Wheel spacers causing vibration?

[Lear70]

Hello the camp.

My 2000 S4 has had many issues, I'm resolving them one by one, and this one has aggravated me since Day 1.

I bought the car, and it had some very nice 19" aftermarket wheels on it so I kept them.

It kept eating tires about every 2,000-3,000 miles, mainly the right front but sometimes left front. Couldn't find any contact, it was somewhere on the inner wall.

When it wasn't eating tires, it was a very smooth ride. So I put a new suspension on it (all Audi parts). Great ride, still eating wheels.

So I bought some generic wheel spacers. It stopped eating tires. But started vibrating at speeds >60. Even after a re-balance and alignment. They're basically bolt-through spacers and clearly have some play before they're torqued down tightly. The vibration comes and goes, like a pulse of 20-25 seconds on then nothing for 15-20 seconds, not entirely predictable but close to that.

Any thoughts on the spacers causing the vibration? I don't have a spare set of original wheels to test, I don't want to go back to stock wheels but very tired of eating tires.

Anyone had this before?

[DieselElectric]

How thick are these? And does your wheel bore match the hub?

I run ECS spacers with the extended hub, 15mm front, 20mm rear, no issues. If you can't be sure that the wheel is centered to the hub, you will get a vibration.

[vavJETTAw36]

Yes make sure it has the hub centric hubs built into the spacer. I had this issue with even ecs spacers. You'll need at least a 10mm I believe.


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[Sumo337]

I run ECS 20mm spacers with 57.1>73.1 rings, and also vibrates.

Wheels are WCI MT10 18x9.5 on 215/40s all squared. Not sure why it vibrates, my TH-lines & A8 pie plates with spacers never vibrates.

[CJ_]

Yeah I got pretty much the same vibration you're describing after going with eBay 20mm spacers. Im going with different wheels and 10mm spacers soon, so hoping this will solve the problem.

[wbrunner23]

You should really get spacers with extended hub. Otherwise, it can be difficult to center the wheel. It's possible tho if you push and pull the wheel as you install the lugs

[Mark00s4]

I had the same issue. You got to make sure that both the face of the wheel hub and the back of the are clean,no rust or corrosion. Make sure wheel bolts are long enough and are torqued and retorqued after a few miles. This worked for me .

[Lear70]

I'm picking up a set in the marketplace that appear to have the extended hub. Thanks!

[Lear70]

Alright, guess I'm not picking up a set. Guy sold them out from under me after I posted I'd take them. Such is life. Will look for a set. Not paying $200 plus, will have to wait for used...

[wbrunner23]

Check out 42 draft design. They make quality spacers and cost less than everyone else.