I installed 30mm spacers in the back and 20mm in the front today. Super easy to do. I had worried about removing the front studs and replacing them with longer. The effort, on a scale of 1-10, was a 1. The studs popped loose very easily with only a normal hammer and light taps. No big deal, no sledge hammer, no heavy pounding, just light taps that couldn't hurt a thing. There's just enough room to remove the short studs and replace them with long ones.

On my first drive I noticed two things. I can actually feel the wider stance. I didn't expect this at all. I was going just for looks but I like the more stable slot-car like feeling that I now have. The second thing I noticed is that the car now seems to react more to cold tires, i.e., flat spots and any imbalance. These imperfections work harder on the suspension and make themselves known right away. The tires are relatively new but I'm accustomed with their previous behavior and feel. After the tires warmed up and became round again everything feels okay except for a little wiggle around 55.

The spacers certainly exaggerate what the tires are doing except for side-to-side motion which they seem to damp because of the wider track. I think I'll look around for someplace with a road-force balancer. Right now each wheel has balance weights that are always in a line so I don't think the tires were balanced laterally.

Does this sound about right to those of you that have done this mod?

 

Bon-you are the man!!! I can tell in the picture-looks very nice!!!

If I had your wheels on my 2002 or my PB 2005 I would have kept them and done this mod too! I really like the 2006-2008 chrome OE wheels and with this mod you can keep it OE as much as possible!

Sorry to hear about the shimmy at 55...welcome to my world!!! Buy your next tires at Discount Tire for sure. They work with you...and work with you...and work with you...

lol...been there about six times between 2 cars this year!

 

I wish Discount Tire was in Missouri but they're not. I have located a local shop with a road force balancer and I'll be there next week. The spacers are H&R so I'm sure the quality is there and my issue must be wheel balance and roundness. I hope my local shops service will be half as good as the service you're getting from Discount Tire!

I do like maintaining the OE look and the chromed wheels add some OE bling. I thought that the black chrome finish always looked like I forgot to wash and polish them.

 

I like your chrome wheels. Mine are graphite chrome. I wish they were chrome just like yours. Nice setup.

 

So you didn't get the adapter type spacers in the front?

I had installed both types with stock wheels before, but didn't experience steering wheel vibration at any speed.
The better handling in corners is an added bonus.

 

The front 20mm spacers are DRS H&R Trak+ hub centric but are only held in place by the wheel and lug nuts. The DRM H&R Trak+ spacers start at 25mm. The rear 30mm spacers are DRM H&R Trak+ adapters.

Talwang, it's good to know that a discerning SC enthusiast like yourself has added spacers and didn't have ongoing issues. Before I added the spacers I could detect the slightest shimmy when the front end was unloaded and at speed. I've taken a good look at the bushings and tie rods and can't see a problem. I just had an alignment done and they didn't point out anything - but I didn't have a specific complaint either. My bets are on the wheel/tire setup and not the spacers at this point.

 

How much do you guys recommend a realignment on a wheel/tire upgrade if a shimmy or vibration is present? I've always been told it's a waste of money and usually vibrations are tire/balance related, but you know dealers will always "recommend" it and I have never done it---but then again maybe that's the missing link???? My cars are always aligned perfectly BEFORE the wheel/tire switch, so why would they NOT be after???

Just curious what your take on it is...

 

New tires won't change your alignment at all. Any imbalance or runout in your wheels and tires and brake rotors, though, will be felt much more when you have any looseness in any of your suspension components. A good alignment tech can look for looseness in the process of doing an alignment and catch it before it damages a good set of tires. If you've never done it the I'd highly recommend you have a four wheel alignment done.

When doing so, I asked them to take out as much negative camber as they could to help with tire life. This stands the tires up and helps them to wear more evenly across the tread width.

My rant for the evening:
Adding spacers, changing the wheel offsets, even heavier wheels or tires simply gives the wheels and tires a mechanical advantage when they work on or torque the rest of the suspension components. With wheel spacers it could be that the stock bushings are now just too soft to maintain ideal control of what would be otherwise normal tire imbalances and road forces. The answer might be in maintaining impeccable tire balance and/or beefing up the bushings to help control the increased forces acting on the suspension -or- taking off the spacers. After I get the tires rebalanced this week I'll likely begin to figure out what I'm up against. Stay tuned.

 

I believe H&R also has DRM adapter type for 20mm.
http://hrsprings.com/scripts/appguid...Trak&MakeID=20

In my experience, it is usually the bigger rims with lips that have wheel balance issue.
I used to put back my oem wheels to make sure the vibration is caused by my after market wheels.

Hopefully, you can fix it by rebalancing your wheels.

 

I should have researched it more. Your link is clear but their web site leaves something to be desired. Whenever you drill down to any year SC this is where their site lands: http://hrsprings.com/scripts/appguid...us%20|%20SC430 and doesn't mention the 20mm DRM alternative but obviously there is one. I definitely prefer the DRM!!

I had the tires road-force balanced today. There wasn't any reason to remount the tires as all the road force numbers were okay. They rebalanced the tires and found at least one that was 1/2 oz off. Three of the tires require 3/4oz and one 1.25oz so not bad. The tires feel better than before. I didn't say perfect but better. I'm going to continue to examine the front end looking for any free play or bushings issues because my '01 LS front end feels tighter and more stable than the SC.

I don't know that I was that impressed with the shop that did the work. It was my first time there and they're pretty secretive with a closed door policy - Yech! The first thing I noticed is that the tech didn't bother to hide the weights behind the spokes. They may not have had the options required to do it. They didn't have the printer option either. Next time I'll be asking more questions.

Oh, and nothing was said about the spacers by the shop tech.

 

Much better! Thank goodnes for spacers