[DeTomaso] 17-inch wheel back spacing

David Nunn dnunn at telus.net
Wed Aug 13 12:41:27 EDT 2014


Terry,

There isn’t anything wrong with spacers, as long as it’s done properly.
After all, in the ‘70’s and ‘80’s, Porsche used spacers to fill out the
wheel wells on their 911 Turbo (wide body) cars. In fact, they used 2”
spacers at the rear! That being said, they also used 14mm lug bolts and hub
centric spacers. 

If you wanted to use spacers on your Pantera, you’d need to have a set of
custom spacers made and you’d also need to upgrade to much stronger, ½” or
better, wheel studs. The upgrade wouldn’t be cheap, in fact, probably not
much less than the cost of a set of 10” Campi’s (unless you can do it all
yourself). Spacers are also hard on wheel and/or stub-axle bearings. There
are other reasons to go with 10” Campi’s too, rather than spacers. For one,
the value of your Pantera will increase by, at least, the cost of the
Campi’s and they will be viewed as “correct” by Pantera fans. Also, it
allows you to move your original 8” rear Campi’s to the front, which makes a
huge improvement to your front scrub radius and steering “feel”. Hey, they
look great too! I’ve said many times, if a tire company came out with Z
rated 15” tires that would fit our cars properly, I’d have my 17”/18”’s on
eBay and I’d be using my favorite wheels again; 8” and 10” Campi’s. 

Dave 

-------------- next part --------------
   Terry,

   There isn't anything wrong with spacers, as long as it's done properly.
   After all, in the `70's and `80's, Porsche used spacers to fill out the
   wheel wells on their 911 Turbo (wide body) cars. In fact, they used 2"
   spacers at the rear! That being said, they also used 14mm lug bolts and
   hub centric spacers.

   If you wanted to use spacers on your Pantera, you'd need to have a set
   of custom spacers made and you'd also need to upgrade to much stronger,
   1/2" or better, wheel studs. The upgrade wouldn't be cheap, in fact,
   probably not much less than the cost of a set of 10" Campi's (unless
   you can do it all yourself). Spacers are also hard on wheel and/or
   stub-axle bearings. There are other reasons to go with 10" Campi's too,
   rather than spacers. For one, the value of your Pantera will increase
   by, at least, the cost of the Campi's and they will be viewed as
   "correct" by Pantera fans. Also, it allows you to move your original 8"
   rear Campi's to the front, which makes a huge improvement to your front
   scrub radius and steering "feel". Hey, they look great too! I've said
   many times, if a tire company came out with Z rated 15" tires that
   would fit our cars properly, I'd have my 17"/18"'s on eBay and I'd be
   using my favorite wheels again; 8" and 10" Campi's.

   Dave


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