What's the real benefit to fitting wheel spacers?

Wheel spacers crop up quite often in topics on this forum. Often they are one of the first modifications people make to their Jimny, normally because they like the way it looks. So looks aside, what other advantages are there to widening the wheel track of a lightly modified* Jimny?

People often say they 'improve stability' by which I assume we are talking about body roll? On a vehicle with live axles the axle stays level to the road and the suspension allows the body to roll relative to the axle. Increasing the width of the axle will only improve body roll if you are cornering so hard your wheels come off the road! In a skid on a smooth road surface a standard height Jimny will slide long before it tips over, so spacers give no performance advantage.

What about tipping over off-road? A standard Jimny has perhaps the lowest centre of gravity of any 4x4, and a side slope angle of around 45 degrees. Fitting 32mm wheel spacers increase the axle width by about 4% which WILL improve this slightly- by about 1 degree. However, moving the wheels outwards causes the tyres to rub on the arches, so people combine fitting spacers with a suspension lift- raising the centre of gravity and negating any gains of fitting spacers in the first place.

This brings us on to wheel clearance. Fitting bigger tyres seems to be the ultimate aim of lots of Jimny owners. Suzuki shaped the inner wheel arch to provide clearance for a wheel without spacers. When the wheel is moved out with a spacer it no longer fits within the wheel arch and rubs everywhere. Without a suspension/body lift or arch trimming, this severely limits the size of tyres you can fit, or the amount of articulation you have. With the wheels sitting further out in the arches you also throw more mud up the side of the vehicle, covering windows and mirrors. It might look cool, but it means you're far more likely to hit something or someone. If you can't see what you're doing, you're not going to be able to drive as well as you could.

What about fitting down wider tracks left by bigger 4x4s? Well, spacers will make your Jimny a little bit closer to the width of a Defender, so you probably will fit in the ruts better. But most Defenders have higher ground clearance than a Jimny, so as the ruts get deeper you will find your Jimny grounds out and you are beached with all 4 wheels spinning. By sticking to the original, narrower wheel track of a the Jimny you are often able to avoid running in ruts left by other 4x4s (by driving with one wheel in a rut and one on the high ground in the middle, or by driving around the ruts altogether) and therefore the need for axle clearance is greatly reduced. The narrower wheel track also helps you to climb out of wide ruts- one wheel will climb out before the other, rather than both wheels trying to climb out at the same time and the vehicle just going straight.

All this is without even mentioning the extra strain spacers put on wheel bearings and steering components.

So is it just be that is mildly bemused by people's obsession with fitting wheel spacers on their Jimnys?

Would offset wheels be the same then ?

Improved stability as in road holding not body roll , as you lift the truck the cog get higher and as the are a narrow track anyway then fitting spacers stops the truck wondering on the road , as an added bonus it makes the foot print wider so better offroad to .
The big difference in tyre size from stock that we use is also a factor in the use of spacers , without them many tyres simply wouldnt fit

Spacers and offset rims both increase the track (distance between the centres of the treads) which reduces the roll centre, reducing body roll and hence improving stability during cornering.

And also, the Jimny is actaully very narrow, with a pretty high COG, compared to many other 4x4's. Like the Nissan Patrol y60/Y61. Of course taller than a Jimny, but much wider axles.

Busta wrote: Wheel spacers crop up quite often in topics on this forum. Often they are one of the first modifications people make to their Jimny, normally because they like the way it looks. So looks aside, what other advantages are there to widening the wheel track of a lightly modified* Jimny?

People often say they 'improve stability' by which I assume we are talking about body roll? On a vehicle with live axles the axle stays level to the road and the suspension allows the body to roll relative to the axle. Increasing the width of the axle will only improve body roll if you are cornering so hard your wheels come off the road! In a skid on a smooth road surface a standard height Jimny will slide long before it tips over, so spacers give no performance advantage.

What about tipping over off-road? A standard Jimny has perhaps the lowest centre of gravity of any 4x4, and a side slope angle of around 45 degrees. Fitting 32mm wheel spacers increase the axle width by about 4% which WILL improve this slightly- by about 1 degree. However, moving the wheels outwards causes the tyres to rub on the arches, so people combine fitting spacers with a suspension lift- raising the centre of gravity and negating any gains of fitting spacers in the first place.

This brings us on to wheel clearance. Fitting bigger tyres seems to be the ultimate aim of lots of Jimny owners. Suzuki shaped the inner wheel arch to provide clearance for a wheel without spacers. When the wheel is moved out with a spacer it no longer fits within the wheel arch and rubs everywhere. Without a suspension/body lift or arch trimming, this severely limits the size of tyres you can fit, or the amount of articulation you have. With the wheels sitting further out in the arches you also throw more mud up the side of the vehicle, covering windows and mirrors. It might look cool, but it means you're far more likely to hit something or someone. If you can't see what you're doing, you're not going to be able to drive as well as you could.

What about fitting down wider tracks left by bigger 4x4s? Well, spacers will make your Jimny a little bit closer to the width of a Defender, so you probably will fit in the ruts better. But most Defenders have higher ground clearance than a Jimny, so as the ruts get deeper you will find your Jimny grounds out and you are beached with all 4 wheels spinning. By sticking to the original, narrower wheel track of a the Jimny you are often able to avoid running in ruts left by other 4x4s (by driving with one wheel in a rut and one on the high ground in the middle, or by driving around the ruts altogether) and therefore the need for axle clearance is greatly reduced. The narrower wheel track also helps you to climb out of wide ruts- one wheel will climb out before the other, rather than both wheels trying to climb out at the same time and the vehicle just going straight.

All this is without even mentioning the extra strain spacers put on wheel bearings and steering components.

So is it just be that is mildly bemused by people's obsession with fitting wheel spacers on their Jimnys?

i think its incorrect to assume that spacers are an initial mod for starters. maybe for road gong jimnys for the look, but for someone intending to us their jimny off road they will be part of the whole lift. as the lift will increase COG the spacers will balance things back out.