Stuck Wheel Spacers?

Don't let your wheel spacers end up like this guy's:



Upon making an attempt at installing the TE37's on my car today I noticed that over the time the wheel spacers had been on the car, corrosion had bonded them to the brake rotors. I tried tapping them with a hammer, but didn't want to hit too hard and deform the soft aluminum. I tried using a small screwdriver to get behind the spacer and even a paint scraper. No dice. Tried a pry bar on the center to sort of "pop" it off - nope, all I was going to do was ruin the spacer. These were installed by the previous owner and he apparently didn't use any anti-seize on the back of them.

So I used the laws of physics and a little brain power to attack the problem and salvage the spacers so I can either save them or sell them. The front (pictured) were just the slide over style, the rears bolted on to the rear rotor and had additional studs to mount the wheels to.

Step 1: Remove the factory wheel - 19mm Socket on an impact gun makes light work of it!



Here's the stubborn, seized wheel spacer:



Step 2: A little heat from a propane torch - make sure to heat it evenly and try to keep the flame on the aluminum as to expand it, this allowing it to be released from the hubcentric ring in the center of the rotor:



Step 3: Grab your BFH and using the ball pein hammer give it a couple good taps. Be careful not to use too much force or you'll deform the spacer (denting/damaging it). Also, be careful not to hit the threads of the lug studs, or else you'll be replacing the one you damaged, which makes this a far bigger nightmare.



Spacer loose - only took a couple light taps! Make sure to grab it with a pair of pliers, or a screwdriver or anything but your hand! It will be hot for quite a while. I set mine on the cold concrete of my garage floor and even 15 minutes later when I picked it up it was still fairly warm to the touch.



Step 4: Using quality hardware (I prefer steel lugnuts to prevent malling and stripped threads down the road) re-install your wheels! These I bought from Evasive Motorsports and they are their own brand 42mm open ended lugnut. I had ordered the Rays version, but they were on backorder and I am impatient. These are actually manufactured by Rays for Evasive so essentially the same thing for a few bucks cheaper!



Stand back and enjoy -you've kicked the ass of all 4 stuck spacers with only about 20 minutes more time spent than changing your wheels out without them!

My H&R spacers also require a torch.

My H&R are bolt on 15mm in rear I put all my lug nuts on and gently taped back and forth it worked them off. I rushed to put them on the first time not steel brushing and anti seize. But after the new rotors I anti seized this time so hopefully it will be easier next time.

Yeah, even the rear bolt ons I had to heat up. They take quite a bit longer to heat up, but same principals apply. I didn't want to see any of you guys damaging your spacers, because they aren't necessarily cheap to replace. On the bolt-ons I put the nuts on the studs and left them out a hair to keep from damaging the studs themselves. Works like a charm!

i put a little anti sieze on the back of my ichibas. After being on the car 3 years they came right off.

Well, My original fears did not happen but, All of my spacers were bolted in and I had little difficulty getting them off until...The last bolt! I kid you not, everything was going so smooth then the last nut must have been malled in! I have tried everything and now the nut looks fairly knackered! I am at a loss as to what to do. I may need to take it to a shop and hope they can help out. AAAHHHHHGGGG.

Nice to know.

Thanks for the write-up.

You can also do it the really easy way and loosen the bolts, then just drive in the parking lot slowly and the spacers will loosen up.

I wonder for the bolt-on spacers with studs, if it would be easy enough to take off the wheel, then remove the nuts holding down the spacer, bolt the wheel back up (tight enough not to be loose, but no need to torque down), and then use the wheel to loosen/remove the spacer from the hub.
Separating the spacer from the wheel afterwards shouldn't be difficult at all I would think.

My fear would be damaging possibly the wheel or studs on the car hub -not saying it would definitely happen, but it could. I had a torch already (I've got just about every tool I'll ever need in my garage from my time spent as a mechanic) so I figured it'd be the safest route to go. I've seen loose wheels on vehicles damage the wheels/threads on studs before so thats why I personally wouldn't risk it - plus, putting the wheel back on the car seems like more effort than it's worth - with the torch it quite literally takes about 2 minutes per spacer - maybe 3-4 for the back and they pop right off with ease.

So I guess there shouldn't be too much worry about the heat negatively affecting the spacer?