If I run 5mm spacers, can I retain the OEM bolts?

 

I guess you could; for a while anyway. I'd want the full thread engagement, however. I recently saw where 35 mm lug bolts are recommended for, or included in kits with, 5 mm spacers. They were $3 each, as I recall.

 

I've scoured the internet high and low for 14x1.25 - 33mm bolts in black with absolutely no luck whatsoever. I really don't want to have chrome lug bolts with black heels.

Any suggestions?

I'm having a hard time grasping that 1/2cm is going to make a difference.

 

Well, with a thread pitch of 1.25 mm, 5 mm spacers mean that you're going to lose four full turns of thread engagement. How many turns do you still get with the 5 mm spacers installed? "Conventional wisdom" says that for full load capacity, the amount of engagement should equal at least the diameter of the bolt. So if you're still getting eleven turns of engagement with the spacers, you're probably okay.

If the wheel hub is cast iron, engagement length 1.5 times the bolt diameter (17 turns) would be better, though.

 

H&R does not make a 10mm spacer. Could I use two (2) 5mm spacers together on the same hub to make 10mm?

 

Yes, you can stack spacers with no problems (subject to all the other considerations with using spacers.)

 

Just switch to studs makes life so much easier.

http://www.waymotorworks.com/m14x1.2...-stud-kit.html

 

Two stacked 5 mm spacers would not be hubcentric. Not sure if that would be important to you. If possible, you could go to 12mm hubcentric spacers from racemax. Quite well made.

 

There's a reason for that. 10mm is an awkward thickness to use on a MINI hub. 10mm is about the height of the center of the hub that protrudes out, so a 10mm spacer leaves little or nothing of the hub to engage the wheel's center bore.

 

But there are plenty of 10mm spacers that have a hubcentric lip on the spacer itself... so as to retain the hubcentricity of the original hub.

Does the Mini have a 56.1mm hub diameter?

 

Yes - I think it's 56.15 mm if you want to get exact, but I've bought aluminum spacers advertised as 56.1 mm that worked just fine.

 

Not for the MINI. You said "plenty", I challenge you to find two. With a 10mm spacer, a hubcentric lip would have only about 1mm thickness of metal to sit on. It is no accident that spacers for MINI are very difficult to find in the range 8mm to 12mm. The dimensions of the hub make it awkward in that range.

 

I used my OEM wheel locks to my aftermarket wheel. It took 8 3/4 turns to seat @ 88 ft-lbs torque. For comparison, the tuner lug that came with the aftermarket wheel takes 14 turns.
...Still wasn't convinced, I dubbed a small amount of anti-seize compound to the oem bolt to see how far it goes, and the result was about 15 mm which is good to me.

 

What am I missing here?

H&R and Eibach both make 10mm spacers with a hubcentric lip.

The Mini shares a bolt pattern and hub OD with the Honda Civic(4x100, 56.1mm)... There are plenty of wheel spacers out there that will fit the Mini.

 

What you're missing is that the hubcentric lip on the MINI hub is itself about 9mm to 11mm tall.

It is simple geometry and you'll see the problem if you draw out a cross section. You can attach a hubcentric lip to a spacer, but on the other side it must also fit over the hub's own hubcentric lip.

I'm guessing that the hubcentric lip on the factory hub of a Honda Civic is much less than 10mm tall. It would have to be for H&R and Eibach to make a 10mm spacer for the Civic. If you put that spacer on a MINI, the hub's hubcentric lip will be too tall and won't allow the spacer to sit flush against the hub.

 

I wouldn't. I'm local to you (Sammamish) and happy to show you. The 5mm spacer with stock bolts gave me only about 3-4 rotations. No where near enough for me to be comfortable.

On a side note, I put the 5mm spacers on yesterday and wish I went with 3mm. I only need them to clear my Brembo brakes with the R105 JCW wheels (it makes me mental that a JCW wheel can't be used on a JCW car without them).

I may order a set so if you don't have the 5mm yet drop me a line.

Todd