I was recently gifted some wheel spacers, which are the universal type, by that I mean they have no spigot/hub to rest the wheel on and they are straight through bolt holes that are elongated to accomodate different 4 Stud Patterns (4x100, 4x108 etc) along with it came a set of longer bolts, to fit on the car.

These spacers are about 25mm wide (I haven't actually measured them yet, just rack of eye)

I'm a bit concerned really, how would I centre the wheel when putting it on, without the spigot/hub? will the spacer even line up true with the elongated holes?

Are they generally ok to run?

What about more aggressive driving? are the bolts likely to shear or something?

Thanks in advance!

There were universal spacers already on my Polo when I bought it and I thought nothing of them until I lowered it and suddenly had a bit of rubbing. Then they came off.

But I didn't have any issues with them. They were only 10mm though I believe.

I'm not a fan of them. I've never seen anything bad happen because of them. I just don't like them. They can be a right pain to get lined up, but once they are if you tighten up the wheel bolts evenly the wheel should centre themselves.

But for the money they are I'd rather pay the extra and get bolt on hub centric ones. I run a 25mm set on the back of my GT and once they are on there is no more messing about with them anytime you take the wheels off.

I wouldn't use universals in that sort of thickness, too easy to misalign them and get a wheel out of balance. an extra inch is a lot to ask a wheelbolt to do.

Yeah, universals are okay up to where the centre bore is still going to engage, but 25mm..?! Not for me.

Been using universal 5mm for 6+ years on the rear to clear the lowering springs..

Aligning is a pain. I've tried paint to mark the preferred holes. Tape to cover the unwanted holes. Bluetack to hold the spacer before fitting first bolt.

Next time I'd buy none universal to save that pain.

Anyone got any reccomendstion for decent quality spacers?

Thanks for the opinions guys, I think I'll either get these machined down or get some hubcentric ones, it's a shame I don't work at en engineering firm any more or I could have either whipped these down myself or even custom made some! oh well!

@PoloTommy, hubcentric ones that you bolt on I think are considered the best/safest :)

been using 10mm universals for a long time on a couple differeng cars without issues. just learn to tighten your wheel bolts correctly. who needs spigot rings.. pah!

I've only been running 5mm universals on the back of my bready but they have been a pain in the ass. Slightest miss alignment and wheel wobble is a certain.

Going over to 20mm front and 35mm rear hubcentrics so hopefully they'll be ok