hdAge
Member
Looks great and enjoy the ride. Btw, did you try 20mm spacers on the rear? (not sure if you can go more than 15mm). When I get my Model 3 AWD, I want to try 20mm spacers on 20" wheels ofcourse with the Tsportline 1" drop.
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Lowering the Model 3
- Thread starter Cricket88
- Start date
Looks great and enjoy the ride. Btw, did you try 20mm spacers on the rear? (not sure if you can go more than 15mm). When I get my Model 3 AWD, I want to try 20mm spacers on 20" wheels ofcourse with the Tsportline 1" drop.
Mod Y Guy
Supporting Member
Honestly, this is the first car I've ever lowered, and therefore I wasn't familiar with spacers. I knew, from looking at many pics of other Model 3s, that 1" was the perfect drop to my eyes (with the 19" sport wheels) and I'm not a fan of the tires tucking under the fender. I went with 15mm spacers after having a back and forth with @mpt and liking the stance of his car from the photos he posted. It seems like 20mm would work in the rear, and could be dead perfect (15mm front/20mm rear). I'm not sure if the bolts would have to be longer, or if any problems would occur going to 20mm instead of 15mm, but 20mm in the rear would probably be just a "bit" more flush. With that said, I'm VERY happy with the look of 15mm spacers all around. The 1"drop, with the spacers, is a VAST improvement from stock (in my eyes).
Tes La Ferrari
Active Member
Mod Y Guy
Supporting Member
I like the idea of spacers as they simultaneously soften suspension and lower the car. They are also dirt cheap and super simple to install.
However they also mess up suspension geometry and cause constant asymmetric stress on the bearings and some other components.
There is a safer way to wider stance - wider tiers.
275 looks like 235 with 20mm spacer.
However they also mess up suspension geometry and cause constant asymmetric stress on the bearings and some other components.
There is a safer way to wider stance - wider tiers.
275 looks like 235 with 20mm spacer.
T34ME
Active Member
chickensworth
Member
Anyone have 275’s fitted to the stock rims with pics? Seems like these would bubble a bit?
Lets start with a simple drawing of a wheel and suspension.
The shock is green, red is lower suspension arm, black is the tire.
On the left picture the force the green shock is subject to equals B/A times the weight that is pushing against it.
On the right there is this blue spacer (much exaggerated for better visibility) that extends the B into B+C.
The force the shock is subject to is now (B+C)/A. This is grater than mere B/C for all non-zero C.
I.e. the spacers cause shocks to compress more and thus lower the car because they 'fill' higher force.
How higher? Depends on the total length of the arm and where exactly shock is attached to the arm.
Stock rims are 8.5 wide, according to this guide, this is good for up to 255 tires, for 275 you need at least 9.5" wide rimes, better yet 10.5".
Tesla 275 tires come with 10" wide rear rims.
Very nice look! Not obviously lowered. I'm starting to feel like Goldilocks...this one is too low, this one is not low enough, which one is just right? Still, it comes down to ride quality and road feel so I'm holding off to hear some feedback on the Eibachs. I have experience with them and they are close to home so if they don't screw up the ride quality I'm leaning towards them. I just sold my Jetta SportWagen back to VW that had H&R springs (2" drop) since new 9 years ago. Looked awesome but the ride penalty was noticeable. Thankfully the M3 doesn't need a drop that severe to look right but I don't need the wife on me for spending more $$$$ only to ruin the ride quality.
dgaultiere
Member
I understand conceptually the concern about added stress on the wheel bearings. However, aftermarket rims can be purchased with all kinds of different widths and offsets. A 15mm spacer is just like purchasing a rim with a +25mm offset instead of the +40mm offset these rims have from the factory. Seems reasonable to me. It's still a positive offset overall so your tire still has plenty of width inside from the wheel bearing.
Sure, if you're doing a widebody car with crazy negative wheel offsets that could cause weird issues with suspension and wheel bearings, but spacers in the range of 10-20mm doesn't concern me.
O/T. Whilst I agree that this is all, of course, technically true, scrub radius change, barring loading offset, brake force distribution, shear force on wheel studs, etc. I think it should be considered in context, let's call it bad like eating chocolate, not bad like smoking 50/day. The diagram is helpful but, how does it look drawn to scale? 15mm isn't 2 tire widths as depicted - though I appreciate that was exaggerated to present a more comprehensible representation of the effect.
In my experience, and that of the communities that have shared with me their experiences, we've not suffered issues, Porsche actually offers wheel spacers as a accessory and, I have have plenty of miles on Roadster, i3 though not Model 3 yet and, whilst wider tires do affect the same look, the increase in unsprung weight (load on suspension components), the more harsh ride, the expensive rubber replacement schedule, the more fearsome transition from grip to slide and, the reduction in range due to increased weight and rolling resistance are, for me, not the path I chose.
Yes they can be and they have exactly the same effect and problems as spacers.
The sole difference being you can get rims with smaller offset but you cannot get spacers with 'negative width'.
What concerns you is not my problem as I will not be paying for the repairs of your car
@mpt The drop and spacers look gorgeous.
Thanks for posting the pics and the information.
A couple of questions if you don't mind.- I'm ignorant about the spacer mechanics ... did you need to cut the original bolts, or did you just cap them? Was this a DIY job?
- Have you had any trouble with bottoming the front-end out after lowering? The Model 3 looks like it sits low to begin with..
- Can that company make Model 3 spacers at any width? 12mm for example?
So someone just posted this on FB. Incase anyone else is thinking about buying the Eibachs.
@mpt The drop and spacers look gorgeous.
Thanks for posting the pics and the information.
- I'm ignorant about the spacer mechanics ... did you need to cut the original bolts, or did you just cap them? Was this a DIY job?
- Have you had any trouble with bottoming the front-end out after lowering? The Model 3 looks like it sits low to begin with..
- Can that company make Model 3 spacers at any width? 12mm for example?
No need to cut anything! The spacers mount on to the hub and bolt on with the supplied nuts, the wheels then bolt onto the studs that stick out of the spacers. Every wheel we've seen, including Tesla 18's and 19's include a recess in the wheel that's more than deep enough to accommodate the stud. Check this thread for pics. It's DIY but I'd recommend installing them before you get your springs installed and then the alignment includes any impact of the spacers - I think it's not relevant actually but if you can, then it's more complete. To install the spacers you'll need a 19mm socket for the nuts that come with the spacers and 21mm (I think - I just used the one of the four in my kit that fit!) for the Tesla nuts and torque wrench (these are insanely cheap on Amazon these days) and a jack to lift the car. You'll need the torque wrench as the torque is pretty high on the Tesla. I posted some picks of the spacers on the hub I think. If not, let me know.
I don't have issues bottoming out 'cause I don't bottom out
We live in NJ and the roads are poor and some even have 'traffic calming' raised sections which does not calm anyone. That said, I did chicken out at the exit of a car park on Saturday, the exit was 'under construction' I backed up and went out of the entrance and watched a Datsun something mini-van-suv-compact-cross-dresser proceed to smash its valance into the road as it exited. Some people _really_ don't care.BLOX make any size but I believe that 10mm is about as thin as you can safely go - best to discuss with Sandy Qin, they'll advise you. I think that, 12mm is probably the thinest I'd go with, my 15mm spacers had a few mm left between the studs and the hub so, loosing 3mm in thickness would probably be about the max.
Does anyone know of a US company making those 15mm spacers for the Model 3? BLOXSport appears to be in China and the cost of shipping is more than 1/2 the cost of the spacers themselves...
mrbcc
Member
No need to cut anything! The spacers mount on to the hub and bolt on with the supplied nuts, the wheels then bolt onto the studs that stick out of the spacers. Every wheel we've seen, including Tesla 18's and 19's include a recess in the wheel that's more than deep enough to accommodate the stud. Check this thread for pics. It's DIY but I'd recommend installing them before you get your springs installed and then the alignment includes any impact of the spacers - I think it's not relevant actually but if you can, then it's more complete. To install the spacers you'll need a 19mm socket for the nuts that come with the spacers and 21mm (I think - I just used the one of the four in my kit that fit!) for the Tesla nuts and torque wrench (these are insanely cheap on Amazon these days) and a jack to lift the car. You'll need the torque wrench as the torque is pretty high on the Tesla. I posted some picks of the spacers on the hub I think. If not, let me know.
I don't have issues bottoming out 'cause I don't bottom out
BLOX make any size but I believe that 10mm is about as thin as you can safely go - best to discuss with Sandy Qin, they'll advise you. I think that, 12mm is probably the thinest I'd go with, my 15mm spacers had a few mm left between the studs and the hub so, loosing 3mm in thickness would probably be about the max.
This is great info. Are these the ones you ordered?
Do most rims have this "recessed" space?
T34ME
Active Member
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