Original message:
> From: "Silvestre Ortiz" <silvestre.ortiz@cditx.com>
> Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2000 08:47:09 -0600
> To: "Michael Thompson" <miket@urgrgcc.edu>
> Subject: Re: Wheel spacer Link with pics
>
> I have now spacers made to your specifications, and they seem to be just
> fine. The local machine folks suggested steel for the material, so I went
> with it.
>
> An engineer friend, also into this Triumph insanity, raised the question of
> possible bearing or wheel stud failure brought about by the now longer arm
> created by the spacer, although it is small. Is this a consideration you
> have taken into account with this item? Is there a way to calculate this
> risk? Should the idea of spacers be re-thought in the light of this
> potential problem? Is there really a problem, or is this really mechanically
> sound? Please get back to me on this. I DO love the idea and would hate to
> get rid of the spacers, but safety is foremost.
>
> Thanks.
> Silvestre Ortiz
Reply:
Hi Silvestre,
I wasn't real concerned with this problem. As I said before I use my 48
spoke wires with white walls for show. Seventy percent of the time I run
around and drive fast with the steel wheels. Besides could we possibly put
the same stress on our cars as the racers do with extra wide tires and
sticky rubber.
How many miles do you drive per year? I do maybe 3000 per year on my TR3 and
500-800 of that on the wires. There probably is a way to calculate it but
I'm a gambling man. Just for perspective, I had a Mini once that I raced
that had 6 inch wide tires (originally 3.5 inches) with one inch spacers.
Also I ran 1 degree of camber. That had to stress something. Maybe I'm
making too light of the situation, but I think sometimes we worry too much
about making small changes and over-analyze things. Your engineering friend
is right about changing some of the forces on the suspension. And if I was
designing a car to run 150,000 miles or to run at %120 during an endurance
race I probably would not set it up this way. But I'm not. And I think the
benefits far outweigh the small risk of breakage.
Anyway maybe someone in the tire a wheel business could answer the question
worded more like: What if you moved the wheel offset out a quarter inch?
I'll post this to the list and see if anyone has an answer.
Don't worry, be happy,
Mike Thompson
But wait there's more,
What are we worrying about? If we were worried about safety, would we be
running around in a car that has virtually no doors, no air bags, bumpers
that are there just for looks, and a steering wheel that will impale us
because it doesn't collapse on impact. Crumple zones are for wusses.
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