After a lot of research, and input from a couple guys on this forum, I decided to install 2" BORA wheel spacers on my truck back in December. Although many are generally opposed to spacers, it is nearly impossible to find anything other than glowing reviews on the BORA product. When they arrived, I was impressed with the very high quality appearance of the spacers.

I have a shop that I have used for years and trust completely. They installed the 2 1/2" bottom mount coli spacers, alignment cams, sway bar drop brackets, adjustable track bar (all PMF), Fox shocks, and BORA wheel spacers. I already had Ridge Grappler 295/65R20 tires mounted on the stock rims. After I put a few miles on the truck, I had the wheels removed and spacer nuts retorqued. That event was completely uneventful. The truck looked amazing and handled great in both empty driving and approximately 2800 miles of towing over the course of the past eight months.

A couple weeks ago, I took the truck to Discount Tire for the first tire rotation. While installing the passenger side rear wheel, one of the spacer studs broke. I was concerned, but it happens. Discount sent me to a shop down the street where the stud would be replaced free of charge. While attempting to remove the wheel, two more broke. They stopped. I drove the two mile back to my house on five lugs.

I contacted the manufacturer of BORA spacers to let them know what had happened. They believed that Discount must have done something to cause this failure, but sent me replacement studs. Their instructions specify hand tools only, no impact or air tools. I'm pretty sure Discount used an impact to remove the lug nuts, and likely started the install in the same way. They definitely torqued with a hand wrench, as I watched them do it. Regardless, I find it hard to believe that simply using an impact would (or should) lead to studs breaking right in the middle. It certainly doesn't have the same result on the OE studs.

Anyways, back home I removed the wheel using a breaker bar. All five nuts came off without incident. I then removed the eight nuts holding on the spacer but it would not budge. I grabbed a rubber mallet and tapped on the body of the spacer trying to break it loose. No dice so I started hitting the studs to create a twisting motion. Three of the five remaining studs broke under a moderate blow from a rubber mallet. WTF? I eventually got the spacer off and mounted the wheel directly to the hub.

I had the remaining three spacers removed by my mechanic yesterday and two more studs broke off in the process. There are others that appear to be in less than great shape. I'm no mechanic, but I can't imagine why this would be happening, other than inferior quality of the studs. My mechanic feels the same. The fact that I can find no reports of similar issues, and the BORA spacers are extensively reviewed online, makes me question why this is happening to me. Am I the only one?

If possible, I want to get some feedback from you guys before I contact the manufacturer.

 

Post pictures, take a good picture of the stud head stamp so we can figure out the grade that was used.

 

I'll take some pictures when I get home. The stud head is marked with an A. In a phone conversation, I was told all studs are grade 8.

 

I hope not. I believe these studs are metric, and they use a different rating, with the most common highest rating being a 10.9. A lower common rating is 8.8.

 

 

Well we have the first clue, those are not rated studs. That material was soft enough to twist. If that was 10.9 it would be a pretty defined break.

 

I would bet they are made in china, substandard steel. I would recommend just sending them back to the manufacture and not use them. I have seen 3 trucks over the past 6 months with a missing wheel,,all DRW trucks. Looks like they had spacers from what I could see at 65 mph

 

Get a refund, and buy some aftermarket wheels. A 20x9 0 offset, or a 20x10 +10 will give you right about the same 2" farther out as your stockers with spacers.

 

"MADE IN AMERICA!"








*with Chyna pot-metal components

 

Probably. But Americans are fully capable of building crap with no outside help. We excelled at crap manufacturing in the automotive industry in the mid '70s. Nobody built cars more crappily than did Americans back then. Maybe the Russians. But that's just a maybe. The competition was pretty close.

 

Disclaimer*** Interesting to read but I have no experience with them, this could be bad or biased info

Q&A on spacers
https://www.maximummotorsports.com/t...s_spacers.aspx

 

im no expert on wheel studs but if they use the same head making designations as bolts then yours appear to be unrated like others have said. that meens the yield and tensile would be only about 25% of a 8.8. suprised your wheels didnt fall off

 

I plan to ask for a refund but suspect they will suggest another route. As for aftermarket wheels, I'm not opposed, but I really like the looks of the polished aluminum Platinum wheels. I had 20X 9 0mm with 325s on a previous SD. The look was perfect.

 

MADE IN AMERICA can be assembled with parts from around the world. ASSEMBLED in AMERICA may be the correct label

My made in America boots are from materials from other countries

 

Ask them who manufactures the studs they use, that might tell you something. You could try buying all new quality studs and see what happens.