H & R trak + wheel spacers

[topgolfer1]

Hi All,

Looking to get some of these in the very near future,I have the D2, 8.5J, 20 inch alloys,which I know require 25mm spacers each side for the rears,but what size for the fronts,or do we not bother?

I see from an earlier posting of Oli,s , he managed to get some for around £70 off ebay!I cant find any, near that price at all,so does someone know of a place that I can per chance?

All the best

Rich +++

[Architex_mA8tey]

That was quite a while ago Rich, and they've gone up a lot since then!
I had a set of 20mm Trak+ for the rears and some 15mm eibach pros for the front which ive just sold to Amar/Jugga for their BAJ1T car but the whole set cost me the best part of £200 new plus £20 for extended bolts on the front ones! I would expect to pay £200 ish at the moment unless you can find some second hand ones

[ainarssems]

£200?? I bet you can find somebody to make them from scratch for less then half of that, ask around some engineering workshops.

[tonupkid]

Guys. Would you put Bonko tyres on your car?
Speaking for myself, I'd like a good pedigree for any parts on which me (and my families) lives depend

[Architex_mA8tey]

I agree Nick, and the Trak+ is precision machined and includes bolts to bolt your spacer onto the hub and machined holes to bolt your wheel to, all in a lightweight hubcentric fitting.
http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=2227&stc=1&d=1313029041
The Eibach Pros are just as well made but 15mm and still lightweight and hubcentric +++
http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=2228&stc=1&d=1313029041

[Singh]

That's exactly why I went for Neil's. Its all about the quality when it comes to stuff like this. I could have got some from eBay for a third of the price!

[ainarssems]

Guys. Would you put Bonko tyres on your car?
Speaking for myself, I'd like a good pedigree for any parts on which me (and my families) lives depend

I will agree on tyres but I have only been fortunate enough to afford new premium sets twice when I was in Denmark and could get them at 38% price, rest of the time I have gone for second hand premium brands instead of cheap new ones and always checked that they are no older then 3 years for summer tyres and 2 years for winter when buying.

But spacers are pretty basic, specially the thinner ones with bolts going through them, anybody could turn them up from a piece of aluminum in lathe. Now the thicker ones that bolt down to hub and then wheel bolts to them are a bit more complicated and I would rather have them made from steel. That would not be lightweight but a whole lot cheaper. If I were still in Latvia I would just go to nearby college workshop and make them myself.

I would worry about bolts first and extra strain on bearings that spacers put on them and how it will affect wheel track in the corners before worrying about the spacers them self. All that being said I never had spacers and not looking to use any in foreseeable future.

[Night Train]

I'm with ainarssems on this, when I was involved with the (serious) performance industry (not the jack up & spoiler brigade) we never used spacers on our project vehicles, or recommended them to customers, due to the additional strain on other components. We advocated the use of a wider wheel with the correct offset for the application.

[frankow]

Hi Rich,

I purchased mine from here, great price and a great service, H+R Trak plus Hubcentric.

http://www.motorsportworld.co.uk/frame-manranges.asp?code=34

They are listed as widening track per pair hence you will require the 50mm set at £95.68.

They are very light and great quality, agree with all the previous comments.

[topgolfer1]

Cheers Guys .for all the comments,being a toolmaker myself in a previous time,it is a doodle to make these,if you have access to the relevant ,lathes, millers or jig borers,but fully agree that its best to purchase from proven known manufacturers.

What size do we generally go for on the front?Is it 15mm per side or 20mm?

Cheers Frankow,will probably go with them+++

[Singh]

20mm each side on the rear. I wouldn't bother on the front unless your increasing the width of your tyres.

Once you have the spacers installed, follow your car in another and check how PHAT it looks. :love:

[Architex_mA8tey]

If you want to do the front at all Rich I would measure the offset from the edge of the wheel to the arch and decide how far you want to move the fronts out then acquire the spacers accordingly. on the 9" final edition Avus's it will be 15mm max, on the 8,5" then it may take 20mm or even 25mm +++
My view is it looks better with the back a bit wider than the front for that slightly staggered look :D

[Ricky22buk]

Excuse my ignorance here but does everyone use spacers, even on the original genuine 8.5 or 9" rims ? I assumed they would be right without spacers, and if thats not the case I shouldn't even consider this next option ....

As good condition straight originals are like hens teeth, I had been looking for a 20" replica alloy set but can only find them made in an 8" rim, so I'm guessing I'd need a dam big spacer for that rim. I am now confused and not sure what to go for now as I've never liked the idea of spacers too due to the increased load on components !!!!!!!!!

[Singh]

Photo is a bit dark but 99% of us here don't need spacers. We just put them on to look cool.

http://i665.photobucket.com/albums/vv19/AmarS8/acb55070.jpg

[HPsauce]

I think you just like twisting your ankle by stepping into the gap between car and kerb.... :D

[adjuster]

I don't know what the maker's brand name would be in England, but here, "Sport Edition" makes a 20"x10" wide rim that will fit the D2 and D3.

I bought them for my 2004 A8L from Tire Rack. They told me it was the only way they would sell me 275 wide tires, to put them on 10" wide rims.

And they could not say for sure if the front would fit, but they sold them for the back. (They fit perfect, and needed no spacers, did widen the track front and rear, and with the wider tires, and track, really made the 2004 handle much better than it did on it's stock 18" rims. (That I put 255 wide Blizzak LM60 snow tires on.)

The downside is they are heavy, and the 275 wide tires are expensive. (About 100.00 USD more per tire than what I just bought new Conti's for in 255/30 20 on 8.5" wide BremmerKraft wheels.)

Here it was over 1240.00 for just new tires, or just over 1450.00 for new wheels and tires, so that's a no brainer for me, since I figure I can sell the set I have with the tire pressure sensors to a D3 owner for the difference easy.

The A8/S8 looks awesome with 275's on there, but really you don't need that sort of traction on a day to day driver. 255's are fine. (And they fit on 8.5" wide rims easy, with plenty of side wall to protect the rim too.)

Here you can see how much they stick out on my 2001 S8.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y156/Adjuster/A8/P1010335.jpg

[adjuster]

One more thing, the 20x10 rims, and 275 tires, ended up being a PITA every time I used a automatic car wash. (And the ones where you are pushed along by the rear wheel on a track.. it's even worse.)

You are either exactly right, or you are scraping a rim.

So no fun there at all.

After a while, I just put the INSIDE rim where it would scrape, and drop the wheel into the track, saving the outside of the wheel... Worked good, but it was a steep learning curve.

yes, that means these wheels have some curb rash, from automatated car wash gear...

[HPsauce]

I used a automatic car wash.
You can be banned for that sort of abuse here in UK. :ROFL:

[briang9]

:eek:

[Architex_mA8tey]

Yikes :eek3::hammer::eek2::eek:

[David's8]

every time I used a automatic car wash.

yes, that means these wheels have some curb rash, from automatated car wash gear...
:tuttut:
I got shouted at by one of the forum members who saw me using a water fed, soft bristle brush for cleaning around the windows and side trims!! even tho' I was using microfibre mitt for the rest of the bodywork!!

You wouldnt put your children thru one on those things so why your car?

[PsYcHe]

There's been many a time I'd have happily put my kids through one of those car washes :)