Anyone running spacers on a V8V

[jonamv8]

Thinking of getting some spacers to increase the appearance of the width, especially on the rears which I feel sit too much within the confines of the arch.

Anyone done it? Any advice on which to go for? Is it a bad move etc?

Appreciate any feedback

[Murph7355]

jonamv8 said:

... Is it a bad move etc?

Unless there's a dynamic need (there isn't), I'm really not a fan of spacers. Car designers spend years trying to get the geometry right, unsprung masses minimised and testing critical parts of the car to destruction. Then someone pops along and bolts great big slabs of metal to the hubs. Ignoring aesthetics, no one surely believes spacers help on these other (more important?) matters of a car...?

If you really want wider rears, there are different wheel options (the V12V for example has 295s versus 275s). But I suspect they may not actually fill the arches any more.

How much more of the arch do you think can be filled without causing tyre contact with the body all the time, or forcing part of the tyre outside the body envelope? It's one of the few cars that, to me, fills the arches properly (unless something is wrong with the way it's set up now).

[jonamv8]

Its a personal view but Ive always thought the rears sit quite within the arch and could be spaced 15mm to really fill them out - although I understand it's personal preference. I've measured and I think they'd be fine, I obviously don't want to risk any contact. I love the wheel design on the car so don't want to change just thought spacing could be an option to achieve the aesthetics I'm after.

Dynamically, I've been told not to expect much of a change but I am by no means technically qualified to second this, just what Ive been told. I suppose that's what I'm trying to get to the bottom of really.

[bogie]

im with Murph on this one...

you can fit the wider, optional sticky tyres on the original rims, thats what they were tested on ...they will give another 10mm rubber each side

but there is a reason why the wheels are where they are

[notax]

I use spacers on three of my cars - my Ferrari F355 and my two BMW M3 Compact rally cars. The previous owner of the F355 fitted the spacers to enhance the looks and the specialists I have spoken to are not aware of it causing problems in this case.

I fitted spacers to my rally cars to widen the track for better road holding and also to clear the very large brakes.

There are however three negatives:

1. Additional strain on wheel bearings
2. Potential contact with bodywork (which may not be apparent when car is viewed stationary)
3. Additional strain on wheel bolts

I experienced a scary moment recently when one rally car sheared off all five wheel studs after fitting spacers - result? Wheel parted company with the car!

If you do go down this route inform your insurer and buy competition spec studs/bolts from a company like Grayson in the USA. I personally think the Vantage looks stunning as standard (hence intending to buy an early example very soon )

[Murph7355]

notax said:

...
I experienced a scary moment recently when one rally car sheared off all five wheel studs after fitting spacers - result? Wheel parted company with the car!...

It's this sort of thing that would worry me.

There simply aren't enough cars fitted with these things to have enough "development" miles on them to know what will happen with prolonged mixed use.

I'm not aware of any serious manufacturer using this technique on their own road/race cars to widen track...

[MartinV12]

Murph7355 said:

I'm not aware of any serious manufacturer using this technique on their own road/race cars to widen track...

Well, Porsche does.

[christof]

Hi,

you can try these for the DBS, which will fit the Vantage as well:

http://www.h-r.com/gb/f_spurverbreiterung.php

product search: db

11mm more track on each side and you don't need to change the bolts as they are coming with modified nuts for use with the existing bolts.

They are pricey, but made from high quality material and coming with TUV approval, so no silly cheap stuff.


Christof

Edited by christof on Monday 20th December 20:33

[MichaelV8V]

There are some good pics of before and after 12mm spacers in one of the AMOC threads here: http://www.amoc.org/component/option,com_wrapper/I...

Also, a fair amount of discussion on the US forum 6SpeedOnline, just do a search on spacers from: http://www.6speedonline.com/forums/aston-martin-39...

[Stuart Dickinson]

Murph7355 said:

notax said:

...
I experienced a scary moment recently when one rally car sheared off all five wheel studs after fitting spacers - result? Wheel parted company with the car!...

It's this sort of thing that would worry me.

There simply aren't enough cars fitted with these things to have enough "development" miles on them to know what will happen with prolonged mixed use.

I'm not aware of any serious manufacturer using this technique on their own road/race cars to widen track...

One of Aston Martin's junior race teams runs the GT4's with 60mm rear spacers - widens the track to standard 8 and apparently has a big handling improvement.

Of course it would be foolish to do this without replacing the wheel studs with something longer & stronger. 10.9 steel is pretty strong....

[Murph7355]

Some shots from AMOC here (I can't see much/any difference ).

http://s59.photobucket.com/albums/g293/gzimmermann...

Do the teams using these leave the rest of the geometry the same?

Still not something I'd be doing Wider tyres and/or wheels with a different offset would seem to be a more "elegant" solution if such a change was really wanted.

[moveover]

Each to his own, but I don't understood why anyone would have the desire to chav up such a perfect work of art.

[mikey k]

notax said:

I use spacers on three of my cars - my Ferrari F355 and my two BMW M3 Compact rally cars. The previous owner of the F355 fitted the spacers to enhance the looks and the specialists I have spoken to are not aware of it causing problems in this case.

I fitted spacers to my rally cars to widen the track for better road holding and also to clear the very large brakes.

There are however three negatives:

1. Additional strain on wheel bearings
2. Potential contact with bodywork (which may not be apparent when car is viewed stationary)
3. Additional strain on wheel bolts

I experienced a scary moment recently when one rally car sheared off all five wheel studs after fitting spacers - result? Wheel parted company with the car!

If you do go down this route inform your insurer and buy competition spec studs/bolts from a company like Grayson in the USA. I personally think the Vantage looks stunning as standard (hence intending to buy an early example very soon )

Totally agree
You missed a fourth
It puts the suspension geometry out so changes the handling

[notax]

mikey k said:

notax said:

I use spacers on three of my cars - my Ferrari F355 and my two BMW M3 Compact rally cars. The previous owner of the F355 fitted the spacers to enhance the looks and the specialists I have spoken to are not aware of it causing problems in this case.

I fitted spacers to my rally cars to widen the track for better road holding and also to clear the very large brakes.

There are however three negatives:

1. Additional strain on wheel bearings
2. Potential contact with bodywork (which may not be apparent when car is viewed stationary)
3. Additional strain on wheel bolts

I experienced a scary moment recently when one rally car sheared off all five wheel studs after fitting spacers - result? Wheel parted company with the car!

If you do go down this route inform your insurer and buy competition spec studs/bolts from a company like Grayson in the USA. I personally think the Vantage looks stunning as standard (hence intending to buy an early example very soon )

Totally agree
You missed a fourth
It puts the suspension geometry out so changes the handling

I agree, although the wider track may still result in higher grip. This can be a dangerous combination as when the car does finally let go it will be travelling faster and the change to the handling may make it less benign.

If anyone is intending to fit spacers I would buy some designed for the car which include spigots to keep the strain from the wheel studs. The wheel falling off incident in my rally car happened during testing when we were using off the shelf spacers with no spigot. Glad it happened at 40mph and not 100mph plus whilst competing...

[Lee chezz]

this is something that I have been Looking for, For the last 6 months,
I have now ordered a set, The company who actually do these are based in the states and are called RSC,Racing Sport Concepts, they produce/sell loads of performance products for high end performance cars,
check them out at www.rsctuning.com. The spacers I have order'd are 20mm rear & 15mm front, The reason is purely for the looks, And have been told by various people in the industry that these will have no adverse effects on the handling / performance,
I will also be having the tracking / camber reset once fitted,
I have fitted spacers in the past to my previous cars, various EVO's, 911's, M5 with no
problems,
the cost is $780.00 for 4x spacers and and full set of studs Including shipping etc,
they take around 2 weeks from order,
I have spoken to loads of company who could do the spacers but not the studs,
H&R do the spacers but not the oversized studs !!
Hope this Helps you out,Be good to know how you go on, And yes the wheels on the Vantage do Look like they are set to far in, but this is a minor blip on a fantastic looking car,
I will post some pictures of my car once fitted,I will be having H&R lowering springs fitted at the same time.

[Curlyapplehead]

Go on www.davidapplebyengineering.com and he has spacers and studs for the V8V for sale. They use them on their Aston Martin Rally GT's and have had no problems with them at all.

[notax]

Curlyapplehead said:

Go on www.davidapplebyengineering.com and he has spacers and studs for the V8V for sale. They use them on their Aston Martin Rally GT's and have had no problems with them at all.

I regularly compete against 'Astonal' in his rally car and can confirm I've never seen one of his wheels fall off! I didn't realise he used spacers...

[michael gould]

good God I thought spacers were something 21 year olds shoved on their Corsa's.......how very chav

[notax]

michael gould said:

good God I thought spacers were something 21 year olds shoved on their Corsa's.......how very chav

Depends on the reason I guess. I have them fitted to my rally cars to enable me to run large brakes with a wide variety of wheels and to increase the track to give higher grip levels. I also have them fitted to my F355 and though I wouldn't have chosen to fit them, the car came with them and they do help to fill out the arches. Maybe I'm a chav?

[Stuart Dickinson]

michael gould said:

good God I thought spacers were something 21 year olds shoved on their Corsa's.......how very chav

Yes, quite. Aston Martin Racing are a bunch of chavs. Disgusting lower class lot, the sort I met once when I was forced to ride on that newfangled contraption 'The Tube'