Spacers - Bolton and guard rubbing

[Luke]

Hey guys

I am looking at getting a used set of Buddy Club P1 SF Racing wheels in 16x7 with +42 offset.
These rims will be used for the track only so I would like some opinions on spacers and guard clearance.
I plan to use my original rims for normal road use without spacers.
And yes I know spacers are illegal to use on the road, hence why I bolded the track only part.

Now searcing the forums it seems I can't just go and use a set of custom made 5mm hubcentric spacers with the orignal studs as the studs are to short right?
Is it possible to get hub centric spacers in a smaller thickness such as 3mm and would the original studs be ok then?
As you can see I'm trying the cheap option first.


So i was thinking the other option is to use bolt on spacers, the ones you bolt on and the the spacer has another set of studs for the wheel to bolt on to. From what I can tell you also have to make sure the hub sizes are right to put minimal stress on the studs. So 54.1mm for the hub on the car and Xmm for the wheel side.

Now my main question is, if I were to get a set of 15mm bolt on spacers, would my tyres (205/45/16 on the +42 buddyclubs) rub inside standard 2004 SE gaurds? The car has the standard suspension in it. So in other words would a rim with +27 offset work without rubbing in standard guards?
If so would 20mm spacers even be possible as well without rubbing? I'm guessing wider would be better as I only need these for track days.

Also are very any associated probelms with using a bolt on spacer setup.


Or should I just give up on the buddyclubs and look for a 16x7 wheel that allready has +35 to +40 offset range? Easier said then done though, it's much easier getting 16x7's used in the +42 to +45 offset range for 4x100 patterns that are of half decent qaulity and don't break the budget.


Looking forward to comments and replies.


Regards

Luke

[broady]

Can't really help but just one question - why do you want 16s for track wheels? I might consider selling my 15x7 +40 buddy clubs if you're interested...

[Rob E]

Why 16x7 for track only use? I'm confused as to rationale behind this + spacers when you could just do it right with a wider, lower offset wheel. With regard to spacer choice, are you trying to go as low effective offset as possible before you have to touch the guards? If so on that combo +15mm would be safe with a little camber, giving a little more clearance than an 8 inch +36

[mx52nv]

Just leave out the spacers and run the 16"x7" +42 rims with R comps and you will be fine.

With standard suspension and ride height, why go about screwing around with a wider track?
Practice driving fast with the above set up and good tyres and when budget allows, upgrade the suspension components.

That is exactly what we did on Simon's 200+rwkw SE.

Les

[Luke]

Right

Thanks for the advice guys

I probably would have run the rims as they were, but got a smart arse answer from the seller, on ebay. And of course he's a Honda owner.

The item getting sold is for auction only. What do you mean by you want to try them on?

If it's because you want to see if they fit, they probably would. But that might possibly lead to a test drive with the wheels on to inspect any rubbing within the inner guards. For these reasons, I cannot arrange a meeting.

How are you supposed to buy something if they guy won't even let you look at it. What a tool.
Not to mention hes pulled them from ebay, and obviously sold them privately as well.

And all I asked him for was his number, what area is the item located, and could I have a look and possibly try them on to see if they fit. Never said anything about driving on them.

Typical Honda hoon. VTEC yo!

Anyway, thanks again guys, and I'll keep looking.

[broady]

Pretty toolish behaviour, yep.

FWIW I have 15x7 +40 Buddy Clubs and they fit fine everywhere. NBs have more clearance than NAs too so you should be fine.

[Adam_NAclubman]

You could probably run 30mm boltons if NB's have more clearance than NA's

[Hellmun]

You can also gain some clearance with camber as well. I'm running some pretty wide tyres at the moment on the track without clearance issues. I'm running high camber, rolled guards and +36 offset 8" wheels. The 225 wide semi's are 246mm bag to bag (semi's are measured from the flat contact surface and not the shoulder like road tyres). I've still got about 10mm clearance for spacers... I actually only get wheel scrub on the top of the wheel well when going up the hill at wakefield doing the left kink. With 225/45/15's though I used to never have any issues at all.