Do I need spacers for my winter wheels?

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DaiRees
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Do I need spacers for my winter wheels?

Post by DaiRees »

Some of you may remember the set of wheels I bought a while back for winter use.

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Not sure whether I want to put very thin spacers in there, this query is all about offsets.

The Fortunas fitted on the car from new are 8 X 18 with a 55mm offset, running 245/40 R18 tyres.

Standard 17s on a V70 are 7 X 17 with a 50mm offset, running 225/50 R17 tyres.
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The ones I've bought are 7 X 17 with a 52.5mm offset, and I'll be putting 225/50 R17 winter tyres on them.
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So there's no problem with clearance or anything, they're still a lot narrower than the 18s so there's plenty of room. So it's just an aesthetic thing, will they look too "inboard"?

So my questions are:
Do I want to put some 3mm spacers in there just to bring the front face out closer to where a standard fit 17" alloy would be?
If I did use 3mm spacers, would the original bolts be OK or should I be trying to find bolts that are 3mm longer? :roll:
Would I even notice 3mm difference?
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jonny81191
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Re: Do I need spacers?

Post by jonny81191 »

You won't notice less than 10mm, don't bother imho. Also, up to 5mm is generally accepted to be ok on the standard bolts.
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Welly
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Re: Do I need spacers?

Post by Welly »

I don't like spacers, I'd avoid at all cost. As said you will not notice 3mm, 5mm or so in fact if the Winter Tyres have a broad 'shoulder' they'll look wider anyway. My Winter's look wider than my Summers but are the same size tyre.

Are the Winter Tyres you propose a size that is listed in the Volvo Handbook? I ask because I had a right game trying to stray from the 'factory approved' sizes; both Volvo UK and my Insurers were very twitchy about it. I had to stay with what they approved.
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DaiRees
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Re: Do I need spacers?

Post by DaiRees »

Yes, they're a standard size. The handbook lists 2 17" sizes, 245/45 and 225/50. Being winters I went for the narrower ones, not that I expect that 20mm will make much difference. Also 245 is very wide for a 7" rim width.

Anyway I've ordered (and paid for) the tyres today, I went for these, never really rated Matador but by tyre man tells me they're made by Continental and are very good quality. £105 each at my local tyre place so cheaper than mytyres 8)

http://www.mytyres.co.uk/cgi-bin/rshop. ... eugart=PKW
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waue1978
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Re: Do I need spacers?

Post by waue1978 »

I'm with Welly - always best to try & avoid spacers where possible. The less parts there are between the wheel & the hub, the less there is to wobble loose.

Besides, even if they did look a bit inboard, most cars look a bit funny with Winter tyres on anyway, mainly because it almost looks like they're pretending to be a 4x4 with the chunky treads! Yours will just look slightly more stylish than they normally do as most people stick the Winter tyres on a cheap set of steelies.
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Re: Do I need spacers for my winter wheels?

Post by DaiRees »

Yeah I reckon you're right guys, I'm sure they'll be fine without spacers.

Collected the tyres today, here they are...
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I'm liking the way they fit on the rims and the nice chunky rim protection. I also like to be able to see a decent bit of sidewall, never been a big fan of very low profiles :D
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Nice tread! :supafrisk:
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A small part of me can't wait to see the temperatures drop so that I can try them out :supafrisk:
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Re: Do I need spacers for my winter wheels?

Post by DaiRees »

And they're on! (OK, they've been on since Sunday but I only just got around to taking a pic out of the office window :oops: )

They fit fine, I'm sure they could be spaced out a little but really it's no problem, they certainly don't look out of place, I'm well happy with them.

What do we think of the aesthetics dudes?

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Welly
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Re: Do I need spacers for my winter wheels?

Post by Welly »

You've not cleaned the 'lube' off your rim :oops:

I have to admit I'm not a fan of Black Wheels anyway but they certainly don't look out of place by any means.
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Re: Do I need spacers for my winter wheels?

Post by DaiRees »

Welly wrote:You've not cleaned the 'lube' off your rim :oops:
Haha, yeah I kinda figured it'd be washed off at the first sign of rain but it's been bone dry this week, typical :roll: . Doesn't exactly make a positive contribution to the appearance, does it? :lol:
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Re: Do I need spacers for my winter wheels?

Post by scotty73 »

DaiRees wrote:
Welly wrote:You've not cleaned the 'lube' off your rim :oops:
Haha, yeah I kinda figured it'd be washed off at the first sign of rain but it's been bone dry this week, typical :roll: . Doesn't exactly make a positive contribution to the appearance, does it? :lol:
You should see mine after having mine on yesterday 4 lubed rims and not a wheel trim in sight plus it's a stinking salty blue colour it's bloody aweful :lol:

Dai are you finding the inner of the Tyres rub a bit on full lock? Looking nice btw. :D
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DaiRees
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Re: Do I need spacers for my winter wheels?

Post by DaiRees »

scotty73 wrote:Dai are you finding the inner of the Tyres rub a bit on full lock? Looking nice btw. :D
No mate, they don't rub. Even with the slight offset difference they're still noticeably narrower than the 18s so there's plenty of clearance as can be seen in the diagram from above.

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I also believe that V70s fitted with 245s at the factory were also fitted with steering limiters, so I wasn't expecting any issues.
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Re: Do I need spacers for my winter wheels?

Post by GingerMagic »

Why am I not surprised to see a BMW badly parked and taking up all the pavement.....

Rims look nice, kinda suit the car.
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