Dumb Spacer Question

[cjw]

I ordered some forged hubcentric 10mm spacers. Is it normal for the first use to need to torque the bolts like 20 times?

I torqued the bolts in a star pattern, but every time one was torqued, the others were loose. Had to go over and over and over for them to all be torqued. I'm thinking this might just be on first use and they are now seated and shouldn't be an issue - just curious.

[Skyler@Achtuning]

Something sounds very wrong here. What brand are the spacers and are you putting them on stock wheels or aftermarket? What bolts are you using?

[SteveYem]

I ordered some forged hubcentric 10mm spacers. Is it normal for the first use to need to torque the bolts like 20 times?

I torqued the bolts in a star pattern, but every time one was torqued, the others were loose. Had to go over and over and over for them to all be torqued. I'm thinking this might just be on first use and they are now seated and shouldn't be an issue - just curious.

Sounds to me like there was an interference fit that was not allowing the wheel/spacer/hub to sandwich together easily, and you were incrementally overcoming the interference by tightening each bolt until the wheel+spacer+hub were finally bottomed out on each other. The spacer should be a close slide fit onto the hub, and the wheel should be a close slide fit onto the spacer. It should not take any force to fit one piece onto/into the other. Can you confirm that this is how everything fit together?

[cjw]

It slid on and didn't look to have any fitment issue, but I'm not sure if there was just a bit of friction from some light corrosion or not. It's not like they snaped into place. No issues with ride quality or anything.

They are Bloxsport from Ebay (https://www.ebay.com/itm/4-Pcs-10MM-...RalQls&vxp=mtr)

M14x1.5 bolts, stock rotor wheels, torqued to 90 ft-lbs.

[SteveYem]

Can you confirm the bolts are spherical seat (OEM type)?

[AvusPdx]

cone seat vs ball seat lug bolts. Need to check them asap. Made this mistake a while back (using a cone seat for a ball seat wheels), I noticed a wobble and I only had 3 lug bolts left, one snapped and one was finger loose.

[cjw]

They are ball seat and match the stickers.

[cjw]

I'll pull a wheel tomorrow and check everything's normal.

[cjw]

FFS, I pulled a wheel, the wheel looks fine. The spacers are stuck on and look to have a hairline crack on the hub. If I had to guess, they got the hub bore too small. I'm not sure by how much would cause this. They even asked me to confirm the model and year of my car.

Now I have to figure how to get these off. A rubber mallet and screwdriver couldn't do it.

Rage. Any tips to get these off? Looks like YouTube has a few videos.

[SteveYem]

FFS, I pulled a wheel, the wheel looks fine. The spacers are stuck on and look to have a hairline crack on the hub. If I had to guess, they got the hub bore too small. I'm not sure by how much would cause this. They even asked me to confirm the model and year of my car.

Now I have to figure how to get these off. A rubber mallet and screwdriver couldn't do it.

Rage. Any tips to get these off?

I had a set of metal hub centering rings with slightly undersized bore on my 350z years ago. I took the wheels off and the rings were essentially pressed onto the hub. Come to think of it, I had the same symptom you reported when torquing the lug bolts....had to go around multiple times tightening incrementally to get the wheel to seat. Anyway, these were just hub rings so I used a Dremel tool with carbide cutting bit to cut through the rings and when the remaining material was thin enough the hoop stress in the part overcame the strength and they popped off. In your case you'll have a lot more material to cut off so it may not be viable.

I would take it to a shop and see what they say. Maybe they can put a torch on it around the center area to expand it enough to ease up the interference fit and allow them to pry/tap them off. It would be nice to leave the spacers intact so you can return them to the vendor for investigation and refund.

[switchedstance]

FFS, I pulled a wheel, the wheel looks fine. The spacers are stuck on and look to have a hairline crack on the hub. If I had to guess, they got the hub bore too small. I'm not sure by how much would cause this. They even asked me to confirm the model and year of my car.

Now I have to figure how to get these off. A rubber mallet and screwdriver couldn't do it.

Rage. Any tips to get these off? Looks like YouTube has a few videos.

Oh how you've fallen into the cheap Chinese spacer trap. Actual hub-centric bore on our car is 66.56mm. The ebay listing said 66.5mm. That's why ECS and other reputable companies sell a 66.6mm bore. Did you really save anything on cheap spacers now that you have to invest all this time to correct the issue?

Your best bet is to heat the spacer with a torch so it expands. I've also seen extra large gear pullers work if all else fails.

https://www.ecstuning.com/News/AUDI_...011_2012_2013/

[cjw]

Thanks for the condescension, but this wasn't cheap. I searched a few vendors and the shipping options to Canada were crazy. I also don't think this is a tenth of a mm issue. I think it's off by a bit more.

I'll get a torch.