Optimal - VW Phaeton on ICW Wheels & H&R wheel spacers

Reading time 10 Min.

Recently updated on January 28, 2022 at 11:55 am

Once the wheel hub has finally been cleaned, the spacer can be fitted. It is essential to ensure that the track plate can be attached easily. It should also be flush all around. The recessed mounting holes must match the wheel hub mounts with millimeter precision. Now the track plate can be tightened "with the supplied wheel bolts" and the torque specified in the H&R report (Torque wrench is needed - not visible in the pictures). At this point, our percussion drill was very positive, as the included nut had a much firmer fit opposite the wheel cross. Due to the small recess of the track plates, the wheel cross could only insufficiently fix the screw head. The danger was to unnecessarily wear down the screw heads. One should only pay attention to use the hammer drill only for a first fixation. The five wheel bolts must be tightened after completing this operation as mentioned according to the predetermined NM and this works ONLY with the torque wrench. We then completed this process for all four wheel spacers.

The rim requires so-called rim pockets

By the way: pays in The purchase of the track plates necessarily on whether your rims have so-called rim pockets. These small recesses are necessary so that the heads of the mounting screws of the track plates after the installation of the wheel does not rest on the rim. Instead, the rim must sit flush on the wheel spacers. If your rims do not have these pockets, you can use the DR system with extended wheel bolts. Otherwise, the installation of wheel spacers is unfortunately not possible.

Track plates installed - now there is space

After installing the track plates, it is easy to see that there is enough leeway on the rear axle (Gallery above - middle picture) and the tire no longer grinds on the strut. The same applies to the front axle, which now also has sufficient space (Gallery below). The alignment of the rims on the wheelhouse edges is optimally solved in our opinion. Nevertheless, we will try as a trial on the rear axle also 30 mm per wheel (follow pictures)

Front axle now with enough distance

The difference in the exact view of the left side without the track plates in comparison to the opposite side with track plates becomes particularly clear. The track plates thus not only serve to create an adequate free space, but at the same time fulfill an aesthetic task. The wheels are simply fuller in the wheel arch.

Next we completed the attachment of the wheels with the classic wheel cross. The risk of scratching the rims with the percussion drill was simply too high for us. Finally, you should tighten the whole here with the torque wrench. At our VW Phaeton torque is specified with 130 NM. In combination with the lowering of the Airmatic (Air suspension), the wheelset is now perfectly in the wheel arch. You can convince yourself personally in the picture gallery on the next page as well as our short video. Now it goes to the TÜV-individual, provided it remains at the rear axle with the 20 mm plates! That will be decided soon. Either way, the report of the rims and the supplied report from H&R (for the spacers) make a visit to the inspector inevitable. Incidentally, our vehicle is currently not moving, so the summer tires are not a problem despite winter conditions. 😉

Update 29.03.2018

Rather coincidentally, we are at a used rate H&R wheel spacers with 30 mm on each side for the VW Phaeton. Of course, that was reason enough to "test" what 10 mm can do on the rear axle. We found the front axle to be pretty consistent right from the start and only on the rear axle could the wheels be a little further out. Of course, you always have to keep in mind that the widening of the track is too extreme to grind the tires in the wheel arch and that TÜV approval is unthinkable.