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Are deviations in wheel offset acceptable?

Serhii Maslov Section: Wheel offset (ET) Updated: First published:

For the lazy and the busy: a wheel’s offset must exactly match the car maker’s requirements, and no deviation in either direction can be considered acceptable. Changing a wheel’s offset (even a “minor” 5 mm) also changes the essential conditions the whole suspension works under, creating forces (and directions in which they act) that your suspension was never designed for. The simplest consequence is a shorter service life for the suspension components, but under critical loads the consequences can be far grimmer, right up to sudden failure while the car is moving. Want to know why, read on.

Why do sellers claim the opposite? The answer is simple: there are so many different wheel offsets around that it is quite difficult for them to find wheels that match your particular offset while also matching all the other figures for your car. In other words, being casual about matching the offset exactly considerably widens the range of wheels they can offer you, which considerably raises their chances of selling you something.

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