Spacer for increased clearance - characteristics, advantages and disadvantages

In the CIS countries, motor roads have always been characterized by poor quality of coverage, so many car owners are thinking about increasing the clearance of their cars. Indeed, the clearance of modern cars is often not more than 14-15 centimeters, and this is very, very little for our roads. Therefore, there is a need to increase the clearance between the asphalt and the bottom of the car. Question: "How?" For today, the safest option for increasing the ride height is the installation of spacers. To increase the clearance, this is the most suitable option. And today we will consider what is special about these parts, and what materials they are made of.

Characteristic

The spacer for increasing the clearance is a rounded piece of cylindrical shape, which is installed under the springs of the car and shock absorbers. Distinguish spacers for the material, size and density. Most often they are universal and can simultaneously be approached, for example, both on the "Opel Cadet" and "Daewoo Nexia". The design of these parts is a special bracket in the form of a box with small mounting holes. Also spacers to increase clearance ("Ford Mondeo" and "Volkswagen Golf" including) can be made in the form of rings with several eyes. These are installed mainly on the back of the car. As a result of installing these spacers, the car's clearance is increased by 3-5 centimeters. Agree, 18-20 centimeters is a good enough clearance for a car. On such a machine is not terrible to ride either on the primer, or on the pits. But still the running system must be protected.

Benefits of using

The main advantage of using these spacers is the increased ground clearance, due to which the car will not rub the wheels on the arch in case of full loading with luggage, and also protect its bottom from contact with uneven pieces of asphalt. By installing such parts, you significantly reduce the risk of damage to the bottom of the machine, and, accordingly, prolong her life.

Spacer for increased clearance - disadvantages

But they also have their shortcomings. In particular, this concerns the center of gravity of the machine, which will be slightly displaced when installing such parts. After you install the spacers to increase the clearance, the Lacetti (and any other car) can be accelerated to a speed of no more than 130 kilometers per hour. Then it will be very dangerous to make sharp maneuvers on it. In addition, the stiffness of the chassis structure is reduced, the wheel alignment and the width of the wheelbase are changing. On the steering mechanism more often parts will wear out, and the resource of shock absorbers can be reduced.

We choose the material

If you decide to purchase spacers to increase clearance, Toyota and other foreign-made cars can significantly change their handling characteristics. In order not to change them drastically for the worse, it is necessary to know from what material these spacers should be made. Most often they are made of aluminum, polyurethane and plastic. The last option is the most suitable for our roads. Among the shortcomings of polyurethane spacers, it is necessary to note their rapid wear. The fact is that the body of these elements is made of polyurethane, and the bushing is made of steel. And if you do not guess with a replacement, the spacer will cause considerable damage to the car body and can deform it. Metallic ones are more reliable, but they are prone to corrosion. Plastic is not afraid of rust and does not wear out as much as polyurethane. Therefore, the spacers to increase the clearance of "Ford" is better to buy from plastic.

How to install your own hands?

Some car owners ask for help on SRT, and some decide to install them with their own hands. In principle, the installation of plastic spacers is not as complicated as it seems at first glance. And with this operation can even cope even a novice motorist.

So, what needs to be done? First we rip off the bolts on the disks, we jack up the car and extract the wheels. Further we disconnect a brake hose and a stabilizer rack. After we unscrew 2 nuts on the front pillar and 3 screws on the upper ball joint.

Further we take out a rack. The first thing we pay attention to is the old bolts, which will be very short for fitting spacers. Therefore we remove them and install elongated ones. Now fix the part on the new bolts and install everything in the reverse order. Sometimes it is necessary to prop up the spring to put all the parts in place. In this case it is better to use one more jack. Everything, at this stage the installation of spacers has been successfully completed. By the time this whole operation will take you about 30-45 minutes of time.

How much does the spacer for the clearance increase?

On average, the price for similar products is about 300-1000 rubles per set (that is, 2 pieces). It must be remembered that there are different spacers separately for the front and rear suspension. They are installed both under the springs and under the racks, depending on the characteristics and design of the car. But it is not necessary to install just 4 spacers on the machine - just raise one (rear) part of it.

So, we found out what a spacer is for increasing the clearance, what are its pros and cons, how much it costs.