Just tell these guys what you want. Excellent company for custom spacers.

http://www.motorsport-tech.com/wheel_adapters.html

 

Not true. For the 11mm spacer you do not need longer studs. The spacers do come with special wheel nuts (you can order them in chrome or black). There is no need to grind of the original studs as they are only 11mm wide. See attachment HR_Aston_Martin.pdf (p/n 2265681CR: incl. new nuts for wheel-fixation, colour: chrome; p/n 2265681SW: incl. new nuts for wheel-fixation, colour: black)

This is also stated in the TUV approval. Some more details below:

Part number: H&R 2265681
Width per spacer: 11mm
Stud Pattern: 114.3/5
Centre Bore: 68.1mm
Thread: M14x2
Thread pitch: min 6.5 turns
Weight: 0.3 kg
Wheel load: 900 kg

Restrictions: Thread pitch must be a minimum of 6.5 turns. Studs must have a minimum length of 42mm. The supplied wheel nuts have to be used for mounting of the spacers (11mm only). Studs are not to be ground.

See attached the TUV approval document, though it’s in German ;-).

 

Thanks Jarod, that makes sense now. Explains why the narrower ones are more expensive.

What are these new nuts like? I'm finding it hard to imagine nuts that find more thread than there is sticking out of the wheel, or maybe there is already enough thread with any nut?

Maybe this is why the spacer is 11mm, at 12mm there wouldn't be enough thread there. That is a bit worrying, but hopefully the German engineers will have built in some contingency.

Now we just need someone to try them out. I was thinking that 11mm was a bit narrow, but if everyone reckons that 15mm looks right, then losing 4mm is unlikely to ruin the looks.

 

I am sorry Michael, I do not know how the nuts look like. Unfortunately there is no picture available at the H&R homepage. Might be, that the original nuts will work as well, but it is clearly stated that the supplied ones have to be used.

I am not worried about that there is not enough thread, and I am sure they build in some contingency.

Though I am not sure if 11mm is enough….

 

Seriously, 11mm is not really worth the effort. If you're doing it to widen the stance for cosmetic reasons, nobody will be able to tell. 23mm on the rears is almost an inch wider and would definitely be noticeable.

Another thing to bear in mind is that widening the front track will also result in more road rash and pitting of the paint finish on the side sills. Best to invest in Aston's front mud flaps and helicopter tape on the sills.

 

I can't imagine that spacers will affect the grip, unless the car has poorly designed suspension that doesn't manage camber change as the car corners.

So putting spacers on the back but not the front shouldn't have any adverse effect, or am I missing something?

 

Another forum member put spacers on and said they made a significant difference to handling. If this is true, just doing the backs could result in more understeer.

 

spacers make a huge difference looks wise! Thanks Stuart!

 

I did see that but have trouble believing that the tyres will grip better if they are mounted further out from the car. It just doesn't make sense, so I wondered if it is like loud exhausts give you 65bhp more, we know they don't really, it just feels like that

 

It does make sense if you think of the extremes. For instance, imagine the tires where located one foot closer to each other. Obviously, the narrow track wouldn't be as good around corners. Question is whether just a few millimeters wider really makes that big of a difference.

 

I can see that grip will be lost if the car rolls so much that the inner tyre is lifted off the road, but I'd though about the extreme in the opposite direction. If the tyres were moved outwards by about a yard, would it grip more strongly?

The only factor making it change is when the cars suspension isn't able to keep the tyre flat on the road, which I don't think is a problem on our cars, they are pretty low, with decent suspension, so excessive roll isn't likely to affect them?

 

I'm thinking about this approach,

http://deltawingracing.com/2010/02/photo-gallery-1/

it could understeer, but then, why would it understeer more than a car with wider front track?

 

In general, a wider stance is more stable and resists roll better. As another example, if you are standing with your feet close together, you are easier to unbalance than if you have a wide stance. It's basically the same idea.

If the stability of the rear is increased but the front isn't, the weak point becomes the front end where that heavy V8 engine lives. As you push the car hard in the corners, the front end will be more likely to break traction than the rear.

 

That makes sense, so its the reduction in grip of the inner wheel thats the problem.

And it would make the rear of the car roll slightly less than the front, which is difficult to visualise

The additional width is 3%, so it feels like I'm trying to overthink the problem, I'll have another look at the pictures, decide on the looks, then decide whether I want to take the risk. Problem is, if it unsettles the car at all, I'd have ground the wheel studs down so taking off the spacers won't be easy.

 

Again, I don't know if a few millimeters in one direction or another will really make that much of a difference. And, if there is a difference, it may only be noticeable at the very limit. If I had to guess, I'd say you probably wouldn't notice any difference behind the wheel.