Did anyone, who installed 15mm spacers, have to rebalance or do an alignment post installation?

 

Not I.

 

Nor I.

 

Ordered the wheel spacers you mentioned from Aliexpress - Teeze.

My car feels like it’s driving over small continuous bumps.

So I’m going to have to go through the hassle of returning them/disputing it via my credit card company. What a pain in the ***.

I should’ve just bought the H&R spacers instead.

F***ing waste of time.

 

I really doubt that H&R 15 mm spacers would make any difference to the ride quality vs the Teeze ones, they are effectively identical. Are you sure you have torqued up the spacer nuts good and tight? Especially on the front wheels where it's not so easy due to the wheel wanting to spin? I have found that it helps to have a helper to push the brake pedal and stop the front wheels from turning while you torque up the nuts.

Edit - I'm not entirely sure, but maybe just maybe I have noticed that the ride is a little bit more "jiggly" after I fitted 15 mm spacers to the front wheels, after running with 15 mm spacers on just the rear wheels for several months. I run with Dynamic on all the time but with the Dynamic-i setting of the suspension set to "Normal" rather than "Dynamic", so it should be less "jiggly" than otherwise. Maybe putting spacers on the front as well as the rear has fooled the system into going into "Dynamic" for the suspension setting although it is set to Normal? I also swapped the spacers over, so the ones that were on the rear (supplier no longer around) are now on the front and the new Teeze spacers went on the rear, but I struggle to see how that would make a difference to the ride quality.
Maybe others can comment on ride quality of no spacers vs rear only vs all four wheels?

 

Did you grind 2-3mm off the face of the studs? If not, the wheel is not seating properly on the face of the hub. You can confirm this by looking at the recesses in the wheel where the studs have to fit into. You will be able to see evidence that the end of the studs were in contact with that wheel. Others have had this issue. The resolution is simple.

 

I didn’t cut 2-3mm off the face of the studs. I’m assuming you are referring to the studs on the spacers that the rim is secured to.

If the studs were too long, it seems to me that the lug nut caps would have bottomed out on the studs before seating securely against the rim.

Correct?

 

I used an impact wrench that is powered by my air compressor.

“Jiggly” is a good description of the feel of the ride.

 

Just reread your post. So, you are talking about potentially shaving 2-3mm off the studs that are used to secure the spacer to the hub versus the studs that secure the rim to the spacer.

I’ll pull a rim off today and look at the indention on the rim where the spacer studs meet the rim.

 

Correct, shave 2-3 mm off the original wheel studs. The thread doesn't start for about 3 mm so it's not a problem.
On some (most?) OEM F-Type wheels the spaces/holes/blanks between the lug holes are not quite deep enough to fully accommodate the bit of the original stud that sticks out above the surface of the spacer, so those studs hit against the backs of the wheels and cause all sorts of problems. I never had this problem because the original studs always fitted into the holes in the back of my Blade wheels, so Blades seem to be an outlier. Sorry I didn't mention this earlier!

 

Just finished cutting 3mm’s off each stud on all 4 hubs. Used my Dremmel with a cutting wheel.

Note: I cut the 3mm from each stud on hub. You do not have to trim the ends off the studs that come as part of the spacers. These are the studs that the rims are secured to with the OEM stud nut caps.

Took it out for a spin and it handles smoothly. What a freakin relief.

As a side note, I used anti-seize lube between the spacer and the hub. You will be very glad you did if you ever have to take the spacers off.

See the indentions between each mounting hole? This is where the studs where hitting the rim preventing it from meeting the hub face tightly.

 

That's it...the OEM studs on the wheel hub need to be trimmed. You will note that the thread doesn't actually start for about 5mm, so you aren't actually grinding off any useable thread.

 

Outstanding!

+1. Also use anti-seize on the hub-centric ridges as well so the wheels come off the spacers more easily.

 

Good to read all is well!
And that I didn't give you a bum steer on the Teeze spacers.
I'm a little intrigued about the recommendation to use ant-seize between the spacer and the hub, I never have and I have removed and refitted the spacers many times with zero problems. All I have ever done is clean up the faces of the hubs, spacers and wheels to remove any rust or grime. Maybe in your case the spacers got "stuck" due to the OEM studs fouling on the wheels and/or the heat generated by this fouling?

 

Oz, with your climate (the same too probably for Andy in TX) it may not be an issue, but I have had issues with my MINI here in the Mid-Atlantic US. The hubs will rust sufficiently to bind up the hub-centric ridges on the alloy wheel. this can happen to the spacers as well. If I don't use anti-seize, it can be a massive effort to get the wheels off the car with a big rubber mallet. The studs need to be treated with anti-seize as well to avoid butchering the wheel nuts that corrode so easily.

 

Nah, I didn’t have any problems with the jag.

I suppose you could spend your time cleaning the surfaces that meet together and hope you don’t have any problems taking them off in the future. But, it’s too easy to brush a little anti-seize on and be done with it. I can assure you that it isn’t worth the risk to try it without ant-seize. Because, you will likely ruin the spacers trying to get them off.

 

Dunno, maybe it's all about humidity and/or salt on the road (it rarely gets all that humid here in Adelaide and we never salt the roads), but every time I have taken the spacers off (gotta be at least a dozen times across XFS, XFR and F-Type) they have literally fallen off!

 

Hi there,
Make sure you fork out good money and get German made H&R spacers.
Any others will cause vibrations you don't want. You buy cheap and nasty you get cheap and nasty.
I got 30mm H&R ones for the back of my XF.
When you get them you will realise you have quality, and it's money well spent.
I was a bit reluctant, wondering why I got that size, but what a nice fit!
I got the wheels balanced at the same time whether they needed it or not. No issues with geometry.
It was recommended to get 20mm for the front as I've got 18" wheels.
which I think I'll do.
Regards
Graeme

 

Or like many of us, order excellent quality at a great price from Lenny at Motorsport Tech - American made (in Nevada). No vibrations with mine.

Wheel Adapters, Wheel Spacers, Hub Rings, and much more! | Motorsport Tech

 

Fair enough haven't heard of Lenny in this part of the world, my apologies :-)