.

On my Audi Coupe, I could wear out a set of wheel bearings running SCCA on the weekend. Same exact bearing would last several years of normal street driving. Unless you hit a pot hole... Audi countered this by increasing the bearing size from 76mm to 82mm. My Audi 90 never suffered a single wheel bearing issue in the 13 years I owned it, and it had 18" wheels and 25mm spacers! (OEM wheels were 15")

I'm not gonna tell someone that wheels spacers alone will wear out bearings.
Too many variables, different wheel and tire combo's, etc, etc...

I like absolutegtr's fix:

"Just drive the car the way you want to....if it breaks, fix it"