The short answer is no, you do not have to get spacers. There are other solutions should your car vibrate after lowering.

Let me show you what is happening that causes the vibration.

Here is a pic of the CV bucket and the "spider" (the set of 3 roller bearings that go in the CV bucket).



When the car is new the spider rides on a smooth surface in the CV. But as time goes on it makes a wear spot. This starts to happen by around 20k miles or so (this is very rough estimate based on folks who have complained about the vibration after lowering). The pic below shows what the wear spot looks like:



When you lower the car, it moves the spider to a new spot where it normally rides. Based on the geometry, the new spot is very close to the old spot. The vibration is caused by the spider sliding over the edge of the new spot into the old spot. It trammels back and forth there.

A spacer takes care of the vibration by moving the spider far enough away from the old wear spot so it can't trammel into the old spot. Swapping the cv buckets from right to left and vis versa fixes the vibration by giving the spider a new surface to create a new wear spot.

This is also why ap2 drivers didn't think they needed spacers. It wasn't until the ap1 was a few years old that they would have a wear spot and when owners lowered the cars after they had 20k+ miles on them they got the vibration. At that time the ap2 was brand new...and they didn't have wear spots yet.

Now, older ap2s have wear spots too and can get the vibration for the same reason the older ap1s did.

Is a spacer better than swapping the cv buckets? It depends on your mechanical skill and wallet. Swapping cv buckets is free, but does take time...you have to pull the axles. The 2-piece style spacers can save time and are easy to install, but they are $175-200. The 1-piece style are useless as they take about as much time to install as it does to swap the cv buckets.

 

Nice post... I might just get the spacers while I have my diff out to save the hassle later down the road.

Keith

 

cheers for that information... appreciated (lowering soon)

 

So lets say you swap the CV buckets as well as install the spacers, are you saying this will extend the life span of the axles before they start to pit again?

I've done a little bit of research regarding the vibration as this is what I'm currently experiencing but a lot of the threads are older. Has anyone produced axles or possible just the cv buckets that are less prone to pitting?

 

^^ Spacers do nothing to extend the life of an s2k axle or CV bucket. They only move the place in the bucket where the spider normally operates.

 

Would it be possible to just swap the entire cv shafts from one side to the other? I dont know if they are the same length, but it seems like it would be even easier.

 

^^ They are not the same length. The passenger side is longer than the driver's side.

 

just to clear things up for me, say if i lower my car and i get the vibration from the CV buckets. then i swap the buckets side to side. will the vibration come back as long as i dont change the ride height?

 

^^ It won't come back if you leave it at the new ride height. If you change the ride height significantly again 20k miles or so later, then it may come back.

If you want to go back to stock height, then just swap the buckets again so that the spider rollers are back in their old wear spot.

 

So why is it so easy to install 2 piece spacers and where could I get them? I am looking to get rid of my vibration and if I can void spending $200 at a shop and doing this my self I would rather slip the spacer on and do it that way.