Wheel spacers 1 - 1.5" questions

ntsqd said
... Used appropriately (i.e. making up the difference in wheel back-space so that the tire ends up in the stock location) they're probably not a problem. Used badly, as most of them that I've seen are, they're a very big accident looking for a place to happen.

I think this hits the nail on the head for a lot of the arguments I've heard. I have something like 1.25" spacers on my front wheels to make up the offset difference in my wheels (needed big offset for B body axle but wheels didn't have shallower version for fronts), but I'm using the bolt on "adapter" style. The contact patch is just about as close to the stock location as I can get it, so there shouldn't be any more bending and wheel bearing load than normal. Using them to increase the track width of the car would not be the best idea. I made sure to torque them down good on first install and have checked them a few times and they're holding nice and tight.

I would agree that aluminum wouldn't necessarily be my first choice because of fatigue issues, but they could be made from a nice high strength alloy that might help to mitigate this. A nice 7000 series aluminum would be awesome (have seen 7075 used in some projects I was involved with and it's some dang tough stuff), but I think most stuff tends to be 6061 which people claim is strong, but I tend to think of as soft based on the other alloys out there.