spacer ap brakes

[top dog]

hi there i am going to get ap brakes fitted to my cooper s. i have jhon cooper works R95 18 inch wheels on . and was wondering if any one had these fitted .and what size spacer i would need if any. thanks for help

[Neil the Hat]

I would guess you will need 15 - 20mm spacers.

None of the OEM wheels give very much clearance for BBBKs.

I ran webspokes for a while with AP BBK and required 20mm spacers.

I now have OZ Ultraleggeras and these need 5mm spacers.

[Boddington]

Anyone running the AP brakes with Team Dynamics Pro Race 1.2 wheels? Are spacers needed? I bet Andre or Nick from Lohen knows...

[Boddington]

Ps - 17"

[s_and_m]

Quote: Originally Posted by Boddington

Ps - 17"

I run Team Dynamic Pro Race 1s 17"s on the track over my AP BBK. No spacers needed

I run TD Pro Race 1.2s 17"s on the road and need 15mm spacers at the front. I Run 5mm at the back to balance the centre of gravity a bit and make it less 'pointy'.

Bizarrely both sets of wheels state the same offset!

S

[Boddington]

Wow - 15mm sounds like quite a lot of spacer! Does that change the feel of the car significantly for the worse, or is it OK? Or better?!

Have you noticed any other side effects (eg bearings going or anything)? Cheers.

[s_and_m]

That's 15 mm per axle stub, making 30mm in total. The wheels would clear the kit with 12mm spacers but 15mm come with machined lips to ensure that the wheel mounting is good.

In terms of the handling - the wider front track reduces the tendency for understeer and actually makes turn in a little sharper. It also has the effect of slightly softening the front suspension (longer levers) and reducing the centre of gravity.

All this makes the car a little more steer-able on the throttle, allows a little more power to be applied a little earlier in the corners and slightly higher entry speeds.

Wheel bearings seem fine after 14,000 miles in 17 months but I'm told they will wear quicker than stock.

Another benefit is that I no longer wear the outside edge of the tyre as fast as I did on a stock set up - wheel alignment was good both pre and post spacers.

So in nut shell, spacers are OK - a good compromise and a lot better than buying another set of wheels (I have 3 already!)

Cheerzs

S

[Boddington]

Really helpful - cheers S&M.

[T-bone S]

Would 20mm per side so 40mm in total be too much?

I'm thinking it might be - I have no plans to lower the car - but don't want to upset the geometry.

[s_and_m]

20mm per axle stub sounds like a lot, but is it really?

Things like bearing wear will be accelerated over stock or slimmer spacers, but by how much would be hard to quantify and would, in any case depend a great deal on your driving style.

You will affect the geometry by pushing the wheels outwards in the same way that you will alter the suspension set up.

That said, if 20mm spacers make sense to you (onlywya to fit brakes in etc) then go for it. Personally I'd not want to go higher than 15mm, but some tuners run 25mm (50mm)or higher on their cars so I guess it all comes down to personal choice and willingness to experiment.

Cheers

S