Wheel spacers + offset wheel= poor ride

[PROSPHOTO]

Hey guys, just wanted to share my experience for reference. Back in 2011-2012, I bought and installed Fred's wheel spacers to ensure clearance with 265/65R17 Silent Armors on OEM LT wheels (no lift). The truck looked and ride great with this combo.

This year I upgraded the truck a bit... Went with a BDS lift, MB TKO wheels and 255/75R17 Duratrac's. The new wheels have just about a 1" greater offset, bringing the wheel out a total of about 2.5" beyond factory with the spacers.

The ride suffered, it felt like the suspension was working really hard, and the truck seemed harder to handle during normal driving. I initially chalked it off to a more aggressive tire.

After a lot of thought, I decided to remove the wheel spacers and see if the tire fit (although it really looked awesome with the wide stance). They fit, and there's still about 5/8" of clearance to the ball joint. Now, the truck rides do much nicer on the road. It tracks better, feels smoother, and I'd easier to control.
I'm sure there is much less stress on the front end too.

Just a heads up for anyone that is considering these wheels with this tire combination.

[Rickalicka18]

What was the offset on the rims?

[PROSPHOTO]

The new wheels are 25mm, vs factory 50mm offset, so roughly about 1" further out than OEM

It's hard to tell the difference from these two pictures (with and without the spacers); I'll try to get a wider picture tomorrow

[mason10198]

Interesting to hear your experience... I'm eventually going to run Marks 1.5" spacers on my current -12 offsets in order to clear my goal 35" tire. Probably wont be driving much on the street by then though, lol.

[Rickalicka18]

Hm. I thought our wheels were 35mm offset.. Because the rims I bought are -12 offset.

[Rickalicka18]

Interesting to hear your experience... I'm eventually going to run Marks 1.5" spacers on my current -12 offsets in order to clear my goal 35" tire. Probably wont be driving much on the street by then though, lol.

That's a ton of wheel spacing and offset haha... Make sure you take pics

[Grimor]

Interesting to hear your experience... I'm eventually going to run Marks 1.5" spacers on my current -12 offsets in order to clear my goal 35" tire. Probably wont be driving much on the street by then though, lol.

That's a ton of wheel spacing and offset haha... Make sure you take pics

I run marks 1.5 adaptors and - 12 offset, it's not horrible

[HARDTRAILZ]

I wish I still had negative offset with the current wheels

[Itsmytime9110]

255/75r17 works without spacers? What size lift are you using?

[KingBird]

255/75r17 works without spacers? What size lift are you using?

He's using wheels with a different offset than factory. It's about clearing the upper ball joint, TB fenders will clear some pretty big tires.