Thread: Wheel spacers on my 110 Defender

Originally Posted by LouNat58

Looks great! I wonder if they are legal in Australia?

No!

Originally Posted by LouNat58

Looks great! I wonder if they are legal in Australia?

They are legal in Australia and can be pretty easily bought.

BUT to use them on the road on your car/4WD, the vehicle has to have been manufactured with them in the first place.

You've got to understand that on AULRO if anybody even thinks the word "wheel spacers" there will be a few people that swing off the fans and shout loudly for all and sundry to hear that wheel spacers are illegal and this happens at every single opportunity, while at the same time nobody bats an eyelid at other modifications that are not compliant like big offset wheels, oversized tyres, unengineered lifts, engine modifications like ECU upgrades, EGR deletes etc. But if "wheel spacers" after ever mentioned then its like the whole ****ing sky just fell in.

Looks great. I am thinking of buying a set.
What do you guys think of a defender to wrangler spacers?
It seems many more options for Jeep rims and also easier to get same trailer wheels? And other wheel patterns maybe?

Of course I buy them as paper weight

Originally Posted by martnH

Looks great. I am thinking of buying a set.
What do you guys think of a defender to wrangler spacers?
It seems many more options for Jeep rims and also easier to get same trailer wheels? And other wheel patterns maybe?

Of course I buy them as paper weight

I would have looked at Toyota 6stud, because there are probably more rims sizes, types and offsets in Australia, they have high load ratings and they are absolutely everywhere. Toyota (which includes Nissan etc) have a bigger centre bore for hub clearance on the 4WD and the trailer, with the trailer allowing you to up to at least parallel bearing hubs for big heavy duty axles.

I don’t think it’s so much that Slunnie...

An EGR delete, ECU upgrade or even offset wheels (to a point) don’t run the documented and known risk of them parting with the vehicle at speed....

I’m not against any Engineered modifications, ones that have had the calculations done by qualified people to ensure there are no stresses etc exceeding the vehicles integrity.

The entire idea of engineering is to keep those who aren’t aware of such risks from causing harm to themselves and others...


And example sits above... why reduce a 5 on 165 pcd down to Jeep, and then fit under rated wheels to a heavy load carrying vehicle?

There was a recent video of a vehicle in a collision flipping onto its roof, back onto its wheels and sliding backwards into a tree - all from a small hit to a Commodore..

Hence modified vehicles should be subjected to testing and certification (aftermarket lift kits to 50mm have certification).

I can understand the user wanting tyre clearance by moving them outboard a bit..

I can even understand people wanting the “Stanced” look with the tyres to the wheel arches.. it looks nice...
However, in the operating world it works terribly!!!! Road debris flings up past the now flush guards, throwing stuff everywhere including into the users vehicle often causing damage... a guard is meant to stop this, so it turns into a ‘form over function’ modification at that point.

On topic, *if* I was going to fit spacers...
They would have Anti-seize applied between spacer and hub, I would then fit them using a mild thread locker and torque them up exactly to the required spec before contemplating fitting the wheel assembly.

I would also only use spacers certified by the manufacturer - so assuming they came from the UK I would expect a UK compliance certificate.. not some back yard machine shop (alloys aren’t alloys Sol)...

The line has always been presented as it being illegal rather than unsafe.

Originally Posted by Slunnie

The line has always been presented as it being illegal rather than unsafe.

And the official stance for the “ban” was given as risk/danger of wheel separating from vehicle. Hence legislated non-compliant.

There’s also Different types of spacers - bolt on or shim..

At work, engineering attempt to keep things to a minimum from a connectivity stance as each component adds a potential point of failure.

Wheel offset is one method of achieving this; within the limits of mechanical stress and bearing load. Where a relatively small increase can have a significant impact on stresses and point loading as well as significant changes to vehicle handling (especially tram lining and wet weather handling).


What is intriguing is how many people won’t touch electrical work on a house etc but will modify a 2.5t+ juggernaut without consulting trained persons and perceive the risks totally differently...

The beauty with vehicle modification is IMO the ability to do what you want and do it with a completely approved and certified vehicle - THAT is a real skill...

I suspect that the making of them illegal came about as the result of something nasty happening (or nearly happening).