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By Shahin Fard
From the factory, the Nissan GT-R wheels do not sit flush with the wheel arches. The wheels are sunken into the body work. Presumably, this is to reduce stone chips from hitting the bodywork, reduce the risk of curbing alloys, and help with width restrictors.
In this guide, we’ll show you how to install wheel spacers on your GT-R. As wheels are a critical safety element of your car, it’s essential if you are going to do this yourself that you follow these instructions carefully.
The mandatory, keep my ass outta jail, legal bit: ** If you are not confident in doing this or do not have the right tools or a clue, please do not attempt this and ask a professional! **
Now we got that out the way; lets get down to business. The general consensus is bringing out the wheels by 15mm on the front and rears will improve aesthetics and handling, some GTR owners go 15mm on front and 20mm on rear.
On our MY17 GTR (EBA) we opted for 15mm all round, using H&R Spacers.
You will need the following tools:
If the wheel bolts are too tight, you maybe need an impact gun (or a gym membership)
Before raising the car off the ground, loosen the nuts on the wheel you are working on.
If you don’t loosen them nuts first, and jack the car up, you’ll be working against the wheel turning.
Loosen / Crack them off half a turn before jacking the car up in the air.
The GTR has four jacking points, which can be seen from under the car. They are rubber. I’ve included a picture of what they look like off the car.
When you line the jack-up with the underneath of the car, make sure the jack doesn’t pinch on the side skirts. Take your time, and don’t be afraid to get down on the ground and check as you are jacking up the car.
Raise the car up, so the wheel is hovering above the ground, there is no need to go high, just enough till the wheel is a couple of inches off the ground. This will give enough clearance to remove the wheel.
Loosen all of the wheel nuts and locking wheel nut and put them to the side. If after you have removed all the nuts, it doesn’t want to come off the hub, give the tyre a kick with the side of your foot in the bottom right and bottom left corners. The wheel will come off.
Keep your back straight and remove the wheel carefully off the hub. Try to avoid making contact with the brake caliper during removal of the wheel.
Lean the wheel on a wall nearby, make sure the angle of the wheel is somewhere around 45 degrees avoiding the wheel falling onto its face, and avoiding the inner lip of the wheel resting on the floor (unless you have a rubber mat/soft floor).
Depending on the age of the car, you may find some debris/dirt around the hub. Use a brush to give it a clean and remove any debris/dirt.
What we want to ensure is the spacer is entierly flat against the hub.
The spacers from H&R come with a Yellow warning label about installing them on Steel Rims (which isn’t what we are doing). I used a sharp blade and Brake Cleaner to remove the warning label and any glue residue.
Slide the spacer over the existing wheel nuts, and use the wheel nuts supplied with the spacer to attach it to the hub.
When tightening nuts, make sure you tighten opposites, so if you tighten the bottom left nut first, the next one to tighten should be the top right, then bottom right, etc. This ensures the wheel spacer is tightened evenly across all five bolts.
The wheel nuts need to be tightened to 147nm, this is where you use your Torque Wrench.
Unlike the rears which can be locked in place using the handbrake, the front wheels will rotate when off the ground.
As advised before, loosen the wheel nuts before elevating the car into the air.
When you get to the point of installing the spacer, you will need a friend to sit in the car and press the brake pedal. This was stop the wheels from rotating when attaching the spacer to the hub and tightening the bolts.
If you don’t have a friend available to help, you can try to wedge the a jack handle /strong stick between the front of the seat and the brake pedal, but ideally a friend is a much better option!
Once the spacer has been installed and the nuts are tightened to 147nm, the next step is to install the wheel.
Align the alloy wheel up to the studs on the spacer and slide the wheel over gently. Try to avoid making contact with the braking assembly.
Once the wheel is on, make sure its sitting flush, and you can see all the studs protruding from the spacer.
Install the wheel nuts you removed earlier, and observe the rules of opposites when doing up the wheels nuts. The nuts should be tightened to 147nm.
Once done, we’d recommend lowering the car so the wheel is resting on the floor, and going over and double checking the wheel nuts are tightened to 147nm.
Repeat the same process for all of the other wheels.
Take your time, do it right!
If you have any questions, feel free to contact us on Social and we’ll try to help!
Well done, you’ve installed wheel spacers on your GT-R and its now sitting flush with the body work.
Take a photo, post on social and make sure you mention/tag us!
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Shah is the founder of Compare.Parts, a pioneering marketplace dedicated to performance car parts. With a lifelong passion for automotive engineering and customisation, Shah's expertise spans decades, from hands-on builds to innovative solutions for enthusiasts and professionals. A recognised authority in the performance car community, he has built and owned some of the most iconic high-performance vehicles, including a 660bhp R35 GT-R, a 950bhp R33 Skyline GT-R, and a meticulously crafted HKS-inspired RB26-powered Altezza. Shah's deep technical knowledge and commitment to excellence drive Compare.Parts’ mission to empower car enthusiasts worldwide.