The spacer lift is a beautiful additional part that helps your vehicle with enhanced performance. It gives a unique look to your car while providing more space for various tire sizes. But does this lift kit have any drawbacks? Are spacer lifts bad?
Spacer lifts aren’t bad for your vehicles. Though these kits come with some disadvantages, the advantages are more remarkable. You can handle the vehicle easily, install larger tires and use large brake calipers in your car. Spacers are pretty cheap and elementary to insert in the car. They provide the exact elevation with more diversity.
You’ll face difficulties like a lowered vehicle, limited driving experience, and unchanged spring rate. But the pros of using spacers are numerous. These kits will affect the mileage, but it’s worth the money.
Spacer Lift or Coil Spring Lift?
What Does Spacer Lift Mean?
Aluminum is used to make high-quality wheel spacers. These spacers should be strong as the wheels for solid bonds.
Wheel spacers can expand the wheel’s offset and modify the bolt patterns on the reels. Axle studs and spacers studs keep these lift kits together. But the front axle ball joints endure more stress when the wheel’s offset increases.
These lift kits also increase the tire’s overall radius altering the car’s handling issue. You’ll face challenges while making slow-speed turns.
Since you’re adding more additional parts, the failing risk doesn’t decrease. With tight bolts and mounts, you’ll hardly face any spacer-related problems.
Why Should You Use Spacer Lifts?
Using spacers in the car indeed comes with some benefits. If you know the features of using these kits, you can use them at an optimum level. On the contrary, it’s tough for any fresh drivers to identify these perks of using spacers.
So, do you want to insert spacers in your vehicle? Understand these advantages to install them quickly.
Better Handling
Unlike body lift kits, spacers add weight to our vehicle. But it doesn’t hamper vehicle handling. Moreover, these kits improve your handling process. So, with better handling, you’ll have more grip over your car.
More Space For Tires
As you know, spacers create enough spots for you to install large tires in your vehicle. In the end, you can choose your desired tire sets from an extensive collection. Your car will have more space left even after installing large tires.
Enough Spots For Big Brake Calipers
Brake calipers help your car to stop at immediate action. But worn-out calipers can’t perform this essential task properly. Consequently, braking fluid leaks profusely. That’s why using large calipers tends to solve this issue. And you can only enjoy a considerable caliper’s feature if you install spacers in your car.
Cheap
Spacers are cheaper lift kits than most other lift kits. These kits won’t cost you more than a hundred bucks. But you must pay a handsome price to install high-quality spacers in your car. Spacers provide more accurate performance at a lower price.
Simple Installation
You don’t have to be a scientist or understand quantum mechanics to install spacers in your vehicle. You can easily install these lift kits. Some spacers come with an installation guide with the delivery package. You should follow that guide to DIY the spacers.
Constant Spring Rate
Spacers hardly affect the compression and expansion of your vehicle’s springs. So, your vehicle will have the same spring rate when you’re traveling off-road. Producers spend tons of money on various tests to make these spacers durable.
Diverse
Whether your vehicle has factory or non-factory coil springs, you can use spacers with any of them. Are you thinking of using spacers for heavy lifting? Well, there’s nothing to worry about. Spacers are widely used for heavy and light lifting.
Accurate Elevation
These lift kits will elevate your vehicle to the exact height mentioned. Spacers alter your car spring pad’s size. So, don’t worry while installing spacers as lift kits. The coil springs might differ in height due to wear and rust, but spacers hardly affect the elevation.
Vibrant Vehicle
Most lift kits add a vibrant touch to a vehicle. Like body and suspension lifts, a spacer also creates more space for larger tires. So, there are more spots for your vehicle for more catchy car parts. Consequently, these kits give your vehicle a new look.
Can Spacers Be Bad News For Your Vehicle?
Spacers come with unique features, but these kits affect your vehicle in various ways. Noticing these drawbacks is challenging since they’re insignificant but seriously impact your car.
So, it might be too late to catch them after something serious happens to your vehicle. Here’re the crucial drawbacks of using spacers to lift your car:
Unimproved Spring Rate
A constant spring rate is a blessing for a smooth surface. But it’s a curse if you’re driving on rough terrains. Your car won’t jump appropriately with a constant spring rate. Finally, you’ll hit the car with a tree or a huge rock. The riding quality also doesn’t improve due to using spacers.
Limited Travel
Spacers generally go into the top and bottom spring pads with coil springs. So, adding spacers means decreasing the spring collapsed length by a few inches. A full compression means less ground clearance. If you love adventure rides, then forget about driving on mountains with spacers in your vehicle.
Potential Failing Of Spacers
Spacers tend to come out once they wear out. As a result, keeping the coil springs in the fixed spot becomes hard. Once a spacer is dislocated from its place, you’ll have a tough time driving your vehicle.
Wearing
Your vehicle’s springs and tires will wear out faster if you use spacers to lift the car. Like other lift kits, spacers also apply significant pressure on the tires. The tires decay more quickly if you frequently use spacers in your vehicle.
More Steering Power Required
As stated earlier, the engine requires extra power to keep all the parts running. So, when you’re driving, your vehicle will need extra energy to make turns resulting in high steering power. It’ll also affect fuel consumption and fuel economy.
Does Spacer Ensure Safety?
High-quality wheel spacers are pretty safe when put correctly. However, some states follow strict laws for keeping wheel fenders or wheel wells. These vehicle regulations are intended to reduce the possibility of rocks and debris hitting other motorists or pedestrians. To find out the rules, check the local legislation.
Wheel spacers can cause suspension components to wear out more quickly. It might not seem dangerous, but it can be harmful if not taken care of in the early stage.
They may also occasionally make your tires grind against the opposing edge. As a result, a tire’s outer edge scrapes against the fender flare opposing the inside edge. The wheel’s structure plays a vital role in its function. If your tires are still rubbing even after using spacers, a problem must be addressed.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Are the spacer lift and body lift the same?
Spacer lift and body lift aren’t the same at all. Spacer lifts create more space in a vehicle’s tire section while keeping the spring rate constant. On the other hand, body lifts change the car’s center of gravity, providing more ground clearance and better vision.
Should I use spacers instead of a suspension lift?
It depends on our requirements. You can use suspension lifts to boost your vehicle’s suspension performance. However, suspension lifts might end up damaging sensitive parts. In that case, go for spacers. They hardly affect your car’s structure and provide better performance.
Can I use aftermarket spacer lifts?
You can use aftermarket spacer lifts if you can identify the ideal one. Before installing any lift kit, you should always be aware of your vehicle’s specs. Sometimes, aftermarket spacers cause more damage to your cars, affecting the spring rate and damaging coil pads and even coil springs.
Will Spacer lifts affect my vehicle’s mileage?
Any lift kit affects the vehicle’s mileage. Spacer kits also do the same job. Since you’re adding an extra part to your car, the engine will require more power to operate at the peak level. As a result, it’ll also affect the fuel economy and the mileage.
Do spacers damage a vehicle’s CV extends?
Spacers can damage a vehicle’s CV extends. These kits forcefully stretch a vehicle’s CV. Consequently, it rusts faster than its average lifespan, and sometimes it might break due to overstretching.
Final Words
Spacer lifts are a blessing for even surfaces. But they can become a burden and a curse for off-road driving. Whether you want to use spacers in your car is upon you. We hope the analysis on whether the spacer lifts are bad has delivered the right message to you.
Don’t go on buying aftermarket spacers if you lack knowledge regarding this matter. Try to purchase high-quality spacers from reliable stores. Make sure the spring pads are secured while installing spacer lifts. If you fail to install spacers in your car, ask an expert mechanic to do the job. You should perform regular maintenance to keep the spacer and the vehicle in good condition.
